County council ends £2.6m school roof legal challenge
A local authority has confirmed it will not be taking legal action to recover the cost of replacing the roof of a special school which was built just ten years ago.
Isle of Anglesey County Council will not pursue legal action to recover the cost of a new roof for Canolfan Addysg y Bont, after receiving expert evidence.
A report presented to full Council earlier this month outlined potential legal avenues as it sought to recover the cost of replacing the failed sedum roof at the school in Llangefni.
Council reserves
Work to replace the roof had been completed in January 2023 at a cost of £2.6m, which had been paid from council’s reserves.
Specialist external solicitors were appointed to advise the Council on the prospects of recovering this expenditure, and independent expert evidence was commissioned.
Final expert evidence did not adequately support the Council’s case, and it was advised not to issue court proceedings as an unsuccessful challenge would risk significant legal fees.
Sagging
The new Canolfan Addysg y Bont school was completed in February 2014. In 2021, problems with the roof’s structure were detected and it began to sag. Further inspections concluded that the roof needed replacing.
Anglesey Council Chief Executive, Dylan J. Williams, said, “In light of current evidence, expert opinion and legal advice, the full Council agreed with the recommendation that any claim to recover the expenditure in replacing the school’s roof should not be pursued.”
“Current evidence suggests that the prospect of success was below 50%, and pursuing the claim further could involve substantial additional costs.”
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You cannot claim a ‘sedum roof’ is substandard as it’s performance depends on growing conditions, can be too dry or too wet or too windy and any supporting membrane subject to deterioration. One would have thought that a local authority in Wales would invest in a Welsh roof. That of slate. Lasts for hundreds of years with low carbon footprint. Too many wide eyed eco-shysters arrived in Wales with dogma. Similar disaster in the Llynfi valley in the south with eco-cladding.
My own Welsh Slate roof is certainly not going to last hundreds of years with plenty of work required on it, slates cracked or spririted away by the wind and thats 20 years after the last renovation.
Experts from the legal system paid to confirm that the legal system is at best not fit for purpose and at its worst a corrupt self serving cesspit.