A SPENDING watchdog will now investigate the project that brought See Monster to Weston after MPs accused it of 'squandering' taxpayer cash.
Yesterday (October 11), the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed it will examine Unboxed: Creativity in the UK in a 'value for money' inquiry.
The scheme - dubbed 'festival of Brexit' by the business secretary and MP for North East Somerset, Jacob Rees-Mogg - is a national event which aims to highlight science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics in the wake of Britain’s referendum on EU membership.
But last month, chair of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee in Parliament, Julian Knight MP, called for a watchdog investigation into the financial management and delivery of the festival.
READ MORE: MP slams See Monster 'fiasco' for 'squandering' cash
The NAO will now look into the project to 'help get to the bottom of how so much taxpayer money could be frittered away for so little return'.
A reported £120million was spent on the project's delivery that included a decommissioned gas platform called See Monster, currently on display at the Tropicana until November 5 following a significant delay.
See Monster - supplied by art studio New Substance - hopes to spread messages of a sustainable future but has been plagued by a number of setbacks which has meant its targetted opening date of July was pushed back by two months.
In August, an investigation by political magazine The House found the project has seen just 0.36 per cent of expected total visitors, leading some to brandish it as a 'vast waste of money'.
READ MORE: See Monster in Weston: What to expect?
Critics claim the exhibition will now struggle to reach its 200,000 visitor target.
But one day before See Monster opened to the public, on September 21, New Substance briefed the Mercury that more than 200,000 people had already visited the attraction because they had 'viewed it from the street'.
This comes after Mr Knight refuted Unboxed's claim that four million people had 'engaged' with the project on BBC Radio 4 Today arguing the figure was 'their own'.
He said: "For the 238,000 people who have already visited the ten major projects, the cost for each would equate to £500 per visitor - for that money you could fly them to Vienna, give them a front row seat at the opera house and fly them back again.
"It's unfortunately a monumental waste of money.
"DCMS felt the project was going off the rails but nobody said anything to stop it from happening.
"There is some dispute from organisers on visitor numbers but they haven't defined what 'engagement' means."
He then compared it to include the seven million radio listeners hearing about the festival on the show.
READ MORE: Fears Weston will be UK 'laughing stock' if See Monster delayed until September
The Queen's Platinum Jubilee, held earlier this year, cost four times less than the Unboxed festival which led to Julian Knight slamming it last month as 'unadulterated shambles during a cost-of-living crisis'.
A spokesperson for Unboxed told the Mercury: "We have an extensive learning and participation programme that has created opportunities for hundreds of thousands of children and young people to develop their creativity through collaboration across science, technology, engineering, arts and maths."
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