Nirah aquarium: Recovery of £5m in taxpayers' money to be 'minimal'

The Nirah aquarium project was supposed to have been built by 2012

There will be "minimal recovery" of about £5m of taxpayers' money spent on a shelved £600m aquarium, administrators have said.

A Bedfordshire quarry once earmarked as the home of the National Institute for Research into Aquatic Habitats (Nirah) has been sold off.

Administrators said minimal debts would be recovered, including money owed to the government and local councils.

The aquarium, planned to be built in Stewartby, had been approved in 2007.

Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire councils are owed at least £1.6m, with the government owed more than £3.5m for the project.

The aquarium, originally expected to cost £375m, was mooted as a scientific research centre and visitor attraction four times the size of the Eden Project in Cornwall.

It was supposed to have been built in 2012, but planning permission expired last September.

The government originally loaned £2m to the project, but a BBC Freedom of Information request showed this had increased with interest to more than £3.5m.

The former Bedfordshire County Council had loaned Nirah £1.6m.

It is not known how much interest had accumulated on that loan, now owed to Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire councils.

'Never seen again'

In a statement, administrators Moorfields Corporate Recovery said it had completed the sale of the Quest Pit site.

The BBC understands the quarry has been purchased by a company called Quest Pit Ltd, fronted by two bankers.

Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, said she always knew the final outcome would be "no Nirah and a loss to the taxpayer".

Elstow parish councillor Tony Hare said the loss of money was "disgusting".

He said: "I have thought for quite a long time this money would never be seen again and that is the case."

A government spokesman said it was "disappointing the vision to bring the NIRAH project to Bedfordshire did not become a reality".