A PROJECT to bring Dorset's libraries computer system up to scratch will cost £300,000 more than planned, it has been revealed.

The scheme, which has also fallen well behind schedule, has been branded "a serious failure" by a leading councillor.

Three years after the council launched its revamp of IT for its in-house library management system, an internal inquiry was held to determine why it had taken so long and was well over budget.

At a recent meeting, the Audit and Scrutiny Review committee heard that what had started out as a two-year £400,000 project was now likely to cost £700,000 and take another 12 months to complete.

Committee chairman Cllr Trevor Jones said: "This project was a serious failure. The committee members feel strongly that there should be a clarification of project management within the county council. We need to be more realistic about the true costs of projects and the resources needed to complete schemes as originally envisaged.

"Among other things it seems clear that we've overloaded the IT section, asking them to do too much with too little. One key recommendation will be that in future we look more carefully at off the shelf IT solutions rather than designing systems in-house.

"This was a very positive and forward looking investigation, not a witch hunt."

Members heard there was not an identified project manager to control the project and that there was a lack of documentary evidence to inform monitoring and decisions on the project.

Council leader Tim Palmer said: "The shortcomings in the management of this project were reported to members some months ago.

"The director of resources commissioned a full report from our internal auditors.

"Dorset County Council has made substantial improvements to project management in recent times.

"A report by the government's consultants shows that we are currently delivering 97 per cent of major building projects on budget and 80 per cent on time but we intend to do still better than this."

The Cabinet will consider the Audit and Scrutiny Committee's recommendations for improvements at its meeting on December 1.

First published: November 16