Bradford Council’s regeneration chief insists efforts have been made to bring down the costs of City Park – including importing stone from the continent.

The Telegraph & Argus exclusively revealed last week that the chairman of a watchdog committee, Councillor Andrew Mallinson, said he feared the project, which is more than two months behind schedule, was as much as £4 million over budget.

Building materials have been imported instead of being sourced locally, angering some councillors who argue the transportation of stone from overseas was unnecessary when high-quality Yorkshire stone is readily available.

But Barra Mac Ruairi, the Council’s strategic director for regeneration and the economy, said it had been cheaper to import the material from thousands of miles away than sourcing it in this country.

The imported materials have come from Italy and China.

He said: “We have to purchase building materials at a competitive price and sometimes this means buying outside the district to ensure value for money and appropriateness of material.

“While it was possible to source a local Yorkstone, it was at a significant additional cost over imported stone. Because of the cost premium of local stone over imported, we had to make a decision whether to use imported natural stone or locally-sourced concrete materials."

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