Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

I've just read saturdays Telegraph website. The Bureacrats at County Hall in Preston have decided to spend money on putting up road signs reading "Welcome to Lancashire" on all the major roads coming out of "Blackburn-with-Darwen". They're already up on the roads coming out of Blackpool.

Is this not the most incompetent piece of bureaucratic nonsense yet devised? How much will this cost us, and why? Can anyone think of other examples to match this loonacy, from either Lancashire or Hyndburn Council?

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

I want new signs at each boundary for Church. "You are now leaving CHURCH, pray to god or we won't let you come back again"

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Tealeaf - think of all that money that will be made from passing trade - who otherwise would not know what county they were visiting! Obviously, when they realise they are in Lancashire they will pull over & start spending!

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

I've just read in tonights telegraph that the council are organising a 3 day jamboree to mark their 30th anniversery......How much will this lot cost us? And where have they got the money from - the black hole in the accounts? What the hell is there to celebrate - the fact that they occaisionally manage to empty the bins? Well, I won't be celebrating, that's for sure. This is madness.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

If we are all supposed to live in Hyndburn then how come i have never had the word Hyndburn on any mail addressed to me. My view is that only the council know's of it's existence.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Speaking of wasting public money on useless projects, I noticed that all the traffic bollards, you know the yellow and white ones in the middle of the road, are all numbered. They all have self-adhesive numbers on them ---- WHY??? What possible use can this be to anybody?

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While I am at it, I noticed in The Telegraph that HBC are planning to demolish the fountains outside the Globe Centre and replace it with a sculpture formed from parts of an old steam engine given to them by William Blythe's which has been rusting away behind the coachhouse at Howarth Art Gallery for the last twenty years. So thats £150,000 for the fountain, plus the cost of attempted and abortive repairs, plus the cost of demolition, plus the cost of moving the steam engine and assembling it, plus the cost of landscaping after it has been cobbled together. There won't be much change out of a quarter of a million there I should think. Still, it should keep vandals occupied for a few minutes while they figure out the best way to deface it.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

..And what is really disgraceful is that that steam engine was given by Blythes to the Council on condition that it was erected in Church (They even offered to pay for the concrete foundation, erection and weatherproof painting)....but that was 20 years ago, because the council, having got it, said it would be better to put it somewhere else.


I have just had a quick look on the Telegraph website....these crazy fools on the council are not even looking at erecting the entire steam engine...just the wheel. This is madness and outrageous...if it is going to be re-assembled, then it should be re-assembled in full. Who do these council nutters think they are to decimate our heritage like this?

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

They are all Tony Blair wannabe's who imagine that they can run the place by dictat when in reality,as we have seen all too often, they would have difficulty organising a paper bag. Did you see the report of that Rix character's shamefaced apology over funding in Clayton?

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Not seen it yet Bob...I'll have to have a lookee on the Observer website

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Further to the Fountains Saga, did anyone see The Observer yesterday?
It was announced that the inactive fountains at the bottom of Ormerod Street by the Globe Centre are going to be replaced at a cost of £30,000. According to the Observer, "...when the fountain is removed the area will be paved over and replaced with seating, trees, plants and floral borders."

Oddly enough, Peter Britcliffe (the leader of the Conservative group, for those of you who have never heard of him.) is quoted as saying "I am querying the price because I think £30,000 is a bit expensive."

Jean Battle, (who has been on a course and has a certificate, so she should know everything about being a councilor.) is quoted as saying " Anything will be better than what we currently have. It is a shame that we won't have a water feature because, personally, I like them. Also this plan will still require lots of maintenance."

Right, Jean. Lets forget about the fact that the Pavement on broadway is an absolute disgrace and a hazard to pedestrians. Or that the whole of the town centre is going down the toilet. Or that violence in the town centre is spiralling out of control. Lets worry about whether we get the environs of the Globe centre right. That is obviously much more important than the personal safety of your constituents or the economic survival of the town.

And Peter Britcliffe? Thirty grand might be a bit expensive? A pity you weren't afflicted with such scruples before squandering £150,000 on the fountains in the first place?

