Drainage Snafu, NTC waste public money on uphill drainage Options

[Andy Capp]

Why don't you just give up your allotment if it's so bad, honestly you're like a petulant teenager who thinks he knows better than everyone else all the time. I'm starting to agree with Panda, I think you should get a window box or a garden and be done with it.

If the council have ballsed-up, we should here about it. I'm just wondering if this remedial work is not finished. And please don't agree with 'panda', it doesn't suit you!

[Strafin]

If the council have ballsed-up, we should here about it. I'm just wondering if this remedial work is not finished. And please don't agree with 'panda', it doesn't suit you!

OK you're right. Sorry

[Cognosco]

Good grief here we go again.....

Why don't you just give up your allotment if it's so bad, honeslty you're like a petulant teenager who thinks he knows better than everyone else all the time. I'm starting to agree with Panda, I think you should get a window box or a garden and be done with it.

Not another, council can do no wrong, post?

Why not ask the simple question? Is the council correct or Simon? If the pipe is running uphill then the taxpayers money has been completely wasted and it would show that the council are incompetent. Why try to knock someone for pointing this out?

[Ron]

It's not the Council that is incompetent, but the contractor they have used.

[Simon Kirby]

It's not the Council that is incompetent, but the contractor they have used.

The Council are using Community Payback, and while they come with a minder I don't know that they come with a civil engineer. It'll be interesting to see if the Council blame Community Payback or take responsibility themselves. The trenches have simply been dug by eye, they haven't even marked out a straight run so there's no possibility they've been dug to a surveyed depth, they've simply dug a spit down and followed the contour of the ground.

I'm more than happy to show anyone round site so you can see for yourself - just PM me.

[Dodgys smarter b...]

It's not the Council that is incompetent, but the contractor they have used.

True, up to a point. But if they used Stubbs instead of O'Riley knowing that Stubbs might not have the best of track records.....

You tend to get what you pay for. If you pay for a cheap (or free) service then sometimes you'd better pray that water runs uphill.

[Simon Kirby]

But if they used Stubbs instead of O'Riley knowing that Stubbs might not have the best of track records.....

Actually it was O'Reilly who was the Irish cowboy, not Stubbs. What do they teach in schools these days.

[Dodgys smarter b...]

Actually it was O'Reilly who was the Irish cowboy, not Stubbs.

Darn, the irony didn't work. No matter. Now excuse me, I have to insert a large garden gnome into Mr O'Riley.

[Andy Capp]

The Council are using Community Payback, and while they come with a minder I don't know that they come with a civil engineer. It'll be interesting to see if the Council blame Community Payback or take responsibility themselves. The trenches have simply been dug by eye, they haven't even marked out a straight run so there's no possibility they've been dug to a surveyed depth, they've simply dug a spit down and followed the contour of the ground.

Well that explains everything then. An excellent opportunity for everyone to blame another.

I suppose there will be a residual benefit in the capacity of the the drain tube to hold some of the surface water! They'd probably be better off just digging a trench and filling it with porous rocks/stones.

[Cognosco]

The Council are using Community Payback, and while they come with a minder I don't know that they come with a civil engineer. It'll be interesting to see if the Council blame Community Payback or take responsibility themselves. The trenches have simply been dug by eye, they haven't even marked out a straight run so there's no possibility they've been dug to a surveyed depth, they've simply dug a spit down and followed the contour of the ground.

I'm more than happy to show anyone round site so you can see for yourself - just PM me.

I hope they are not intending to use the same contractor to erect the Pavillion Pigeon Loft?
We could end up with more than a sagging roof!

[On the edge]

Like you've been saying Simon - self management is the only answer. Big society? not whilst we have big egos.

[Simon Kirby]

Like you've been saying Simon - self management is the only answer. Big society? not whilst we have big egos.

Self-management doesn't guarantee a better service, but it does mean that a snafu such as this doesn't cost the tax-payer anything, but the Big Society is nothing but a con and the Council have gone out of their way to suppress any possibility of self-management in Newbury. The obscenity of it is that they have a £multi-thousand "Big Society" budget and a working group to spend it, and all they're talking about is how they can use the Localism Bill to wrest services off WBC so they can build their empire, when they should be talking about saving the Newbury tax-payer £300k by dropping the market, losing the mayor, giving up the Town Hall for an office on NGP, letting locals cut the grass and plant the borders on the open spaces, having volunteer park keepers and letting the Friends groups look after the parks, handing over the Christmas Lights to the TCP/BID, cutting the grants, and of course letting the allotment sites self-manage.

[On the edge]

Self-management doesn't guarantee a better service, but it does mean that a snafu such as this doesn't cost the tax-payer anything, but the Big Society is nothing but a con and the Council have gone out of their way to suppress any possibility of self-management in Newbury. The obscenity of it is that they have a £multi-thousand "Big Society" budget and a working group to spend it, and all they're talking about is how they can use the Localism Bill to wrest services off WBC so they can build their empire, when they should be talking about saving the Newbury tax-payer £300k by dropping the market, losing the mayor, giving up the Town Hall for an office on NGP, letting locals cut the grass and plant the borders on the open spaces, having volunteer park keepers and letting the Friends groups look after the parks, handing over the Christmas Lights to the TCP/BID, cutting the grants, and of course letting the allotment sites self-manage.

