Exeter City Council has denied trying to sweep the £9m overspend on the Royal Albert Memorial Museum under the carpet after a meeting to discuss the inflated budget was cancelled.
The museum’s original budget was £15m, but the council is now projecting costs of £24m. A report investigating the increase in budget was on the agenda to be discussed by the city’s executive last month, but was subsequently withdrawn.
Alan Caig, head of leisure and museums at Exeter City Council, said the withdrawal was because the council had changed from a Liberal Democrat minority administration to a Labour minority ahead of the executive meeting.
The report will now go before the executive on 7 December.