So the cost of the Pavilion redevelopment is now £150 million. (Echo Feb 14).

They started with a figure of £90 million less than three years ago. That's a rise of £60 million in that period.

In those three years the number of flats which Howard Holdings demands to make the project viable has risen from 130 to 339.

Would anyone like to take bets that the costs will rise again, considerably even (God forbid) before building starts?

What will Howard Holdings be demanding to cover those extra unforeseen' costs? So far, the record shows that they will ask for more flats and more marina berths.

Say the final figure is £200 million? Will we be confronted with 10 or 11 high storeys of flat blocks?

I just love the statement by the Howard Holdings regional director that it is quite normal for the costs associated with a scheme to evolve'. That, of course, is quite different to dramatically rise'.

Overall, it lays bare for all to see, the sheer ineptitude and unprofessionalism of how the original tender was prepared by the council. Originally it didn't even make clear that the Ocean Room was part of the project, let alone insist that the applicants carry out proper research before submitting their tenders..

Howard Holdings now has a financial noose round the council's neck. It would cost us, the ratepayer/residents, millions of pounds in compensation if the deal was now cancelled.

Oh what a sorry story!

Mike Maber, Goldcroft Avenue, Weymouth.