WORK on West Somerset Council's new centralised offices in Williton is already almost two months behind schedule with councillors accusing the authority of "dragging its feet" over the development. The news comes as members prepare to unveil a 'foundation' stone at the site of the new offices today (Friday). The ceremony has largely been organised by councillors and is intended to be a public demonstration of members' commitment to the scheme. At Monday's cabinet meeting, council leader Cllr Steven Pugsley described the stone as a "line in the sand" and called for the new offices to be "expedited" as quickly as possible. He made it clear he was less than happy with the council's chief executive Tim Howes for missing the meeting and was critical of the practice of providing verbal updates on the progress of the council's office scheme. He said he had asked Mr Howes many months ago to provide written updates on the development to ensure councillors were able to digest the information prior to meetings, monitor progress and ask relevant questions. Instead, cabinet members were still only receiving verbal reports which gave them only brief details and left them asking questions on an ad hoc basis. "Let me say, this is now an instruction rather than a request," Cllr Pugsley said as he reiterated his call for more in-depth reports on the subject. Councillors had been promised a three dimensional model and detailed drawings of the Williton office scheme almost two months ago, but neither has materialised. However, project managers have been appointed, more than 2,000 ground level readings have been taken and consultations are currently ongoing with staff to discover their needs for the new offices. Previously, Mr Howes has warned councillors not to expect "anything grand" when the scheme is finally developed and said the new offices would resemble a business unit like those on Taunton's Blackbrook Industrial Estate. On Monday it was left to Mr Howes' deputy Rod Latham to explain that efforts had been focused on finding out what was wanted inside the building and that the next major step would be finalising the footprint of the development. He said a detailed outline planning permission would be submitted as soon as possible with, it was hoped, a decision being made in July. "It is still our aim to complete the offices before the end of the next calendar year," he said. But cabinet members were angered by the apparent lack of detail and explanation about the latest delays. Cllr Eddie May said: "I'm very disappointed - if we carry on like this it'll be 2008 before we get the new offices. "We're dragging our feet and it's just not good enough. We need to get the girders in, not just a symbolic stone in the ground. "We need action. Every time we come here there's another delay." Deputy leader Cllr Bryan Leaker said the cabinet needed to send a clear message to Mr Howes. He said: "This is a considerable slippage and quite clearly this is now dragging on. "I think the chief executive should know before the ceremony on Friday that we really must get on with this. "Not only have we promised staff, we have made a commitment to the regeneration of Williton. "The chief executive needs to know the feeling of councillors - we are disappointed that slippage has occurred to date." Cllr Jess Griffith said it was vital more detailed reports were given to cabinet members to ensure the progress of the scheme could be properly monitored. "The cabinet does not seem to have had much impact on keeping this on track," she said. Cllr Pugsley stressed that the stone laying ceremony was an indication of the "dedication of the authority" to building its new offices in Williton - more than four years after centralisation was first mooted and two years after the council originally plumped for Minehead. The stone will be unveiled officially by Cllr Pugsley on a grass area opposite the council's existing planning department and eventually will be incorporated into the new centralised office building. The decision to redevelop the existing council office site in Killick Way was taken last October when Cllr Pugsley told a packed meeting in Washford it would no longer be wise for the authority to spend any more time "chasing a chimera in Minehead". At the time, he said the council had pledged to centralise in Minehead back in June 2003, originally at Clanville, then latterly on the market site alongside the railway. But the railway site fell by the wayside when the county council pulled out of the deal, while other potential sites alongside Vulcan Road car park, Ellicombe, the current Minehead hospital site and Aquasplash, all in Minehead, had not proved viable. A late contender entered the fray in the shape of holiday flats alongside the authority's existing satellite offices in Blenheim Road. Minehead. That also fell through when it was revealed the property had been bought before the council could acquire it leaving Williton as the front runner for the centralisation scheme. The unveiling of the dedication stone will take place at 4pm today.