pegasus bridge Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 Did anyone catch bbc R4 this morning ? The head of Birmingham City council was on it, squealing about the cuts to frontline services due to the nasty government. I would have a tiny bit of sympathy if they'd not wasted a million on this http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/council-investigates-claims-birminghams-only-8200939 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 (edited) Bloody hell, here in Peterborough the Dear Leader has a habit of wasting money on things like fountains that serve no purpose at all! Oh he also employs an awful lot of consultants in order to share the blame when it all goes wrong! Edited December 2, 2014 by TIGHTCHOKE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon R Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 It sums up what is wrong with the country. Absolutely pathetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sha Bu Le Posted December 2, 2014 Report Share Posted December 2, 2014 Bloody hell, here in Peterborough the Dear Leader has a habit of wasting money on things like fountains that serve no purpose at all! Oh he also employs an awful lot of consultants in order to share the blame when it all goes wrong! Similar thing some years ago here, council spent £200,000 converting a perfectly good round-a-bout into a fountain with a 'dandelion' head sprinkler. Could not be turned on when the wind was from the sea endangering traffic. Yearly maintenance cost around £180,000 cleaning the sand from the dandelion head and pumps.. Most amusing thing was when the daft lads went to Morrisons and bought a giant box of soap flakes ripped the top off and chucked it in...............foam city. Anyhoos someone eventually found a sensible head (is that possible in a council?) and converted it into an everyday................................................. round-a-bout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmaxphil Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 Cheltenham council spent 3000 teaching chip shops how to try chips !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clakk Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 dont forget that brummigum also spelt zillions on a ginourmous book store cos the old one had nothing wrong with it,whilst blamming everyone else for having no money for wages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four-wheel-drive Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 I am against all of the free schools and religious schools for me all schools should be run by the local councils and all religons should be band and all children should be given good free meals if the council mess up you kick them out and vote in new people if parents want there children to learn about any of these gods then send them to sunday school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexikia Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 And local government's want devolution to waste more of our hard earned money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperfection Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 Our district are priceless. About 10 years ago,they hiked the council tax increase far above the goverments own set percentage limit. Central goverment ordered them to re-bill everyone, but the district council squeeled that doing so would cost them £500,000, but they did it. However,we lost out though because they just slashed services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollieollie Posted December 3, 2014 Report Share Posted December 3, 2014 It's no great surprise, Birmingham is like a Muslim state anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLondon Posted December 4, 2014 Report Share Posted December 4, 2014 I remember years ago when the "earthquake" hit brum,a radio station reported that it caused millions of ££££s worth of improvements!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norfolk dumpling Posted December 5, 2014 Report Share Posted December 5, 2014 Even here is sleepy Norfolk there is waste and rediculous spending going on. A buddy of mine who was an professional engineer on the county council was telling me it was an annual event near Xmas for each of the many departments to make sure they had allocated or spend their budget to ensure the following year no reduction. The result of course was numerous rediculous, unnecessary exercises ie redecoration, furniture, IT equipment, etc etc but he did a quick sum and on the basis this was standard local government activities grossed it up for the number of councils in England (and most are far far bigger than ours) and the total ran to £billions. If you the look across all the big areas of spend, Defence, NHS, Foreign Aid etc etc and take some of the snouts out of the trough I'll bet there are huge amounts of money going to the wrong places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saggy61 Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 Councils are a money pit waiting to be spent on totally useless items that does nothing to help the "Local community". Have you noticed that anything for the locals has a "funded by the big lottery fund" plaque stamped on it. councils waste money like water and begs for money to improve the local community with the lottery bailing them out all the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kes Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 Councils spend the majority of their funding on Social Services and Education - something like 80%. Highway, which I know about, attracts some money from the Council Tax settlement but more from Central Government (RSG and specific capital grants). Revenue is given and apportioned annually. capital monies are borrowed and discounted (paid back) over 25 years. The Council tax money (revenue) gets spent on appropriate services like highway maintenance, public transport support, other aspects of maintenance etc. Capital pays for major highway improvements, salt barns etc. It becomes an internal game to spend up to your budget to avoid cuts. Its easy to defray expenditure into next year if you need to to 'balance the books' year by year. Councillors decide on fountains, a professional will advise what should be done and e.g. spend small amounts on wildflower treatment for verges to save on grasscutting next to roads. One year I was asked to 'take' over half a million from 'Education' and pay it back next financial year so they wouldnt underspend. Since politicians backed the cost shift - it has to be done - it was peanuts for education but a huge sum for highways to just 'get rid of'. In reality it should have been reallocated to other sevices. A well run local authority is difficult to find - professionals are 'told' what to do these days - offering the best professional advice can lead to your dismissal since the councillors draw 'legitimacy' for all their 'strategies' directly from representing a majority of the people. Local democracy doesnt work well and costs us a great deal. Many local authorities have spent millions on re-branding - a new logo, new bright colours and a management makeover. 'Fashionable' things have cost everyone billions - art work from the USA, Marble from Italy - you name it, you can find all types of excess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdubya Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 (edited) It's no great surprise, Birmingham is like a Muslim state anyway. WHY? unless the majority of the Councillors are apathetic? http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/members Edited January 3, 2015 by kdubya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin lad Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 My missus works for our local council what we hear about being wasted is just the tip of the iceberg, Her job goes this march and it bugs her that the numpties on more than twice her wage to do diddly squatt keep their jobs and the ones that earn their money go Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretagentmole Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 Whatever cuts are made the leaders paypackets won't be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollieollie Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 WHY? unless the majority of the Councillors are apathetic? http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/members I'm just telling you what I see with my own eyes kdub, politicians and statistics don't reflect reality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lampwick Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 You'll miss Councils when the are gone and you only get what you can afford to pay privately for! Watch the cost of bin rounds rocket once it's under private control! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdubya Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 I'm just telling you what I see with my own eyes kdub, politicians and statistics don't reflect reality I know what you mean our council is run very much to the left thanks to the leader of the council being ah hem extremely left. KW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuddster Posted January 3, 2015 Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 I remember years ago when the "earthquake" hit brum,a radio station reported that it caused millions of ££££s worth of improvements!!! actually the loss adjusters said damage had run to in excess of £1.7 pounds. after some debate they agreed to round it off to £2. f. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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