THE final bill for a white elephant scheme to build a museum on Southend cliffs will cost in excess of £2.2million, it has been revealed.

Southend Council recently stated the cost of the current design for a museum intended to also shore up the crumbling cliffs, had cost council tax payers £1.5m. However, the cost of a previous design and an initial feasibility study was not revealed by the council despite it being asked to provide “costs to date”.

An FOI by the Echo has resulted in a break-down of the true costs of the now abandoned project.

Hawkins Brown Architects have so far been paid £1,122,125 and the council is currently in negotiations with Hawkins Brown regarding a final fee settlement. The maximum level of this fee would be £264,975. Of this money, the council says the architects would have received £467,500, with much the rest going on specialist engineers, landscapers and exhibition facilities.

A previous design by architects AEW, hired by the council to take the scheme up to a planning application, cost £765,000. They were appointed following an initial feasibility study with a price tag of £100,000 which concluded the cliffs were “the most appropriate location for the development of a new museum was within the area of the Cliffs Stabilisation.”

The council ditched the first scheme after the planning application was rejected and has now overturned the findings of the feasibility study in favour of providing a museum in a more central area of the town.

In addition the council will now have to find ??/ to stabilise the cliffs on Western Esplanade.

While the council says it had not intended to mislead the public by not revealing the cost of previous plans, those who campaigned to keep the Saxon King remains In Priory Park, near to where they were found.

A spokesman for the Saxon King in Priory Park committee said: “We are shocked by the level of Southend tax payer’s money that the council has wasted on the project. However, it is a sad indictment of the council that we are frankly not surprised in the least. They have never shown any due care with the people of Southend’s money when it comes to this woeful endeavour and have consistently not revealed to the public the financial cost of their white elephant since its inception a decade ago.”

The council said it had finally ditched the project after learning it would cost £55million rather than the expected £40million.

It is now looking for another location suitable for housing the significant finds from the Saxon King burial ground and the London Shipwreck.

James Courtenay, councillor responsible for growth, said: “The museum project was intentionally ambitious as it was hoped to be the centrepiece of the seafront’s regeneration as well as a permanent home for the historically significant Prittlewell Prince finds and, more recently, The London shipwreck.

“However, times have changed considerably since the museum project was first suggested in 2007. There has been a recession and austerity. Councils and other potential funders have less resource and the costs of delivery have risen considerably in the past 11 years."

Mr Courtenay added: “It is right that we continue to seek a new permanent home for the Prittlewell Prince and the London Shipwreck but not at any cost. We want to see a more central location and a smaller price tag. We took the right decision to stop incurring costs when we did.

"I want to see a project brought forward that is realistic, deliverable and supports the sustainability of our town’s central area.”

A council spokesman said: "We made clear that the costs given were for the past three years and for the current project only. The costs of the initial project were, and are, a matter of public record and have never been secret."

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Campaign group SKIPP has repeated its call for the Saxon King remains to be located in Priory Park.

The group said on Wednesday: "There can’t be many people, that take an interest in local affairs, who are not aware of SKIPP’s plans for a Saxon village on a brownfield site in Priory Park but it seems they are all in the council! This is wilful ignorance on their part as we have tried for ten years to put our money making plans to them.

"Now the latest sally from the councillor James Courtney involves suggesting that the village would take up parkland. It would be on the site of an old depot and that a large extra car park would need to be built. If he visited Sutton Hoo he would see that we already have an adequate car park in Priory Park. People do not all come at once. "

The group added: "He studiously ignores the crucial question of proximity to the actual burial ground being the major draw when he advocates the High Street as a potential site. He also ignores the British Museum’s requirements for a facility to house the Saxon King’s treasures to be purpose built and the huge costs this involves. Another reason the High Street is out of the question.

"Will the council draw the town into yet another failure?"

In response, Mr Courtenay said: "I have previously explained how I do not think that a Saxon Village in Priory Park is a suitable solution and how I’d want any new museum plans to be more centrally located. However, the fact of the matter is that we do not yet have a new location in mind and nothing has been ruled in or out.”