General Chat

I don' think anyone was making fun of the dead tbh.

But anyway, what about these councils wasting our money.

My old council in essex spent £25K on automatic doors for the council offices....why? the other ones worked perfectly well.

They spent thousands on courses for the staff...not training to do with their jobs...abseiling in cheddar, skid pan driving, rally driving, trips to silverstone, and even took them to a grand prix, courtesy of the ratepayer.

Now THAT'S a waste. It was a tory council then, soon got changed for a labour one come next election.

I've pm'd StrayKitten because I don't want to continue this debate in public. A man has died after all.

Yep...my council have just spent one and a half million on a library refit.

And apart from another half a dozen computers looks no better than it did before.

God what that money could've been used for elsewhere !!!

*sighs* xx

In Gwynedd, 10 years ago, they spent £165 000 on 5 roundabouts ........ what goes around comes around :o)

It makes me angry when a lot of residents struggle to make ends meet - one elderly lady got thrown in to prision for 28 days for not paying an oversight of about 28p. (True - she was released after 3 days as a result of public outrage).

In Maidstone they have just wasted £60 000 on a hideous metal pillar .... with flashing green lights.

Have spent millions launching Kent TV - and then scraped it ...... and millions on plans for a modern art gallery - which has now been shelved.

Great to hear that those at the top are given a golden handshake over £200 000 for simply agreeing to stay on for another year - now they are paying extra to extend someone's contract who clearly does not need the money...... and cutting other peoples jobs who do!!!

Good for you Lady In Red.

Don't quite understand why you felt the need to tell us as that's between you and stray but...whatever.

Told you all because I didn't want you to think that I'd made a comment and then just let it go.
Going back to original thread which was about councils wasting money, mine, Stockton on Tees Borough Council is about to waste £40k of taxpayers money looking at feasibility of building a new school in Preston Park. This faces massive local opposition, not just from local residents but from people across the borough and nationally and internationally.
It has been suggested as an option by local Labour MP Dari Taylor and also by local IBIS Councillors in face of massive opposition but they have to be seen to go through the motions. So a minimum of £40k of taxpayers money will be spent on this futile exercise

they best not be building a school in preston park!!! lol my son will have a fit!!!


i hate to see the "art" tats they waste money on, out new "butterfly nets" outside the boro ground, are a disgrace and cost millions
what a watse of money! xxx

Quite staggering to see - just in a few areas, how much money could have been better spent.

Cannot see how on earth it would cost 40k to do a feasibility exercise on building a new school ...

If I were local I'd be demanding to see a breakdown of the costs as no way should it cost that much!

Why is this school being opposed nationally and locally?

Genuine question as not being part of the area I'm not in the loop so to speak. Is the 40k just to investigate the feasibility? that sounds like an awful lot of money! xx

That should be in the public domain surely? I'm sure you can ask for it.

I would, that amount is absurd!

Lady in Red, just out of curiosity, how much does a feasibility study cost on average, of a like kind concerning schools, in other areas?

And is it the school that is being opposed locally, nationally and INTERNATIONALLY????? or is it the feasibility study?

if it's the school, why is it being opposed so strongly?

Fair point well made there TW

Is that excessive or is it the general cost of these things nationwide?

You might need to put in for a FOI request Lady In Red on this one. Not altogether sure it works in these situations but I'm sure the opposition to your local council will be able to put you in touch with the relevant authorities.

Good luck with it ! xx

FOI request would work in this situation.

No way should a feasibility study cost that much! Local Authorities know (roughly) what it costs to build a school, costs of planning applications etc. The cost of going out to public consultation is not excessive. OK if you add up the man-hours involved it will cost a few pounds but nowhere near that much!

They are having a laugh!

It smacks of greased palms to me Jill,

Pity Lady in Red hasn't come back to explain, the full story just isn't in her post.

Sounds that way to me too Jill

Sounds like there are some greasing of palms going on there. FOI's usually stop these things dead in their tracks lol xx

Snap muffy. something's afoot anyway.

Blimey TW...who read whose mind there lol xx

OH FGS lololo

another spooky moment lol xx

I daren't speak now lol