RISING costs have added £1.4million to the £7.7m redevelopment of the Poole Museum site.

Councillors are being told that the gap is likely to be met with contributions from a developer’s levy fund and extra grants.

To date the majority of the costs have been met from £4.4m in grants and £2.15m directly, or in loan guarantees, from BCP Council.

A report attributes the rise in costs partly to changes in the scheme for the three Poole Museum buildings and from rising costs caused by a combination of Brexit and Covid.

Other council-backed schemes have seen increases in construction costs of up to 20per cent which, in at least one housing scheme, has resulted in a reduction in the size of development to keep within budget.

A BCP Cabinet meeting on May 25th is expected to back a request to guarantee the funding shortfall – with an additional £230,000 grant from Historic England, £500,000 from the local Community Infrastructure Levy (a find made up of contributions from developers) and additional council borrowing of £690,000.

Part of the museum project, improvements to the outside area between Oakley’s Mill and Scaplen’s Court was fully funded by Heritage England and Poole Bid and has now been completed.

A report to Cabinet says there has already been an increase in visitor numbers from 170-180,000 up to 225,000 as a result of the re-development, although no timescale is given for the figures.

It also says there has also been an increase in donations and better use of the café which has been moved to the ground floor, together with additional use of the buildings for weddings and other events.

The report warns that there will remain a risk that costs could continue to rise from the current estimates and may require additional capital funding to be requested to complete the project in the future.