Westminster City Council's new waste depot at Mandela Way, Southwark, will include vehicle storage for recycling and refuse collection vehicles, electric charging infrastructure, a maintenance workshop, and staff welfare facilities, once complete. But Fitzrovia News is reporting that, in a Cabinet Member report published this month, the project's cost has climbed from an original £6.6 million estimate to over £13.5 million, more than double the initial figure.
Council Leader Cllr Paul Swaddle has laid the blame squarely with the previous Labour administration, saying "same old Labour cannot be trusted with public money" after it signed off the scheme without adequately checking ground conditions at the site. Work on the depot must be finished by September 2027 to meet the start of the council's new waste contract, and the funding decision remains subject to a call-in period ending 3 September.
Westminster Council waste depot to cost nearly £7mn more than planned
Westminster City Council Leader Paul Swaddle said:
“Labour signed off Mandela Way without ever checking the ground it was built on. Nobody did the basic homework, and Westminster taxpayers are now footing an extra £7.97mn bill for it, taking the previous Labour administration’s total waste to £56mn.
“That is taxpayers’ money that could have gone towards delivering A City That Works for All: safe streets, a clean city and local services that residents rely on.
“This is at the same time as the Labour government is slashing £100mn from the council’s budgets. Time and again, our review proves the same thing: same old Labour cannot be trusted with public money.”
You can read Katherine Gray's article in full on Fitzrovia News' website here.
