FEARS that a multi-million pound art gallery could be swept away by a freak storm lay behind Kent County Council’s decision to scrap the Turner Centre, a long-awaited report has revealed.

A report on what went wrong for what had been hailed as an iconic gallery in Thanet has finally been published, nine months after Kent County Council first announced it was pulling the plug.

It was aborted in February after estimated construction costs for the Margate gallery soared to nearly £40million - nearly double the original estimate.

The eight-page report was released to the Thanet Extra/Kent Messenger Group following a request we made under the Freedom of Information Act.

But while the report sets out some details of what went wrong and catalogues a series of problems and wrangles over the design, it omits to say how much senior county councillors knew about design changes that meant costs spiralled from £18million to £39million in a matter of just months.

And it also reveals Kent County Council still does not know whether it will be able to recover a single penny of the £8million of taxpayers’ money spent on the failed project from contractors and consultants because a separate report on the prospects of taking legal action has not yet been completed.

The report reveals how Edmund Nuttall Ltd, the company contracted by Kent County Council, believed the steel structure’s iconic sail shaped design and exposed position in the sea meant it was “insufficiently robust to cope with the major wind and wave pressures to which the gallery building would be subjected.”

As a result and “after much debate...they [ENL] decided to redesign the gallery building steel structure to strengthen it significantly” to improve its prospects of withstanding the potentially devastating impact of an extreme North Sea storm.

These changes meant an additional 1,200 tonnes of steel were needed to reinforce the gallery, pushing the costs up by £4.7million.

That figure was pushed up even further when it was agreed a bridge on the pier linking to the gallery would also need reinforcing to survive a worst-case scenario storm.

But even those costs were overshadowed by the additional £5.7million Edmund Nuttall said was needed to create the foundations in the sea bed.

According to KCC’s report, the initial design envisaged piles up to 20 metres deep but that then became 45 metres - even though no tests had been carried out on whether it was technically feasible to do so.

Other problems singled out included an additional £1.8million on construction costs.

But while the costs were a signficant part of the problem, the project seemed beset by smaller problems. A special paint that was to be used on the outside if the building had no warranty and could not therefore be guaranteed.

Reaction to the report was mixed. County council chiefs were adamant they had taken appropriate advice from their professional advisers and had not ignored potential pitfalls.

Cllr Mike Hill (Con), KCC cabinet member for communities, said: “It is difficult to know where we went wrong or even if we went wrong at all. We really do not feel we made mistakes and we took advice from some of the best professionals in the world. Their advice was the structure was buildable and affordable within our budget.”

He added: “Once you have accepted a design, you are in a difficult position because you cannot change it. Our view is that somebody did make mistakes and we ought to see if we can claim some recompense. It is very disappointing and I am very cross that we have lost money.”

But Margate county councillor Clive Hart said he could “weep for the town.”

“The report sums up just how huge a pipe dream the first gallery effort really was. It was just an ego trip for architects and the Tory leadership at both KCC and Thanet council were completely taken in by it all.”

“Absolutely no-one at KCC listened to the vast amount of knowledge and experience of local people when the first design was put together. Anyone who tried to bring any reality to bear was labelled as negative and dismissed outright.”

Thanet council leader Sandy Ezekiel said criticisms levelled at the district council should take into account that the previous Labour administration were also involved in the Turner scheme.

“They may complain now but they were heavily involved with the project from the start and publicly stated their full support on many occasions.

“People should stop complaining about what has already happened - bold steps to forge ahead with a revised Turner are well under way and are being closely monitored. I am sure it will be a success.”