Town's £4.7m market has £450k overspend - council

The borough council's new canopied market partly on the same site as the previous one

A council has said it would investigate the rise in costs on a £4.7 million market regeneration project.

The £450,000 overspend on the rebuild of Great Yarmouth's market was revealed during a meeting of the borough council's scrutiny committee.

The sum was used to amend the original plan, strengthen foundations and cover the inflationary increase in the cost of materials

The Norfolk council said it was aware of the additional expenditure as it happened and it dismissed claims that the contract had not been signed.

The fully-occupied building will soon be officially opened

Chief executive Sheila Oxtoby said she had asked for a report into the increased costs because there were "some items that led to cost delays and cost increases that could and should have been foreseen in our opinion".

She added that while there were some delays in signing the contract with the contractor, "it was signed a long time ago".

The building work is now complete and the fully-occupied market would soon be officially opened, she said.