Cambridgeshire busway's true legal costs remain a secret

The Cambridgeshire guided busway links Huntingdon, St Ives and Cambridge

More than £25m has been spent so far on legal disputes related to a guided busway, but the true cost to the taxpayer is to remain undisclosed.

The 16-mile (25km) Cambridgeshire guided busway opened in 2011 and is believed to be the world's longest.

But in the past decade, the county council has settled two High Court disputes with the constructor and is being prosecuted over three deaths.

The council said its most recent settlement secured the busway's future.

The busway links Huntingdon, St Ives and Cambridge and opened to passengers 12 years ago this summer following delays and financial rows.

In 2013, Cambridgeshire County Council accepted a £33m settlement following a legal dispute with constructor BAM Nuttall.

Earlier this month, a long-running dispute over millions of pounds worth of alleged defects was also settled between the two parties.

The council is being prosecuted in relation to the deaths of Steve Moir and Kathleen Pitts, who were killed on the same section of busway

Meanwhile, in May the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it would be criminally prosecuting the council following the deaths of three people and the serious injury of a teenager on the busway across six years.

Analysis of the council's transparency data showed £25.3m had been spent in total relating to legal costs linked to the busway.

The council said: "It is important to note that this figure includes VAT - meaning close to £5m of this sum has already been reclaimed by the authority from HM Revenue and Customs."

The local authority said as well as the High Court and ongoing health and safety proceedings, the costs also related to other legal matters "such as straightforward and non-contentious conveyancing and land law matters and insurance issues".

The authority said the High Court dispute costs "cover not just that spent on lawyers or legal opinion, but for the cost of expert opinion relating to the disputes such as engineering experts, project management professionals, quantity surveyors, and a considerable amount of this advice will have ongoing value to the council".

Asked how much of the legal costs have been reimbursed following the settlement of the High Court cases, the council said: "As we confirmed in our statement earlier this month about the successful conclusion of the final legal dispute with an out of court settlement, this was made on an undisclosed, confidential basis and we are unable to give further details of the terms, including whether or not, or the extent to which, this involved reimbursement of the council's legal costs.

"However, we can reiterate that this settlement gives the council the confidence it needed to secure the long-term future of the busway, at the best possible value to local taxpayers."