I MAY have been the dunce in the corner at school when it came to sums but I don’t think even I ever managed to get a total out by more than £15 million pounds.
That is the extraordinary extra sum that Dorset County Council is having to find to pay for the rebuilding of Queen Elizabeth's School in Wimborne, compared with the money it had initially earmarked.
Originally, the county’s contribution was due to be £4 million. Now it is nearly £20 million. Pinch me, someone.
Fifteen million pounds plus may be a mere drop in the ocean compared with the cost of the 2012 Olympics, for example, but it is one Everestic mountain of money as far as the rest of us are concerned. How did this happen?
When the QE school is built, no doubt the pupils there and their parents will be thrilled. It will be of “ground-breaking design” and represents “value for money for the children of Dorset,” according to the council leader. And the Dorset County Council cabinet say the soaring costs will have “no immediate impact”.
Hmm. I suspect the parents of children of Dorset who attend other schools will take some convincing. The knock-on effect of this apparently shocking overspend means that long-awaited improvements to other schools will be delayed.
As far as most Dorset council taxpayers are concerned, to justify this phenomenal fork-out the new QE school will certainly have to be more than just a “ground-breaking” building.
It will need to be the architectural equiv- alent of the Grand Canyon.
Congratulations to Prince Charles who is 60 today. People say it is hard to believe that the Queen’s eldest child can be that old already.
Not me. I’m just amazed he’s that young.