With you on that! Most will only notice when its too late - as usual apathy rules.

[blackdog]

Self-management doesn't guarantee a better service, but it does mean that a snafu such as this doesn't cost the tax-payer anything, but the Big Society is nothing but a con and the Council have gone out of their way to suppress any possibility of self-management in Newbury. The obscenity of it is that they have a £multi-thousand "Big Society" budget and a working group to spend it, and all they're talking about is how they can use the Localism Bill to wrest services off WBC so they can build their empire, when they should be talking about saving the Newbury tax-payer £300k by dropping the market, losing the mayor, giving up the Town Hall for an office on NGP, letting locals cut the grass and plant the borders on the open spaces, having volunteer park keepers and letting the Friends groups look after the parks, handing over the Christmas Lights to the TCP/BID, cutting the grants, and of course letting the allotment sites self-manage.

Newbury Town Council offices in Greenham - isn't that a bit bizarre? Why not have offices in Newbury?

What would you do with the Town Hall, demolish it and use the space for a couple of allotments?

Personally I'd rather have Newbury councillors in charge of changes to Newbury - must make more sense than putting a Pangbourne councillor in charge.

[Andy Capp]

Newbury Town Council offices in Greenham - isn't that a bit bizarre? Why not have offices in Newbury? Personally I'd rather have Newbury councillors in charge of changes to Newbury - must make more sense than putting a Pangbourne councillor in charge.

How daft is it that people living in Falkland Garth are constituents of The Town, yet people living in Eeklo Place aren't? Couldn't it be argued that The Town is broadly speaking all wards that fall within the mile of The Town? Indeed, doesn't The Town benefit immensely from revenue from the Greenham Common Trust?

[NWNREADER]

How daft is it that people living in Falkland Garth are constituents of The Town, yet people living in Eeklo Place aren't? Couldn't it be argued that The Town is broadly speaking all wards that fall within the mile of The Town? Indeed, doesn't The Town benefit immensely from revenue from the Greenham Common Trust?

You may be right, but that is an accident of ancient boundaries. There could be a change, but
1. is it a priority?; and
2. it would be a hotter debate than managing allotments, tenancy agreements and RGs top 30 topics rolled into one!!!!

Plus that debate would not only be about bringing the town end of Greenham Road into 'The Town', but depriving the surrounding Parishes (not just Greenham in the scenario you mention) of real estate, voters, etc....

And where is the town 'centre'? I can imagine councillors arguing over that detail for 10 years alone..... When the border goes through a 'nice' house, is it in or out? What about a 'not nice' one?

No.... Save me from that one for around 40 years, please.....

[Andy Capp]

I don't propose that, I just feel that the we all have a stake in the town that goes beyond the legal boundaries. I don't live in a town council ward, but I feel Newbury is my town, yet I have no direct say about its governance. In contrast, I feel no affinity to Thatcham.

I see no problem moving a council chatting shop to Greenham if it is more economic to do so.

[dannyboy]

The Council are using Community Payback, and while they come with a minder I don't know that they come with a civil engineer. It'll be interesting to see if the Council blame Community Payback or take responsibility themselves. The trenches have simply been dug by eye, they haven't even marked out a straight run so there's no possibility they've been dug to a surveyed depth, they've simply dug a spit down and followed the contour of the ground.

I'm more than happy to show anyone round site so you can see for yourself - just PM me.

So you watched the drain being dug & didn't feel the need to point out the error? No wonder the 'big society' idea falls flat when people won't even give assistance to somthing they fell passionate about & would have benefited from.

If it had been me I would have tried to do something & ensure the darin was installed properly, not wait until it was finished & then gloat about it on a local forum.

[NWNREADER]

So you watched the drain being dug & didn't feel the need to point out the error? No wonder the 'big society' idea falls flat when people won't even give assistance to somthing they fell passionate about & would have benefited from.

If it had been me I would have tried to do something & ensure the darin was installed properly, not wait until it was finished & then gloat about it on a local forum.

Bobby?

I do rather agree that to watch something being constructed - especially if one has an interest in its' success - that looks defective, then trump about the (still only apparent) defect is a bit like ensuring there is something to moan about.......

[Andy Capp]

I do agree that it does look a bit like moaning after the event, but I would have sought clarification first before posting the problem. I'm sure though, whichever way Simon had approached this, you both would have had an opinion about it 'prepared'. Had he said from the beginning, I would imagine there would be people say, 'don't poke your nose', or people would have asked how does he know that the drain would have been installed wrong, until it is installed.

Only Simon has posted about this. This shows that no-one else is looking out for the site's welfare, even if Simon's motives are not altruistic.

What it might expose, assuming the ground works are in error, is that there might be a body supervising such work that might be incompetent. The way things work in life this that most bodies don't change things until a problem becomes apparent.