FOLLOWING last week’s revelations about a £50,000 Isle of Wight Council contract with international architect Sir Terry Farrell, the council has admitted no workshops were held with the public.
Sir Terry was hired as the the Island’s design champion by ex-council chief executive Joe Duckworth and was given a brief to help shape future development on the Island.
The council blamed the recession on the need to change how that brief was carried out.
Two years on, and almost a year after the 12-month Farrells contract ended, a draft design manifesto is still up to nine months from completion and is largely made up of vague headings, unauthorised pictures and gibberish text, known as lorum ipsum.
As part of its brief, Farrells was asked to provide quarterly 'documents to summarise key project milestones’.
Last week the council said further documents were not available at the time of going to press but this week it said those documents did not exist and there had been no presentations to stakeholders, as originally planned.
The council also admitted plans for a series of workshops hosted by the firm were scrapped.
Chief executive Steve Beynon said: "As the economic realities became apparent, it also became clear the initial objectives that formed part of the Farrells brief would be unrealistic as the country entered a recession.
"Therefore the focus of Farrell’s brief changed to reflect a more functional use of his expertise. This meant the planned series of workshops was not necessary.
"As stated last week, we are grateful Farrells has agreed to continue to offer informal advice as we continue in the process of formulating an Island Plan. The advice will benefit the council in an area that is relevant to its current activity and also to ensure the contact overall provides good value for money."
Following last week’s County Press revelations, Northwood House trustee Elizabeth Campbell said they invited Sir Terry and his team to look at the landmark building, which has fallen into disrepair and faces an uncertain future.
"I had made sure all of the trustees went to the Eco-Island conference to hear their presentation, I wrote twice to Farrells and asked them to come and meet the trustees and we did not even get a reply," said Ms Campbell.
Reporter: ross.findon@iwcp.co.uk