TAXPAYERS’ cash is being squandered because the council is having a set of paving stones layed twice.

The council’s commercial wing has been ordered to rip up a string of paving stones in the town centre and re-set them, because they were done so badly in the first place.

The stones, on Farnsby Street, close to Wharf Green, cost £70,000 to put in the first place, as part of a £400,000 revamp of the area which began in February and included filling in the subway.

Around a quarter of them have to be redone because they do not come up to scratch.

Although the council said it is passing on the costs to its contractor, the contractor is actually Swindon Commercial Services, a company wholly owned by the council.

So this ultimately means Swindon council taxpayers are going to lose out anyway.

Councillor Derique Montaut (Lab, Central), who represents the area, said: “It’s absolute madness, and a complete waste of public money.

“Whatever the reason, somebody has to be responsible. It’s public money and it’s gone down the drain. We can’t afford to make mistakes like this.

“What you’ve got is a situation with highways and pavements that there’s an increasing trend of people claiming against the authorities, both locally and nationally.

“But to repave it, they’ve messed up.”

The council said in a statement: “The paving was installed as part of the infilling of the subway and public realm improvements to Farnsby Street.

“The work has been undertaken to open up the entrance to the town centre, which ties in with other public realm improvements to make the town centre more inviting.

“Unfortunately around a quarter of the paving was not laid to an acceptable standard, and we are carrying out remedial work to address this.

“The work is being paid for by our contractor.”

Shadrack Mureithi from Keningtons, which manages the covered market on the corner of Farnsby Street, said: “If they had done it right the first time, then they wouldn’t have to do it again.

“They’ve wasted money that has been paid for by local residents through the council tax and business rates. They should have got it right the first time.”

SCS was contacted by the Adver but at time of writing no-one was available to comment.

The council said it is expected that all of the work will be finished by the end of the month.