Costs for West Sussex County Council’s Fastway guided bus scheme have now exceeded predicted outlay by a ‘totally unacceptable’ £6.2M.
The cost hike for the scheme, a bus network serving Crawley, Gatwick and Horley, and featuring a combination of dedicated bus lanes and special guideways, comes on top of the £23M it was originally expected to cost West Sussex.
County council leader Henry Smith described the situation as ‘totally unacceptable’ and ordered a full inquiry to be launched at a special cabinet meeting. The probe will include an independent investigation by auditors from East Sussex County Council and a report is due in September.
The cabinet concluded the scheme, due for completion in January 2006, should be finished because the final phase of works was already well underway. It reassured residents that the increase in costs would not result in council tax rises, but accommodated within the county council’s overall capital programme.
In addition to the independent audit, the council is considering whether delay by third parties could have contributed to the cost overrun and whether there was any contractual redress to recover some of the sum. Lieutenant Colonel Tex Pemberton, cabinet member for highways and transport said: ‘The scale of these cost increases and the fact that they are only now coming to light is a source of major concern.
‘We will await the results of the inquiry, but already, strong action has been taken to ensure proper controls are in place to complete the project.’
Pemberton said the cost hike would ‘dent Fastway’s success story’ but the scheme – which now attracts 6,000 passengers a day – still represented ‘a significant’ improvement to transport in Crawley.
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