CASH-STRAPPED Ceredigion County Council will have to pay an additional £57,000 to pay for extensions to schools in Llanilar and Comins Coch.

Schemes for the two schools have been supported by the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools funding programme.

However, the council is funding half of the cost of the two projects, and Cabinet members have heard that the cost of the schemes have soared after a tender was held which came back with prices more than £100,000 more than was initially estimated.

Chief executive Eifion Evans said that increase had been because of increased cost of materials and warned that future council building projects could find that building costs have increased due to higher prices of materials.

Cllr Ceredig Davies questioned whether the increase meant there was an issue with the council’s quantity surveying, Mr Evans said this was the first recent council scheme that had seen such issues.

Extensions are needed at both schools after the council admitted that there was not enough space in either school.

Pupils at Llanilar have to be taught in the school hall and Comins Coch school have to teach children in a staff room because of a lack of classroom space.

While the council had estimated that the two extension schemes would cost £803,243, the actual tender price that was put forward was for £918,013, an increase of £114,770. Of that increase, the Welsh Government has agreed to meet half of the amount, a total of £57,385, but the council will have to pay the other half.

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