The full scale of an overspend on a major York regeneration project already £28.5 million over budget and more than a year behind schedule remains unknown, councillors have heard.
City of York Council’s city development lead Garry Taylor told councillors the ongoing Station Gateway scheme had been dogged by oversight problems from its early stages but they were now being addressed.
Cllr Katie Lomas, the council’s Labour major projects lead, said work had been ongoing since 2024 to ensure issues with the extremely difficult scheme were not repeated in future projects.
But resident Gwen Swinburn and Liberal Democrat opposition councillor Christian Vassie said they were shocked at findings into the handling of the project and a seeming lack of accountability.
The comments come after an audit ruled there had been ‘critical’ weaknesses in the way the regeneration of the area at the front of York Station has been managed.
Veritau found the council had entered a contract ‘at risk’ before legal agreements had sufficiently progressed and subsequent changes to the project had caused disruption and pushed up costs.
The audit also found there were significant delays in the reporting of overspends which may have stopped the council from dealing with them sooner.
Construction work started in 2023 on the scheme which initially had a budget of £26 million but costs so far stand at £54.7 million, according to the latest estimates.
The project is now scheduled to be finished this summer after originally being slated for completion by May last year.
The council’s Audit and Governance Committee heard on Wednesday, 11 March the final overspend on the project will not be known until it is finished.
Council director of city development Mr Taylor said unforeseen changes such as the removal of a historic shelter on the station’s portico for safety reasons had pushed up costs.
Mr Taylor said internal capacity had also been an issue and there had been problems with reporting updates since 2022 but the council had gotten to grips with the scheme.
The official said: “Changes always happen in capital projects, it’s about knowing the implications and the risks and making decisions in the knowledge of that.
“There’s nothing wrong with a contract if you know what you’re buying, but we went into this contract not knowing things and so it gets more expensive every year.”
Cllr Lomas said Labour council leader Cllr Claire Douglas had requested the audit into the Station Gateway and other projects to address serious concerns about governance.
The executive member added councillors should focus on ensuring the authority had the proper governance arrangements in place rather than finding people to blame.
Cllr Lomas said: “There were some serious concerns that resulted in the audit to get a professional opinion on our governance arrangements to avoid this ever happening again.
“We’ve consistently done our best to try and get this delivered, everyone recognises this has been an extremely difficult project.”
But Liberal Democrat Cllr Vassie said there had been no consequences for those whose actions resulted in millions being taken from other projects to plug Station Gateway budget holes.
Cllr Vassie said: “I find it shocking that the report seems to present this as if there’s no victims and perpetrators.
“All our residents would be appalled to learn that no one appears to have been held to account for these decisions.
“I’m worried about the effect this will have on the council’s reputation over time.”
Ms Swinburn, who monitors council activity, said the audit raised serious questions and the findings indicated a breakdown in governance and oversight.
