This comment popped up on VB earlier and we thought it would be interesting to run as an article. It was added by ‘Playing The Numbers’, whose views some may find interesting. Ed
I am pleased to read that at long last the economy is going to be discussed by the scrutiny panel tonight. Maybe members could remember to keep their eyes on the prize.
Notwithstanding that an individual attraction may or may not be better off in private hands, the fire-sale, asset strip, call it what you like, which has been on going for the last couple of years is gathering pace.
List of what has now gone
Loos – mostly gone
Golf courses – gone
Swimming pools – going
Theatres – going & gone
Libraries – going & gone
Buildings – for sale
Land – for sale
Schools – some transferring
Winter Gardens – going
Botanic Gardens – going
TICs – gone
Refuse collection – already privatised (PFI)
Direct social care – going
Respite care – going
Highways – transferring to PFI provider
Planning – transferring (Portsmouth CC?)
Wightbus – gone
Train concessions – gone
Water slide – condemned
Dinosaur Island – condemned
This is just what I could remember, I am sure if I went through the forward plans there would be more, but it doesn’t add to my point.
Asset strip
At first I thought it was just part of the cuts, brought it to save the millions the council said they needed to save. It’s not just about selling a building, but the staffing, insurance, maintenance etc has to be factored in too. But the asset strip pre dates the budget announcements, back to 2009 at least.
Coincidentally when the highways PFI was approved. The question is, if the council were genuinely concerns about saving money, why dispose of cash generators too?
A link to paying for PFI?
Could it be that the Easter ‘rush’ generated 150 net jobs on an Island with a population of over 100,000 – looking at the high streets in the tourist towns you could easily believe that tourism is in serious decline – Experian think so. Or could it be that the council’s spreadsheet meisters have assessed the risks associated with the PFI, have forecast inflation & finance costs & concluded that the council must do anything, everything to reduce costs across the council.
The inflation that affects PFI, affects the rest of the council too. And with one of the regions largest council taxes already, the options for this council are few.
What will the council become?
Here’s a final thought, when every service of the council has is contracted out, land sold, maintenance reduced, family silver pawned, what will be left of the council – its core functions? Housing, benefit distribution, contract governance, revenue collection? Will the council then go the way of Suffolk, Cumbria, Cornwall, Sheffield, Barnet, Swindon, Southampton, Blackburn et al and outsource these services too – I wonder if Messrs Brown & Pugh know that Capita Outsourcing even have custom made Council Tax software promising ‘Collecting More for Less’?
Economies rely on more than numbers
So if any of the scrutiny panel read the blog, have a care to listen to the number crunchers, but remember that economies rely on more than numbers, they are also affected by nuances of culture, society, its people, capacity, aspirations and resilience.
Don’t expect me to be grateful to pay tax to enhance the profits of an unaccountable company whose services I cannot control through democratic means, without having to pay twice. Of course as a collective panel you could ask some searching questions over PFI & hopefully it can be scrapped, with it the major preposition for the cuts is eliminated.
