Row Over Increased Costs of Farnham Museum Conservation

Published on: 18 Sep, 2024
Updated on: 18 Sep, 2024

Grade I listed Farnham Museum. Image Google

By Martin Giles

A claim that the budgeted cost of restoring Farnham Museum has increased by 43 per cent has been dismissed as political point scoring by Waverley Council’s lead councillor for Finance Assets and Property, Mark Merryweather.

The Conservative group at WBC says the council was asked to wave through proposals to increase the capital budget to £1,471,713 at a council meeting on Monday evening (September 16). This compares to the estimated £1,029,145 bill put to the council on July 18, 2023.

Cllr Jane Austin

The Leader of the opposition at WBC, Jane Austin (Con, Bramley & Wonersh), said: “When this came to the council last July, the estimated total cost for the project was given as £1,029,145. That has now risen to £1,471,713.

“While some outside funding has been secured, Waverley is now committed to contribute £485,000 towards the project.

“Underestimating the total cost of the work by a cool 43 per cent is yet another manifestation of the spendthrift attitude the council has to taxpayers’ money. It is also further evidence of the failure of the Lib Dem-led administration who have been in power now for over five years.

“We’d all be better off if they paid a bit more attention to the issues like the museum — which genuinely matters to residents — and stopped wasting so much of our money on vanity projects like buying 69 High Street in Godalming or the merger with Guildford.

“I want them to knuckle down to the important detail of running the borough properly. I will keep campaigning against this careless attitude to the spending of our money. Waverley deserves better.”

Cllr Mark Merryweather

But Cllr Merryweather (Lib Dem, Farnham Moor Park) hit back: “It’s a great shame that now, in opposition, the Conservatives are trying to use such an important project to score political points by re-writing history and mis-characterising the work that has been, and still needs to be done.

“Conservation projects on a Grade 1 Listed Building of this scale are unique and as such inherently risky, and the restoration of Willmer House is proving no exception.

“The original reported costs for the project were based on pre-tender estimates primarily for the known failing brickwork, obtained for the purposes of applying to the Arts Council for funding in September 2022.

“Our officers were specifically told by the Arts Council at that time that the window repairs were a ‘maintenance item’ and could not be funded under the terms of their £734,335 MEND Grant.”

Blaming the former Conservative government for the explosive cost inflation and skilled labour and materials shortages in the construction sector, Cllr Merryweather continued: “It is factually nonsense to assert that cost of the works have been underestimated by 43 per cent, or to imply that there has been any mismanagement by officers, or to claim that ‘the council accidentally omitted £140,000 of window repairs’.”

Cllr Carole Cockburn

But Cllr Carole Cockburn, who represents the Farnham Bourne ward and is the Conservatives’ deputy leader on Waverley Borough Council, repeated the claim.

She said: “While the Conservative opposition is supportive of Farnham’s heritage and the work on this museum, how the Lib Dem administration could forget the windows need replacing is beyond me! The problem is they aren’t looking after the pounds — let alone the pennies.”

Cllr Merryweather said he wished to point out the “hard work and dedication of expert officers and independent professional advisers who… have secured the astonishing amount of £985,000”, said the council continued to look for more money. “In the meantime, we continue to explore additional funding opportunities for the project and other contingencies in order to mitigate, if not eliminate completely, any other costs.”

See also: Farnham Museum Repairs Approved