Insurance claim successful over vandalised boundary wall at Biggleswade cemetery undergoing restoration work

Work can begin to repair a vandalised boundary wall at Drove Road Chapel in Biggleswade, after insurers paid out more than £5,000 to the town council.

A large section of the wall was taken down, along with hoardings put up in an adjacent garden and some fencing within the churchyard to protect people during its restoration, according to a report to the town council’s public land and open spaces committee.

It was noted that a further length of about three metres was leaning and would benefit from rebuilding, with a quote requested, said the report.

“An extra £10,490 costs was previously acknowledged for phase two to fund various items carried over from phase one, including tower windows and inflationary pressures.

“Prices for some items have further inflated since the summer, with an additional £4,764 requested from the external project manager.”

The claim over a section of the boundary wall knocked down in what appears to be vandalism was successful and the sum of money received, added the report.

Town clerk Peter Tarrant described it as one of the local authority’s “smaller projects” linked to public works loan board funding now, having progressed into year two.

A report is due to be presented to the town council on Tuesday (Nov 14th) when “it decides whether to proceed”, he explained.

“The one piece of good news is that monies have been received from our insurers of just over £5,000 and we can now put that wall back in its original state.

“The rest of the project schedule won’t be debated until Tuesday when you’ll have the precise information.”

Town councillor Michael North, who chairs the committee, said: “But this is a long-term scheme, which set out to be completed over three years.”

Town councillor Duncan Strachan referred to “a 40 per cent rise” in the phase two specification costs in terms of inflation, which he suggested “seems disproportionate”.

He added: “The potential for delay also concerns me because I don’t want to see further inflated costs as this is quite a dramatic increase.

“I’d like to know what’s the justification for these rising costs. if we put the council tax up by 40 per cent people would be screaming, so we should be doing something similar at this stage to at least understand the reasons why.”

Mr Tarrant agreed, saying: “When I looked at the costs, they’re very significant compared to the original budget estimate.

“A listed building expert is managing the project on our behalf. In the report to next week’s council meeting, I’ll be clear about what price inflation relates to and why. You can then tell him whether it’s reasonable.

“The original specification for this work goes back quite a period of time. It was thoughtfully put together. There was an element of price inflation with building materials post-Covid.

“Ideally you should go with fixed costs. At the time, it wasn’t perceived as an option. We may, of course, in future because at least then we can manage our outputs and know they won’t increase.”