The projects are among 12, together worth £2 billion, that have been slashed as part of the government’s public spending.
A further 12, worth £8.5 million have been suspended including Denton Corker Marshall’s Birmingham Magistrates Court, which as BD revealed earlier this month has been ‘indefinitely postponed’.
Speaking in the House of Commons today (Thursday) Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said that the projects did ‘not represent good value for money’.
“As a result of the poor decisions made by the previous government, I have taken the decision to cancel certain projects that do not represent good value for money, and suspend others pending full consideration in the spending review,” said Alexander.
“We have also found another spending black hole in the previous government’s plans – projects had been approved with no money in place to pay for them.”
Plans for the Stonehenge visitor’s centre at Airman’s Corner, which was due for completion in time for the 2012 Olympics, were finally revealed last year after decades of delays and a change of site. Until now, the government had been due to contribute £10 million towards the cost of the project.
DCMS projects being cancelled and the amount they will save are:
Libraries modernisation work – £2 million (per annum)
Find Your Talent – c £2 million
A Night Less Ordinary – c £0.1m
BFI Film Centre – £45 million
BFI archive digital access sub-project – £2.5 million
Stonehenge visitor centre – £17 million
Free swimming – £5 million (as part of a total saving of £40 million from the Free Swimming Programme funding across Government)
