The site at Desertcreat near Cookstown is planned to become a world-leading facility for use by the police, prison and fire and rescue services.

It was first announced in 2004 and development was to get underway in 2009 at an estimated cost of £80m - however the long-delayed project has encountered significant difficulties.

Costs have spiralled, including £353,818 spent on consultants, and there are also security concerns because of the positioning of the site in east Tyrone.

Perkins and Will, the American architecture company who designed the college, have come in for heavy criticism.

DCC Gillespie said: "There has been very significant human error.

It is very disappointing that the members of the design team have let us down but whilst it's a very significant setback it's not a show stopper

Judith Gillespie

"We are working to address that now with the design team and we're working through a bill of reductions and already identified potentially £14.5m of savings we can take out of the college programme without compromising its functionality or ethos."

UTV contacted Perkins and Will in New York but they declined to comment.

The 23,000 square metres Community Safety College will have a police station, fire station and prison and is expected to create between 1500 and 2000 construction jobs.

The estimated cost of the facility is currently £137m.

But the five consortia which bid for the contract told the project board it would be impossible to build a college for £103m. Most of the bids were between £135m and £141m.

UTV understands one came in at over £180m. Meanwhile the Executive wants the college to cost no more than £117m.

Judith Gillespie said only part of the £12m contract with Perkins and Will has been paid.

"They have provided a design and only part of the contract value has been paid to date, they haven't been paid that full amount," she continued.

"Perkins and Will have assured me that they are competent to go forward with the programme and in fact some of the senior members of that design team have been replaced."

Stormont Finance Minister Sammy Wilson stressed there must be no further mistakes.

The DUP politician said: "However the mistakes occurred there must be no further mistakes which delay the project even more and risk us not having a college at all, or having the embarrassment at a time of recession of having handing back capital money to Westminster."

I really don't understand how people got their sums so wrong in this one

Sammy Wilson

Another problem is the timescale of the project. The sod in Cookstown is scheduled to be cut in June of this year, but a source close to the Policing Board revealed that the current delays could mean construction doesn't start for at least a year after that.

With just a seven-month window from June 2014 until the start of the next year, some of the money earmarked for the college's construction from Westminster could be in jeopardy.

Health Minister Edwin Poots is also understood to be furious about the spiralling costs, as some of it may have to come from his Public Safety budget.

Meanwhile senior security sources have told UTV they are worried about the physical position of the college in Co Tyrone and fear it may be vulnerable to dissident attack.

"Dissidents in East Tyrone can't believe their luck," one security source said. "You could draw a map of where dissidents live," said another. "They're very close to the college."

It is understood the perimeter wall of the college and reinforced roof are built to withstand a mortar attack or major explosion and the bulletproof windows will be of the highest specification - however police would not discuss the security arrangements in detail.

Despite the delays and concerns, Judith Gillespie believes the project will go ahead.

She continued: "I still think it is a viable programme and we can convince the two ministers in Justice and Health, and ultimately in Finance, that it is the right thing to do".

Senior police sources now accept that 2016 is a more realistic prospect for the completion of the college, but despite the delays they believe the plans are still alive.