What is it with conservative run cooncils in England?

[capfits]

Been in the news about this week that Northamptonshire cooncil is a basket case and has no money and therefore services will be cut to bare legal minimum.
Apparently East Sussex is about to do the same.

Could not help notice that
1 they are both Tory councils
2 they have been for ages
3 they are in areas with high property prices
4 Northamptonshire had a very shiny looking HQ

On point 1 , you cannot fail to think that had they been Labour run then the press would be foaming at the bit
On point 2 the party ain't financially competent as they maintain.
On point 3 cooncil tax system is failing.
On point 4 what the hell were they upto.

Just putting out there as it does not look very clever going forward.

 

[newjames]

Plenty of councils are rubbish regardless of colour, they are politicians what do you expect.

 

[wanton dwarf]

Northamptonshire council created 2 new businesses.

One to run Adult Social Care and the other to provide Childrens Services .. the "idea" being to save money.

The complete opposite happened .. more money was spent. I wonder how much of this money was taken into the chosen few's pockets ?

What is the solution ? Fixed limited terms on Councillors and Senior officers ? Of course I'm guessing because I'm not personally involved and only heard one Radio 4 program.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Somerset and Lancashire councils are also supposedly heading for bankruptcy as well. It will give Rees-Mogg something to explain to his constituency members.

 

[ollie989898]

It is simply because there are too many muppets in the public sector who have more degrees than a compass and who end up in senior positions simply because they have been there a long time.

I would love to know what the chief exec of some of these organisations earns, the salaries and pensions liabilities must be off the scale. Labour started it and now we are all suffering as a result.

It is always the same when you let people spend money that is not theirs.

 

[newjames]

Somerset and Lancashire councils are also supposedly heading for bankruptcy as well. It will give Rees-Mogg something to explain to his constituency members.

Whats a council got to do with the MP he has no control over what they do

 

[Tigger]

As Lancashire and Greater Manchester councils are also in the doo-doo, and other Labour councils up north are close to effective bankruptcy, it's clear that the problem doesn't lie with the council's political leanings but rather with them having still not realised that when salaries and travel expenses are such a large proportion of income, and income reduces (from central Government), the result is that there's nothing left to actually carry out the jobs for which we, as council taxpayers, pay.

 

[Exfarmer]

The real problem comes from the reforms after the 2008 crash. To try and balance the books the chancellor has been cutting the subsidy paid to councils from the treasury. This has in the past been the bulk of their incone and now is being cut to the bone.
They either have to cut , wages, pensions ( inpossible but they are a very substantial part of the problem ) or services.
Turkeys dont vote for christmas, so it means cutting services.
Some councils have made major savings by joining with others , privatising, waste, parks, libraries etc. Some have sat back and hoped something would turn up

 

[Muck Spreader]

Whats a council got to do with the MP he has no control over what they do

So who do you go and see when you have a local problem? That's what Your MP is for.

 

[newjames]

So who do you go and see when you have a local problem? That's what Your MP is for.

But they have no power over what a council does . All they csn do is write a letter

 

[Hindsight]

The real problem comes from the reforms after the 2008 crash. To try and balance the books the chancellor has been cutting the subsidy paid to councils from the treasury. This has in the past been the bulk of their incone and now is being cut to the bone.
They either have to cut , wages, pensions ( inpossible but they are a very substantial part of the problem ) or services.
Turkeys dont vote for christmas, so it means cutting services.
Some councils have made major savings by joining with others , privatising, waste, parks, libraries etc. Some have sat back and hoped something would turn up

Yes, a legacy of Osbornes Chancellorship. Austerity was funnelled by central government (Coalition government) through local government. Clever political move at the time. My wife worked in local government and I recall her saying back in 2011 that they could survive with services for about four years trimming 'fat' and using reserves. Guess the train had finally hit the buffers.

 

[musker]

The real problem comes from the reforms after the 2008 crash.

Very true. There was a phase of expansion during the Blair years. I was appointed during that time to deal with the fly tipping problem by my local Council. This expansion came to an abrupt end after 2008 and as you say, the 'fat' was cut by many LA's but not all. There were some Authorities who refused to cut at all and I suspect these are he ones who are now in trouble.

 

[musker]

The real problem comes from the reforms after the 2008 crash. To try and balance the books the chancellor has been cutting the subsidy paid to councils from the treasury. This has in the past been the bulk of their incone and now is being cut to the bone.

Very true. There was an expansion period during the Blair years. I was appointed by my local Council during that period to deal with the fly-tipping problem. That expansion came to an abrupt end after 2008 as many councils, but not all, cut out the fat. I suspect that the councils that are now in trouble are the ones who refused to do that .

 

[ollie989898]

Is it Northampton council who are fudged??

Spent 53 million on a new council HQ then had to sell it (for a loss), 6 months after it was completed.

They are muppets.

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

The real problem comes from the reforms after the 2008 crash. To try and balance the books the chancellor has been cutting the subsidy paid to councils from the treasury. This has in the past been the bulk of their incone and now is being cut to the bone.
They either have to cut , wages, pensions ( inpossible but they are a very substantial part of the problem ) or services.
Turkeys dont vote for christmas, so it means cutting services.
Some councils have made major savings by joining with others , privatising, waste, parks, libraries etc. Some have sat back and hoped something would turn up

Just have a dekko at what your 'local councillors' are paid.
In Northumberland they start at £13500 before their very lucrative additions for attending meetings, mileage etc.
Once upon a time Unitary councillors were the same as parish councillors, unpaid volunteers who got a meagre mileage/out of pocket expenses allowance.
And IIRC they get this 'tax free'

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

Is it Northampton council who are fudged??

Spent 53 million on a new council HQ then had to sell it (for a loss), 6 months after it was completed.

They are muppets.

So are ours, here in Northumberland, before the CC elections Labour ruled and they proposed moving the county council HQ from the affluent Morpeth Area into the disadvantaged Ashington area.
So they proceeded with selling the current site (very valuable bit of real estate) in order to finance the move (estimates vary, but 26m was the figure being bandied about)
Then came the local elections and the Tories won, cancelled the move and now we are facing the bill for millions in cancelled contracts and a half built CC HQ in the middle of Ashington.
And that's not even considering the new businesses that had moved into the Ashington area now selling up and moving on.
I tend to be 'right of centre' but this bunch of self centred NIMBY barstewards has made me reconsider my position.

 

[Muck Spreader]

Just have a dekko at what your 'local councillors' are paid.
In Northumberland they start at £13500 before their very lucrative additions for attending meetings, mileage etc.
Once upon a time Unitary councillors were the same as parish councillors, unpaid volunteers who got a meagre mileage/out of pocket expenses allowance.
And IIRC they get this 'tax free'

Take a look at the boss of Sunderland council, £650k for doing what FFS.

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

Take a look at the boss of Sunderland council, £650k for doing what FFS.

I tremble to look But it, again, boils down to councils appointing 'highly paid professionals' to do the job they were elected to do.
I voted 'Geordie Broon' coz he promised to keep me bins emptied, when they weren't, I didn't expect to have to have to go through a maze of menus and 'customer compliance operatives' to get to speak to 'geordie' when his 'diary' had a fekkin window!!!?