A scout group is appealing for help after coming across unexpected problems during the development of a new hall.

The 1st St Neots Scouts, based in Bedford Street, started the project to rebuild their hut in January but have been plagued with delays since.

Group chairman John Routledge said: “It has just been one problem after another and at times it has felt like we won’t be able to build at all.”

Weeks into the project the group found that its previous hall was propping up the garages of the Luminus property next door that would have see the wall of the garage collapse if removed.

“Luckily Luminus kindly offered to pay the extra funds that it needed to sort out that problem and we were then back on track.”

But the hold-ups didn’t end there and the scouts have now struck a second problem that could ended up costing them £10,000.

“The digger was excavating solid ground initially for the foundations, but then came across a pocket of landfill with bottles, chucks of cast iron, concrete and broken bricks.”

To the surprise of all involved no solid ground was found after removing the rubbish and an alternative has had to be sought.

“This will mean that we will have to employ a contractor to lay a different type of foundation. There are two implications of this design change – project delay and additional cost,” said Mr Routledge.

The group are now looking for anyone with a construction background to offer their help and continue the project.

“Without this problem being sorted we can’t build at all. If we aren’t able to get the help and the funds we need then we will have to build in stages and then build again when we have more funds,” added Mr Routledge.

To offer your help or to find out more information contact Mr Routledge via e-mail at 1st.scoutchairman@gmail.com.