Anger as The Public swallows more cash

Controversial arts centre The Public cost Sandwell Council £5.8 million in construction costs in 2008/09, new figures reveal.

This is despite the fact that the building in West Bromwich has been completed and open to visitors for the last 13 months.

The figure excludes wages and running costs, covering only physical building works. According to Sandwell Council's statement of accounts the project was amongst the most costly in the borough last year.

Sandwell Council says the total amount of cash it has given to The Public is £18 million, which includes cash for running costs until 2011.

However critics of the £66 million gallery said that they now want to look at the figures more carefully due to the "unusually high" sum.

Councillor Tony Ward, leader of the Conservative opposition, said he did not understand how such a large amount of cash could have been spent on construction when the building was up and running.

He said: "If the council has only given £18 million overall – in the years and years it has taken the centre to be built – then it seems strange that a large proportion, almost a third, was spent when the arts centre was to all intents and purposes finished.

"I will be asking the council for a breakdown of exactly where all this money was spent. This is taxpayers' cash and people have a right to know where it is going."

Councillor Steve Eling, finance boss and deputy leader of Sandwell Council, said: "I don't have the full breakdown of where exactly cash was spent last year, but it could be that we were billed for work that was done at the end of financial year 2007/08 during 2008/09.

"This has been a complex project and the accounts show when cash allocations were spent, not when they were approved."

The council was left with responsibility for the centre in February this year after the Arts Council refused to back a new business plan.