Town Council Signal Precept Increase Options

[Simon Kirby]

Newbury Town Council announced in a press release that they haven't yet awarded their grounds maintenance contract. I assume there must be some point in announcing this so I think the idea is to get it out there that 1. they're going to award the contract to the previous contractor, 2. it'll cost more than before, and 3. the precept will be going up.

Last year saw a 6% real terms increase in the precept and over the last six years it's crept up by 12.4% in real terms all without the Council actually doing anything more. It's not difficult to find 33% of savings on the precept which actually improve the community without losing any of the services so I find it depressing to see the Council signalling business as usual.

It's also a bit odd to see the Council bigging up their current grounds maintenance contractor when the selection process needs to be seen to be impartial.

The work of the current contractor is often praised, particularly with regard to litter clearance and the floral displays.

gushes the press release, but it's the Council themselves that heap the praise. An objective test would be to see how well we do in Britain in Bloom, and sad to say we pulled out of the scheme because we were judged to be doing so miserably.

[Bofem]

Not sure what the point is. The new £280k contract doesn't start until April 2011. The deadline for tenders was 8 Sept 2010, and the next Policy & Resources Committee is end of Nov.

[dannyboy]

Newbury Town Council announced in a press release that they haven't yet awarded their grounds maintenance contract. I assume there must be some point in announcing this so I think the idea is to get it out there that 1. they're going to award the contract to the previous contractor, 2. it'll cost more than before, and 3. the precept will be going up.

Last year saw a 6% real terms increase in the precept and over the last six years it's crept up by 12.4% in real terms all without the Council actually doing anything more. It's not difficult to find 33% of savings on the precept which actually improve the community without losing any of the services so I find it depressing to see the Council signalling business as usual.

It's also a bit odd to see the Council bigging up their current grounds maintenance contractor when the selection process needs to be seen to be impartial.

gushes the press release, but it's the Council themselves that heap the praise. An objective test would be to see how well we do in Britain in Bloom, and sad to say we pulled out of the scheme because we were judged to be doing so miserably.

noting your response in the ****s thread, should WBC be bothering with floral displays at all?

Library or a load of pansies on the kerb side.....

[Iommi]

Not sure what the point is. The new £280k contract doesn't start until April 2011. The deadline for tenders was 8 Sept 2010, and the next Policy & Resources Committee is end of Nov.

Don't start Simon Kirby on time windows!

[dannyboy]

Don't start Simon Kirby on time windows!

Funny how a piddling fiscal rise in the cost of a subsidised ammenity only availaible to a few can cause so much rancour.

[Iommi]

Funny how a piddling fiscal rise in the cost of a subsidised ammenity only availaible to a few can cause so much rancour.

Yes, but to be fair, I suspect it was a matter of principle than anything else.

[dannyboy]

Yes, but to be fair, I suspect it was a matter of principle than anything else.

If I can be Stadler, do you want to be Waldorf?

[Iommi]

If I can be Stadler, do you want to be Waldorf?

*In unison* Hogh, hogh, hogh, hogh!