BIRMINGHAM City Council has now spent more than £700,000 of taxpayers’ money on a set of scaffolding around a disused building.
The authority has lavished more than £12,000 a week on the scaffolding over the past six months to protect Harborne Clock Tower.
The former adult education centre closed last July after a survey revealed it was structurally unsafe due to the council’s failure to undertake maintenance and repairs over many years.
The Mail revealed last month that the council was spending huge sums on the scaffolding. At that point the sum was put at £400,000 but now the cost has been put at £700,000.
Harborne resident Harry Takhar, founder of a new political party called Impact, described the cost of the scaffolding as “scandalous”.
Mr Takhar, who contested Edgbaston at last year’s general election, said: “Many people are really concerned and regard this as a complete waste of money. It is unclear why the scaffolding in this case costs so much.
“I put out 300 leaflets about the clock tower and I have been inundated with emails and telephone calls. People are utterly disgusted.”
The council, which may have to make up to 7,000 redundancies to save cash, is now trying to buy the scaffolding around the venue in a bid to cut back on costs.
The Edgbaston constituency committee is conducting a consultation exercise into the future of the building. But it emerged at a city council meeting last week that the authority had not yet put the building up for sale.