THE £40 million project to redevelop the King Alfred has been hit by a six month delay

Continuing discussions over legal, financial and contractual issues have put back completion of the contract between the city council, developers and the construction company for the leisure centre rebuild.

And this means the public consultation, which should be starting now, will not happen until spring next year.

Conservative councillor Robert Nemeth said: “It bothers me hugely that, on top of the secrecy that the public has had to endure, there are now delays.

“Some horse-play is to be expected but not to the degree that we are now seeing.

“The Labour administration will have a lot to answer for if it progress is not made sharpish.”

Charity boss Rob Starr, behind the winning bid to redevelop the Hove seafront site, has expressed his frustration at a six month delay in the major regeneration project.

Mr Starr said meetings are being held to discuss legal, financial and contractual issues and that it was hoped that the project contract will be ready to sign by the end of October.

He said: “I will always be frustrated by things not happening immediately.

“We were awarded the contract in January and now it is October so it would be great to be getting on with the project, every day that goes by we could be on the site doing the job.

“We’re keen to speak to the public and get the consultation all done because we want to know what we are going to develop.

“But we are not behind with the developer date, our expectation was always the end of 2020 and that is what we are working towards for completing the project.”

He said there would always be a sense of frustration that the project for a new leisure centre and 560 homes was not beginning immediately.

But the businessman wants to reassured residents that the extended wait in going out to public consultation will not delay the 2020 completion date for the project.

Opposition councillors have raised concerns about delays to the vital scheme and are calling for quicker progress.

The Starr Foundation and Crest Nicholson were selected as preferred bidders in January and the original project timeline proposed public consultations launching in the “second half of 2016” and a planning application submitted early next year.

Those timescales have now been revised with the consultation not starting until the spring with an application expected in the summer.

The King Alfred project is no stranger to delays – in 2013 the council project board proposed that a planning application for the new leisure centre development could be submitted by April 2015 with work potentially starting in April 2017.

Mr Starr said it was better that the project went a little slower and more cautiously at the start to avoid problems that could cause delays further down the line.

The city council did not provide a comment in time for publication after being contacted yesterday.

Also read: The Argus leader column - Delays are no shock