Foster demands Ministerial apology for 'uninformed, erroneous and unhelpful' Spa comments

6.01.44pm GMT Thu 10th Feb 2005

Bath's MP, Don Foster, has written to the Minister for Construction, Nigel Griffiths MP, following his visit to the Bath Spa, to demand an apology for his "bull in a china shop approach" which was "uninformed, erroneous and unhelpful."

The text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Minister,

Visit to the Bath Spa and comments about Bath & North East Somerset Council

I am at a loss to guess what prompted your unhelpful intervention in Bath earlier this week and why you chose to comment so publicly on matters well beyond your portfolio. I can only assume you have been either deliberately misled or badly briefed.

On a radio interview on the "Today" programme the day after your visit you claimed that "the council had stopped the press and the TV cameras going in, and I now know why." You repeated the same assertion later in the interview. Yet it is simply untrue. It was Mowlem (the contractors) who had prevented the visit by journalists. You were notified, before your visit, of this fact, in writing from the Chief Executive, yet chose to ignore it and give an incorrect and damaging account of what happened.

Your claims that Bath and North East Somerset Council is most incompetent fly in the face of the results of government-sponsored inspections. CPA results demonstrate that the Council is highly competent and this is confirmed by a range of other accolades including Beacon Status, Investors in People and PFI awards.

Prior to your visit you were also advised that negotiations between the architects (Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners), Mowlem and the Council were at their most delicate.

Your 'bull in a china shop' approach may well have caused irreparable damage and set the project back still further.

It should be noted, for example, that just days before your visit both Mowlems and Grimshaws had commented on the current problem of leaking floors. Mowlems said, "This is a design issue" whereas Grimshaws said, "We are now faced with workmanship problems on the floors." This alone should have alerted you to the "civil war" between architect and contractor and the need for caution in any comments.

So it was extremely surprising that you seemed to have placed enormous weight on the Mowlem proposal. In your "Today" programme interview you stated, "Unless they (the council) accept the solution and agreement with the contractors (Mowlem) it won't be open this year, and possibly not next year."

Had you been properly briefed you would have known that on the day of your visit the council had received NO specific details of the Mowlem proposal despite having requested them 10 days earlier. But a study of the outline of the deal, which was public, should have made you more cautious than you were. For example, I understand Mowlem originally quoted £11 million to build the Spa. The Council has now paid them £14.5 million. An offer to finish the job for £26 million (and drop all claims against them) is one that doesn't look likely to offer good value for money.

No doubt the Council will be raising these and other issues with you directly - which is only right and proper.

I believe that you owe the council an apology for your uninformed, erroneous and unhelpful comments.

I also hope that if you visit my constituency again (in any role) you take greater care in finding out the truth and listen to more than one side of the argument before running off to the media.

Given the public nature of your comments, I am circulating this to the media that covered your visit.

Don Foster

MP for Bath