Problems over concrete deliveries have delayed work on the Sudbury boating lake refurbishment but the contractor has today revealed work is finally nearing completion.

Contractors working on the Mill Acre boating pond have suffered problems with the relaying of the concrete base as part of the £10,000 project which has been branded a “bodged job”.

The town council has been using Heathland Group Ltd to lay fresh concrete at the bottom of the lake to create a smooth surface to help prevent algae settling there, and in turn helping to keep it clean.

Work started in the middle of August but owner of the company Darren Willmott said that there were problems getting the concrete onto the site, which meant it had hardened before it was laid and had to be redone.

“It cost us two days wasted work to physically dig it out manually and transport it over a wooden bridge and away from the area,” he said.

“I then ordered three more lorry loads of concrete and put extra guys on the job.

“But instead of turning up at agreed times the lorries came within a short period of each other.

“We got it levelled but it was a mess so I got a concrete planer in and we took a week grinding it down to rescreed the surface.

“We are now near to finishing it and filling it up with water.”

He said it had cost his company an extra £10,000 which he is putting into the work.

“We are doing our best to make the job right at a cost to us and trying to get the job done as quickly as possible,” he added.

Sudbury Town Clerk Jacqui Howells said earlier this week that there had been “hiccoughs over the concrete”, but said she had been assured by the contractor everything was now “going to plan”.

She said: “The money won’t be wasted. It’s just taking a little bit longer than we hoped it would because the contractor has had a few issues.

“But we are confident the job will be finished satisfactorily and the whole area will be upgraded.”

She said the town council sought a number of quotes for the work and the price was agreed in the region of £10,000.

She added £2,000 of the funding came from a Tesco scheme.