The City of Ballarat's Contracts Approval Special Committee dealt with a request for variation for the construction of the Ebden Street-Scott Parade and Davies Street car park, adjacent to the Eastern Oval, on Friday afternoon.

According to council, the contractors have requested a variation in 'light of the discovery of latent conditions with significant unsuitable material discovered with the removal of the original capping on the site.'

'With the discovery of this unsuitable material contractors have developed an alternate pavement design which will include cement treatment of crushed rock and other stabilisation, along with the removal of the worst of the unsuitable material.

'The overall cost of this variation is $100,000, with the original contracted works being a total of $300,000. Council requires the contracts committee to deal with any matters where there is a variation beyond 10 percent on the original contracted price.'

The Contracts Approval Special Committee was established for the purpose of 'making decisions on Council contracts between $250,000 and $1,000,000, thereby expediting the contract approval process,' according to the council's terms of reference.

The objective of the committee is 'to significantly streamline decision-making processes of Council.' It meets in camera and members of the public are excluded.

Council decisions on contractual matters up to $250,000 are delegated to the CEO. Decisions between $250,000 and $1 million are considered by the committee. Any contractual matter over $1 million must be considered by the full council.

Currently the contract approval committee members are Cr Ben Taylor, Cr Mark Harris and Cr Grant Tillett.