FAILURE to secure a contractor for improvement projects within Moffat’s Station Park, after five years of delays, has left community councillors exasperated.
The community was awarded £100,000 worth of funding five years ago from the Clyde Windfarm and match funding. It was supposed to be used for a bridge from the Co-op into the park. However, the bridge project did not go ahead and the scheme was instead revamped to include a boardwalk. After lengthy consultations with the community, Dumfries and Galloway Council took the project out to tender but received no response.
The nil result has infuriated Moffat and District Community Council (MDCC) treasurer David Booth, who said at Tuesday night’s meeting:
“We found another reputable supplier who put in for tender but the council told us that we couldn’t use this contractor because they weren’t on the approved list of contractors, and that was the end of the conversation.
“I find this unbelievable, we have £100,000 that we want to spend on the park but we can’t. There needs to be a way within the tendering process that if you get a nil response you can do something else, because it’s complete nonsense to just sit and do nothing.
“The good people of Moffat went out and got this funding so the least the council can do is find a contractor after five years of delay.”
MDCC chair Liam O’Neill added: “We know that the approved list of contractors is there for a very good reason, but it has left us in a difficult spot because none of the approved contractors have taken on the tender. But what else are we supposed to do? Just forget about this project?”
In response to the community councillors, Annandale North Councillor Stephen Thompson said: “This has been raised with both Councillor Davis and myself, and it has been passed on to the appropriate officials.
“I completely agree with what you’ve said, if you got a bullet proof process that doesn’t yield any results there has to be a what then.”
