Mayor's U-turn over culture-quarter plan
THE new Mayor has been forced to backtrack on an election pledge to dump Doncaster's planned Civic and Cultural Quarter scheme after finding it would cost the town too much to axe the project.
Peter Davies has blamed the "scorched earth" policy of his predecessor Martin Winter for signing contracts for the huge Waterdale development just a month before he left office.
After meeting his Cabinet, it was unanimously agreed to commit to the first phase of the 300 million CCQ development, which will see the old Doncaster College and Beechfield School buildings demolished within the next few months.
Mr Davies said: "I have looked into the Civic and Cultural Quarter that the previous mayor and council signed up to on April 24. To pull out of this legally binding contract at this stage would cost the taxpayer as much as 25 million in compensation.
"One of my key election pledges was not to waste public money and I have decided that the most prudent decision is to endorse this scheme that levers in massive private sector funding and hopefully brings significant benefits for Doncaster residents.
"I have reservations about the viability of the cultural venue but since the contract has been signed with the developers we must now get right behind the project."
Mr Davies said he did not know contracts were already signed when he drew up his English Democrats election manifesto, which referred to "idiotic schemes like the CCQ".
He added: "I was left with a fait accompli and had to decide, do we axe it, which would cost between 8 million and 25 million, or do we bite the bullet. We have no alternative but to make progress."
But the appearance of the project is expected to change before building begins next year. Mr Davies has told the architects to remove some of the angles and round off some of the edges on the civic centre and change some of the exterior materials.
The first phase of the groundbreaking project includes Doncaster's first civic square and additional public areas, new civic offices, a new performance venue and housing. With plans to make Waterdale pedestrian friendly, College Road will be opened up to Chequer Road to redirect traffic around the area.
It is anticipated the project will lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs for the borough.
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