Newcastle council bosses will not try to claw back any funding from a construction firm stripped of a multi-million pound building contract – and admit they face escalating costs to complete the unfinished developments.
A controversy has emerged this month over the local authority’s dealings with housebuilder Orca LGS Solutions, which has links to the city council’s leader. The North Shields-based firm had been appointed in 2019 to build modular homes in Gosforth and Throckley, but Newcastle City Council cancelled the deal last month due to the company “not meeting required contractual performance”.
The episode has sparked questions over the company’s ties to city Labour chief Nick Kemp, who is known to have lobbied civic centre officials on Orca’s behalf in the past, while opposition councillors have now called for an investigation to be launched. It can be revealed that the council already paid Orca more than £2m for the works, which include an incomplete housing development at Aln Crescent in Gosforth, none of which it will attempt to claim back.
