A TORY councillor has demanded to know how an extra £1m was allowed to be “whisked through” and added to the budget of a car park building project before work has started - without approval from the full council.

Councillor Ian Galletley questioned the process for expanding the budget for the Darlington Borough Council-funded multi-storey car park over the Christmas period, signed off by council leader Bill Dixon.

The initial budget for the 650-space multi storey car par, in Beaumont Street, was set at £7m, with the actual cost expected to be £6.7m.

However, the council said that inflation in the construction industry and the need for a contingency budget has pushed the budget up to £7.5m.

Cllr Dixon made an “urgent decision” as leader of the authority to add £1m to the budget, with the decision confirmed by members of the council’s cabinet on January 6.

However, Cllr Galletley, a Conservative councillor, speaking at a meeting of the full council, questioned why the decision to expand the budget was “rushed through”.

“The multi-storey car park is not a bad thing, the Conservative group support its development," he said. “But how can you underestimate the costs to this order?

“How can it [the extra funding] be of so little importance that it can just be whisked through?

“The council leader said, ‘We’ve just got to have it’ – well by jove, you got it through.

“No-one seems to care that that degree of mistake was made.”

In response, Cllr Dixon said: “We’ve discussed at length as a council the need for a multi-storey car park.The original costings were done in 2012-13 and a lot has happened since then.

“In particular we had a lot of consultation with local businesses, including those that back on the car park site, and based on what they said, changes were made.

“We were faced with a situation just before Christmas where either I increased the budget or we waited for it to go through the sausage machine, which would have delayed building work and meant it would not be ready for this Christmas.

“I knew that if I agreed to increase the budget people would have a go at me but I also knew that if I didn’t, that when it came to Christmas this year, even more people would have a go at me.

“It was necessary to do it and I do not accept that it was done in a cloak and dagger fashion.”