LETTER: Cost of sandwiches is nothing in comparison to other expenses

That is however a tiny sum compared to other aspects of council spending. 
For example the estimated costs of work on the town hall has soared from £850,000 to £2.74million and the estimated cost of demolishing the old Queen’s Park Leisure Centre (derelict for a year now) has already gone from £92,000 to £265,000. That massive 300 per cent increase in costs, before much of the work has even started, represents over £2m extra cost to the hard pressed taxpayers of Chesterfield, a much more worrying figure than £735. 
By way of comparison it would need a council tax increase of around 40 per cent or more to fill that particular hole in council finances.

Can the Derbyshire Times get any answers about why the council’s cost estimates have been so wildly inaccurate and how this unexpected black hole in council finances is to be filled? 
Even worse Christmas lights next year? More job losses? More council debt? 
Labour councillors can’t blame this one on Government cuts, in my view it is a massive failure entirely of their own making.

Tom Snowdon

Parliamentary spokesman,

Chesterfield Liberal 
Democrats