Mowlem is extremely disappointed though not altogether surprised by the council's purported action, since in our view it typifies the befuddled thinking that has underscored their involvement in the project from the very start.

In our view, they have once again shown themselves to be completely out of their depth in managing a project as large and technically complex as this one and displayed a damaging lack of understanding of the way in which a major construction contract works.

We believe that their latest ill-conceived decision, to order Mowlem off the job and take possession of the site themselves, represents a clear breach of contract on the council's part which can only lead to further delay and will ultimately cost the people of Bath a fortune in claims and legal costs, on top of the millions that will be wasted in getting another contractor to complete the project.

As has been well documented, Mowlem have offered to finish the job within six months for a maximum fixed price of �26m.

The Spa's operator, Thermae, publicly praised Mowlem for its initiative and courage in trying to broker a solution.

The offer was also welcomed by the construction minister and, according to a raft of opinion polls, the council taxpayers of Bath.

The only interested party not to consider it a huge leap forward was B&NES, who seem obsessed with avoiding blame rather than getting the facility finished and open.

Their pigheadedness in this regard could unfortunately cost the people of Bath very dear.

As justification for seeking to remove Mowlem from site, B&NES has sought to rely on a catalogue of ancient disputes, misrepresentations and clearly unsustainable claims.

We do not propose raking over old ground by responding to them point by tedious point in the media, although we may in due course issue a more comprehensive response to the many groundless allegations made against us.

Suffice it to say that we could challenge their position and remain on site, but may choose instead to take this opportunity to extricate ourselves from the whole sorry mess, which has been entirely of B&NES' own making.

We remain certain of our position and confident in the knowledge that we will ultimately prevail in the series of legal arguments that B&NES has now rendered inevitable.