Folkestone & Hythe Sports Centre Funding Farce

Plans for the proposed new Sports centres in Folkestone and Hythe are in crisis. The new facilities are to be funded using the Governments Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Scheme. However, changes to this very complex scheme have meant that at this late stage the Council will may not be able to produce enough funds to make the scheme possible.

Lib Dem Cllr Lynne Beaumont said:

"This is a farce. Over £600,000 of local council tax payers money has already been spent on the planning for these sports centres. The local ruling Conservatives and People First administration on Shepway District Council would like us to believe that they have only just realised that there is now a funding crisis.

"However, the change in the rules that sparked this crisis took place in December last year! How incompetent is this? Now valuable months have been lost."

"Shepway desperately needs these new centres. Coming on top of the continuing financial crisis in the recycling scheme, these latest revelations about the Sports Centres show that the ruling Conservatives & People First pact are not up to the job of fighting for local people and delivering the services that they need.

"Official statistics show that Shepway District Council is in the bottom 17 out of 238 District Councils when measuring financial management."