Wasteful Councils

[emmie]

i thought ours were bad, what a waste of money. I did watch the interesting programme on last evening about councils ripping off the motorist on parking fines, wonder how some keep their jobs, or get them in the first place.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24205638

[Gromit]

Building 1000 was built in 2004 but initially failed to get tenants to occupy it. They were probably put off by the noise and pollution from the City Airport. After laying more or less empty for three years the Council decided it would be ideal for its new headquarters. Remember, this was before the financial crash and the ensuing recession. In theory it could have worked. The sale of over 50 sites would contribute to the asking price of £75million. (+£20million for retrofitting and moving). As a side note, 600 council jobs were lost because of the relocation.

They deal was signed in 2008 but unfortunately the Financial Crisis struck at the same time and property sales plummeted just at the time the Council were trying to sell its old buildings. That was just unfortunate timing.

If the council can make money by leasing its office space on their new asset, that seem to be a good option.

With hindsight they should not have bought the building, but they did and now have to make the best of a bad situation.

[emmie]

wasteful, not their money should why should they care.. all the while like many councils they are cutting services, ours are no different...

[Gromit]

Correction, the deal was signed in March 2007.

[Gromit]

Centralising 50 sites into one location could have saved money had the property market not dived and they were stuck with the old buildings.

[emmie]

our council is selling off lots of it's properties to finance a new town hall, wonder if those who are being hit by cuts are happy to know that money is sloshing around that could be used for their needs,

[Gromit]

As I say, selling off expensive to maintain, expensive to heat, old buildings can actually SAVE money for the tax payers.

[emmie]

what do they do with money though once the old buildings are sold off, it can't all be used for these fancy new builds.
and if you spend a fortune on a new building you would think that it would be fit for purpose..

[bazwillrun]

Civil servants...ahhhh bless 'em

for the most part these people couldnt get jobs in the private sector, and traditionally councils have mopped up these kind of people.

Nice goldplated pensions, virtually impossible to sack them etc etc

Ask them about there jobs and its the usual "well basically I...." ask them about due process and their rights in the workplace, theyll blab on for ages.

[youngmafbog]

Couldn't have put it better myself Baz

[ToraToraTora]

Then of course there is the 600,000 public sector non jobs since 1997. The cost of those puts this into prespective.

[Gromit]

Yes the Tories have now been back in for 3 and half years and have sacked all 600,000 non jobs.

Haven't they?

[Gromit]

Baz / Tora, as nice as it is to get something off your chest, the OP doesn't really have anything to do with civil servants. The decisions made by councils are voted on by elected members. Civil Stevants might have to action what the councillors decide, but you cannot really blame them for wasting the money.

Talking of gold plated pensions, how many did the tax payer pick up when the banks went bust had we had to bail them out. And for such poor performance they even paid themselves bonuses.

[boysinblue68]

Just to set the record straight, civil servants are employed by Central Government. Local authorities do not employ civil servants.

[bazwillrun]

fine...whoever pays their salaries and whatever you want to call them

i still stand by my post and the type of person these places have working for them.

Unfortunately I have had to spend too much time in my working life having to "deal" with far too many of these muppets and although not strictly speaking civil service, having worked at the British council (if it walks like a civil servant, if it talks like civil servant......) I know only too well what most of them are like.

[dave50]

Too right baz.

[boysinblue68]

I totally agree that this appears to be a waste of time and money. However, it is not the fault of the local authority workers. They are employed by elected councillors, who make the final decisions. If you want to blame someone, get the right people. I am aware of several councils in my area who now employ many ex-private sector people.

[emmie]

our council wastes money on a grand scale, it employs contract companies to do repairs, then has no way to know how those repairs were carried out or whether they were completed in a reasonable manner, their slogan is one fix , or some such bull, as to the idea proposed recently of instead of having one council booklet to promote it's ideologies and make tenants aware of what they do, they will do ten a year, most if not all will end up in the recycling bins. Many of our libraries have been chopped, some now run by volunteers, cut lunch clubs for elderly, youth centre activities and plenty more, all the while insisting that a massive new build for their staff is worth the money.

[ummmm]

Em, do you really think that the council hires contractors and doesn't sign the work off?

[emmie]

i think that the council has so many contract companies and indeed those companies who sub contract that the council does not know the works are done, certainly to a satisfactory standard, no council officer visits if i have work done, and that is rare at any rate. so how does the council know that the work was done well, satisfactorily, or that it actually took 4 visits as one problem did instead of 1 as promised. I have had work done privately because their works are usually substandard at best, and downright dangerous at worse.

[factor-fiction]

I don't understand TotaToraTora's comment about non-jobs. It's a phrase that's churned out but I have never seen a list of 60 such jobs never kind 600000.
Mind you, I don't understand Gromit's dig at the bankers. The bailout did not involve paying bankers gold plated pensions from the public purse. The (Labour) government bought shares in the bank and is now starting to sell them back on the stockmarket- it didn't hand the money to bank pensioners.