Manchester's new arts venue The Factory is ambitious. Now it's also 'eye-poppingly concerning'

A committee leader rounds on council staff over 'systematic' overspends

Sparks don’t usually fly at Manchester City Council’s Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee. But at yesterday’s meeting, the committee’s chair, Councillor Sarah Russell, gave every appearance of being extremely pissed off with the officers in charge of the council’s capital projects, which include the Abraham Moss leisure hub in Crumpsall, The Factory cultural complex in the city centre and dozens of smaller items.

Councillor Sarah Russell at yesterday’s meeting, which was held over video

She noted that the latest report tracking the progress of the council’s capital projects was effectively disguising big overspends by measuring progress against fairly recent cost estimates rather than the original budgets. With that, Russell - who is a high-flying employment solicitor by profession - put in a two-footed tackle on the council’s staff and senior leadership:

What we still don’t have - and what I have asked for so many times - is what the original budget was…

I want to know what t…