The Labour Leader of Milton Keynes City Council has issued a statement in response to MK Conservatives, who have attacked money spent and lack of progress on the regeneration of Wolverton's Agora site.
In a statement, Cllr Pete Marland refuted that huge costs are being incurred by the taxpayer, and said: “Regenerating the Agora site in Wolverton has been a long process, and dates back decades. I share the frustration of local residents and that is why the council has published this update, so everyone can understand what is happening.
"I am very pleased that the council, under a Labour administration, are now in the final stages of securing a building contractor for the site at a viable cost. The main aim of the scheme is to help further regenerate Wolverton and the plan is to bring forward a formal decision on the contract and funding in March, with site work hopefully starting in the spring.
"As a regeneration project it is important that the proposed scheme is built to a high standard," Cllr Marland said, "Lessons have been learned from other places where one low quality building has replaced another just for the sake of doing something. While some compromises have to be made, we won’t compromise on getting it right in Wolverton after the town has waited so long for things to happen.
"It is strange the MK Conservatives oppose investment into Wolverton town centre and their attacks on the scheme show they clearly don’t understand how regeneration and construction works.
"After Covid, the war in Ukraine and the Conservatives tanking the economy - the viability of getting small regeneration schemes built outside of prime city centre locations has been next to impossible, with inflation in the building industry running in double digits. Council officers and the proposed contractor have worked miracles by even getting to the point where they can hopefully progress with the physical build in the spring, the council will own the asset and the financial model shows that the council will earn back a profit on the scheme.
"Far from being a cost to the taxpayer, the scheme is a wise investment in regenerating Wolverton," Cllr Marland added.
