THE row over the final cost of Salt Ayre's swimming pool was finally settled this week, with the city council agreeing to pay an additional £1.4 million from the public purse.

The news was greeted with dismay by many councillors who described it as a "terrible waste of taxpayer's money."

The long-running dispute with the construction company Birse has rumbled on since the ambitious project was completed in 1997.

More than 18 months ago the Citizen exclusively revealed that the pool's final costs were set to spiral out of control, a story censured by council bosses at the time.

But after a period of arbitration the final sum will be an extra £1.29 million to main contractors Birse and £135,000 for increased fitting out costs - a grand total of £1,429,000 - much higher than the authority had hoped for. Environment chairman, Mark Turner, said: "It's a very sorry state of affairs. We've been saddled with a massive bill that we will have to pay. We will make every effort to try and recover some of the money and this includes another bid to the lottery for extra grant aid.

"It's very frustrating the way things have gone. There have been mistakes and these have proved to be costly mistakes. It's an awful lot of money and compounds the problems left over from the previous administration."

The row over the bill centred on extra works needed to pay for unforeseen circumstances such as a rising ground water level and the use of specialist materials.

Chief Executive David Corker said: "During the construction of the swimming pool there were a number of unforeseen problems, particularly with excess ground water. These problems led to delays, extra costs and the use of specialist materials - all of which were not accounted for in the original estimates.

"Birse and the council have subsequently been in dispute about the amount of these additional costs but following expert advice and further discussions with Birse, a proposed settlement figure has been reached."

The council this week explained that the original estimate for the complex was £6,395,000 but the final cost is £7,824,000.

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