Cheshire West and Chester Council paid £8m in fees to consultants

Aug 10 2011 Ellesmere Port Pioneer

A TOTAL of £8m was spent on consultants by the cash-strapped Cheshire West and Chester Council last year.

The council had originally refused to answer a Freedom of Information request about consultancy fees, saying it would cost too much to compile the data, but was forced backtrack after The Chester Chronicle, the sister paper of the Pioneer, won on appeal.

A quarter of the total figure of £8,010,321 was charged by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (£2,406,722), whose work included a computer upgrade to introduce improved controls on spend and better compliance to good contracts.

Turner and Townsend, which gave ‘construction and build’ advice, charged £648,219 for projects, including a bid to the Homes and Communities Agency for a Gypsy and Traveller site grant.

BDP charged £228,763 for master-planning of projects including the controversial scheme to lay granite setts in front of the south transept of the cathedral.

Mott Macdonald Ltd was paid £133,261 as technical adviser on the setting up of the Ellesmere Port University Church of England Academy.

Survey Operations Ltd was paid £20,140 to carry out preparatory works on the same project.

The council previously revealed that in 2010 consultants working for PWC claimed a total of £292,471 for overnight accommodation, travel and meals although this will be an overestimate because some of the costs are shared with Cheshire East Council. CWaC estimates its element of the PWC’s expenses bill may be £196,471.