Call for Enquiry into Needle 'Fiasco' (Andrew Simpson)

Call for Enquiry into Needle 'Fiasco'

February 7, 2008 11:00 PM

Needle Sculpture drawing Andrew Simpson, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Northampton North has called for a public enquiry into the handling of the proposed Needle sculpture in the town and for the WNDC to publish how much public money was spent in devising the aborted plan.

"There are clear lessons that need to be learned by all public authorities involved in this sculpture plan and people now need to be given the confidence that such a fiasco will not happen again in the future" said Andrew.

"A number of questions need to be answered such as:

• How much public money has been wasted on paying the architect and planners to draw up plans?

• What procedures will now be followed to ensure that this mistake does not happen again?

• Will WNDC now take more care in seeking local support for future schemes?"

Furthermore the County Council needs to explain how when their Deputy Leader was involved in the scheme from the outset it has taken them till now to decide to stop it."

Andrew Simpson has written to the Chief Executive of the WNDC asking him to confirm how much public money has been spent on the Needle plan.