Political fall-out over 9.3m final bill for Bradford Council office block refurbishment

And a sculpture being created for its entrance was commissioned at a cost of £15,000.

Opposition groups at Bradford Council have heavily criticised the spending on the building, now called Margaret McMillan Tower, with Tory leader Simon Cooke calling it "quite frankly very hard to defend".

But the commissioning of the sculpture has also generated a debate on the value of public art in times of austerity, with the artist behind it speaking passionately about what art brings to a city.

The former Central Library was condemned as a fire risk in 2011 but after a major refurbishment it has now become the new home of the council's children's services department.

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The project aimed to save money in the long run by reducing the authority's reliance on leased buildings while at the same time pulling more staff into the city centre to boost trade.

But the Labour-led authority had already faced fierce criticism for fitting colour-changing lights on the top of the building at a cost to the taxpayer of £13,000.

A Freedom of Information request has now revealed the total cost of the refurbishment project was £9.3m - against an original council estimate of £8m.

Cllr Cooke, said the spending on Margaret McMillan Tower was particularly difficult to defend when the Labour-led council was complaining about cuts, adding that, in his view, the building still fell short of council requirements.

He said: "You can defend investing in an office block and the 'spend to save' strategy, but when you have £13,000 on red lights and £15,000 on a statue, and when you go in the conference room and there isn't even a PA system, it's not only been an enormously expensive project but actually it's not achieving what Bradford Council needs."

Cllr Cooke said he understood money set aside for capital projects could not be spent on services, but said there were still better uses for capital funding, such as improving roads or schools.

He said: "There's a whole pile of things we could have spent this money on and instead we have chosen to spend it on accommodation of staff."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: "Even now, they continue to spend money without even any concern about what it looks like to the public. They have got brand new offices all over the place.

"I am speechless that in a city where so many children don't do well at school, that so many people and their families are struggling, we continue to spend on these sorts of projects.

"It is almost like the council feels it is some sort of property developer and not a deliverer of public services."

But the council's deputy leader, Councillor Val Slater, defended the spending.

She said: "That was an empty building that was costing us an awful lot of money to maintain. We no longer have that maintenance.

"Whatever the use of that building would have been, we still would have had the cost of stripping out all the old stuff, like asbestos.

"It is part of our strategy to reduce the council's estate and increasing footfall in the centre."

Cllr Slater said the sculpture, meanwhile, had been jointly funded by the council and the Government through the Regional Growth Fund, a £10m pot of cash which had also paid for new pavements and public realm work across the city.

The Baby of the North, which is being constructed from remnants of Bradford's textile history, will stand 3.5m high when installed and will provide a focal point at the entrance to the building.

Cllr Slater said the decision to commission the sculpture had been taken some years ago, and its planned location outside the Margaret McMillan building was chosen later.

Cllr Slater said: "If we were taking decisions in the current climate, we may have come up with a different direction, but having started doing work, you can't just pull the plug. When you are looking at a local artist that works in sculpture, particularly, they work in expensive materials.

"I know public art is always difficult. People's perceptions on what should and shouldn't be spent on art often differ, and people's tastes differ.

"I hope when this sculpture goes up that people will look at it. I'm sure it will raise lots of comments and there will be differing views but I'm sure it will initiate debate.

"It will get people talking about and thinking about art. Even in times of austerity I think art and having things people can appreciate - or not, as the case may be - is as important.

"And when you talk about education and children's futures, I think art has a big part to play in this."

The artist behind the new sculpture has also defended the value of his work and spoken out abut the benefits of art in general.

Haworth-based artist Craig Dyson, 26, said the sculpture had a powerful message about the ambition of youth, and stressed the large-scale community work that had played a big part in the design process.

He said: "It has been a huge community project, that has involved hundreds in the Bradford community, to create a sculpture that means something to them and to just get them involved in something that is going to be a public piece."

Mr Dyson said spending on public art was "probably an absolute fraction" of spending in other areas, which were perhaps not as visible or interesting to critique.

"The bottom line is it's an easy target," he said.

"The other thing is, I donated a lot of my own material to this project because I thought that it was worth it, material I have been collecting since I was a lad.

"Old weaving components, old looms, that's what the Baby is made out of. It is the foundation of Bradford."

Mr Dyson added that public art was hugely important to a place and its people.

He said: "Art can have such a profound impact on an area, it can have such a powerful message for people. Art has done some incredible things around the world."

The artwork is due to be installed shortly, before being officially unveiled at a ceremony on May 21.