Legal action on the Floating Bridge has been delayed — due to COVID-19.
In an update about the troubled vessel at Tuesday’s corporate scrutiny committee, Isle of Wight Council leader Dave Stewart said a new date for the case has yet to be set.
The case was due to be heard on 25th January but was deferred for at least 3 weeks due to COVID and other health issues which have impacted ‘several’ representatives from one of the parties involved in the mediation.
A ‘substantial claim’ has been submitted by the council for all of the performance issues the Floating Bridge 6 has faced since it was put in the water in May 2017, with the vessel, at the moment, being frequently taken out of service for repairs.
A council report from September last year first mentioned the authority had taken pre-action procedures, as set out in its contracts, with the builder and designer of Floating Bridge 6.
The council said it considers all the problems the vessel suffered ‘are a result of the failure of the two companies … to comply with the council’s requirements’.
Court proceedings have also not been ruled out if the discussions do not conclude with a ‘satisfactory’ remedy for the losses suffered.
Not a lot has been said about the proceedings, including the council’s potential fix to the vessel’s problems (side thrusters), as it is all subject to the legal action.
The most significant issue with the vessel, according to council officers, is its ability to achieve the desired clearance over the chains at certain tides.
So what is this “legal action” if not “court proceedings”? Will Dynamic Dave send a polite letter asking for our money back?
Something rather unusual going on here. Not the delay or any reason for it. But the original procurement exercise
When the council decided there was a need for a replacement floating bridge, whatever that reason. The council would have worked out what they wanted from the craft and how much they wanted to spend.
The council then would get approvals for the project. Next call in the EXPERTS, marine engineers would be one of them, among others. The council should have not been involved in this process of the design work.
Unless of course they had on board their own EXPERTS. Mmmm.
Next stage design and cost approved by the council. Next stage. Order goes out to tender. The engineers should check whether the tendering companies are capable of actually producing the vessel on time and within budget, and to specification.
Order placed with chosen company , job done. SOMEBODY SCREWED UP ???
Somebody in County Hall knows where the bodies are buried in this, and that person/persons will be protected to the last.
Any “legal action” is doomed to fail because full facts will never be exposed. But Duplicitous Dave and “I’m an engineer, you know” Ward will keep spending our money to make it look as though they tried.
I bet all the extra cash spent by island tax payers won’t be returned in the form of council tax cuts or better services. I wouldn’t be surprised if any recompense due will disappear without a trace.
So yet another excuse for this totally incompetent council do do anything except continuing to squander our money. Why can we not get rid of ALL of them and have someone who actually knows how to conduct themselves and provide value for money. Someone with a business brain, not like the like the lot we have now, live on tax payers money with no come back.