Problems caused by the collapse of the building company R&D have not been revealed in full, a local councillor has said.
Independent Stranraer Councillor Willie Scobie has questioned repeated assurances by the Council and its social housing partnership Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership (DGHP) that the collapse of R&D in 2011 involved no extra cost to the taxpayer,
He said: "Local traders and employees lost a fortune and some have not recovered from the loss. The contract [to complete the work] had to go out to European journals under EU procurement rules at a cost. There was then the refusal to let the contract to local firms to finish the job within reasonable time that DGHP said they could not do under procurement rules."
"The time lapse between R&D and Crudens being awarded the contract was about 18 months so prices would have risen by the rate of inflation at the very least. How then would costs not have risen by the passing of time? Crudens then had to demolish half constructed buildings that were damp and had rotted over this period. On top of this, DGHP had to pay for all the extensive snagging problems that should have been R&D's responsibility and liability that they tried to make light of the extent of these problems. How much extra did this put on the contract?"
A report into alleged collusion between the Council and R&D on a separate issue arising from the latter's competition with another developer, Internet Villages International, to bring large scale data processing to rural Dumfriesshire, is the subject of an ongoing Police Scotland investigation.
The report followed a formal complaint by IVI's former director Peter Hewkin, who accused council officers of conspiring with R&D chairman John Hume to thwart IVI's Scottish Enterprise-supported plans for a datafarm development, and to pass on commercially confidential information from the IVI application to help R&D's rival bid. The matter was investigated by Highland Council leader Arthur McCourt in 2009, although the findings were never made public or shared with Hewkin.
Scobie said "I have never seen the McCourt Report nor do I believe has any other Councillor. Let's hope the investigation may unearth some of what has been going on."
A spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway council declined to explain why the findings of the McCourt report were kept secret, saying that: "It is inappropriate for the Council to comment on an ongoing Police matter".
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