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Contractor Bam Nuttall has pointed the finger at a senior Cambridgeshire council official along with consultant Atkins in its defence and counter-claim against the local authority鈥檚 claim over the construction of a guided busway.

The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway - the largest project of its type in the UK - was originally due to be finished in early 2009 for a price of 拢116m, of which 拢84m was to go to Bam Nuttall.

It was finally handed over to the council on 21 April 2011 at a reported cost of 拢152m.

, Bam Nuttall鈥檚 defence - which denies the council鈥檚 拢54.7m claim and says it is itself owed 拢43.1m - alleges 鈥渟erious鈥� failings on the part of independent project manager Atkins, which it claims attempted to create 鈥渟purious鈥� reasons for the council to not accept completion of the project.

It also claims that Bob Menzies (pictured), Cambridgeshire County Council鈥檚 head of infrastructure delivery, caused 鈥渧ery substantial鈥� design and construction costs by insisting that a section of the 25km-long bus route should resemble a French busway.

Bam Nuttall says Menzies wanted it to look 鈥渟imilar to the Douai Busway in France which he had visited and liked鈥�

Bam Nuttall alleges that an unguided section known as the Arbury Link should have been built as an 鈥渙rdinary road鈥�. The company says that Menzies wanted it to 鈥渓ook similar both to the actual guided sections and to the Douai busway in France which he had visited and liked鈥�.

鈥淭he required dual concrete strips required a completely bespoke engineering design which was totally different to the design and the method of construction used elsewhere on the project,鈥� the defence says.

Menzies is also accused of wrongly refusing to take over the northern section of the busway for almost 18 months because of alleged defects, which Bam Nuttall denies would have prevented use of the works.

The defence adds that, although employed as an 鈥渋ndependent鈥� project manager, Atkins 鈥渇ailed to act independently and fairly鈥�.

A spokesperson for Atkins said: 鈥淲e were engaged as the independent administrator on the Cambridge Busway scheme and we are confident that we always acted in the best interests of the project. We are unable to discuss any details at this stage due to the ongoing legal action.鈥�

Menzies said the council remained confident of its position. 鈥淚t would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment until we have reviewed Bam鈥檚 defence and counterclaim and prepared and provided our formal response,鈥� he said.