The thing that really makes my blood boil is that these two are supposed to represent the best that Accrington has to offer. Some days you can feel the will to live just drain away.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

and all i want is a replacement fence costing approx £50 but they say they havnt got the money (wots new) & that they had a quote 12 months ago & they said it would cost £500 cos they have to contract it out, & im still loath to replace it myself, but its now a disgrace :o , i was told the other day when id rung up yet again bout the fence, that they havnt got enough to repair the roofs or the central heating systems. WERE IS OUR MONEY /////

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

It is interesting to note that the council admit to owning 3600 council houses, At an average rent of say £50 per week, that yeilds £180,000 per week or £9,360,000 per year. I'll repeat that for the sake of clarity:-

£9,360,000.00 per year!

You tell me what they do with it. I can tell you what they don't do with it.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Does anyone ever remember a fountain or a monument of any sort being outside the Town Hall?.....I certainly don't...why do we need this nonsense outside the Globe Centre?

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Dont forget to add council tax to the rent amount! Why not use this Forum to get a feeling of peoples views make up one of those polls and then print off the results and send it to Britcliff and Battle you never know, as the old saying goes "Power to the people" you can bet they wont come on here and argue the toss.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Excellent idea Bazf.

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I've started started a poll on this nonsense up at the Globe Centre....Good Idea, Bazf

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Trouble is - will they listen to us? I think not........

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

My husband needs an operation but they cant find the cash to buy more beds.
Humph they make me see red.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

All this reminds me of the trouble HBC went to to celebrate the centenary (?) of Oakhill Park. Thousands were spent on renovating the rock gardens and renewing the "water feature" . Anyone who has visited recently will know it has not been switched on since. Everything is clogged up and probably past saving again.

Also think about the thousands spent on Haworth Art Gallery. Well worth a visit but take a stroll more than 25 yards from the gallery and the park is in dire need of attention. Not a good advert for Hyndburn as a whole.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Good point! HBC seem to specialise in short term fixes, rather than spend money on sensible program of maintenance. All the parks and public amenity areas are in the same dreadful state. I wonder how many claims for compensation they get from people injuring themselves on the paths in Milnshaw and Oakhill Parks? Must run to a good few thousand a year.

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Is because the plonkers that service them don't know where they are sited if you report a fault on one, they will ask for its number. Same with street lights, report a fault give aa precise address & it will never get mended, they want its number.

All this keeps more pencil jockeys & paper shufflers of the Dole.

Walter.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

A mate of mine saw these signs coming along from Blackburn to Accy and thought Blackburn had moved into a different county now cos you get Welcome to Lancashire when you leave.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

HBC is collectively so thick, that if it had piles it would wear its arm in a sling (think about it..) I have just had a run-in with them. I sent them a direct debit form for my Council tax for this year. I then got a demand (not quite with menaces) for my Council Tax. I e-mailed them on 2 July. I e-mailed again (telephone is useless, you can't get through) on 7 August. I got a reply saying they were looking into it. The next thing was, they were taking me to Court on 26 August for non-payment of Council Tax unless I coughed up the whole amount for the year (less the first payment made by cheque).

As you can imagine, I protested extremely loudly. This morning I get a communication from them. All it is is a direct debit form, no amount, and a return envelope. What do I do now? Try to get through on the phone yet again, no doubt, to find out whether they want a new amount per month, or whether I have to pay the last couple of months which THEY have not bothered to collect, or what?

You give them a direct debit, they don't bother to action it, then they threaten you> Best practice NOT!

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

They did exactly the same to me several years ago Pendy. I set up a direct debit for council tax, they didn't take the money and tried to make me pay the whole lot at once for non payment. I rang the bank who said that the direct debit was all set up but the money hadn't been taken. I then went to the Council offices and they tried to blame the bank by saying the DD wasn't set up (good job I'd been to the bank first) I had a few choice words to say to them about their overall incompetence and have been going to the town hall to pay ever since. Been today to be told that I will have to pay by an alternative method, as they will no longer be accepting payments from October. I have a new DD mandate, and I think it will be accompanied by a 'please don't screw up again' letter when I finally send it in.:)

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Can they refuse to take cash? Or are they trying it on in the hope that everybody will believe their lies? Sounds to me like they need challenging on this.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Think about HBC the people who work there are probably paid a poor wage, except to top end, and so couldnt give a flying **** about you or your problems, "pay peanuts get monkeys".
Working for the goverment has got to be the best thing around after you've been there a while they can't sack you because of discrimination. Just think of all the things they can't sack you for.......sexual, age, racial, handicapped, the list goes on, Sorry about the tiraid but I am currently disputing my fathers council tax via e-mail with the most incompetent, under trained, surly little Google Page Ranking*** I have ever come across, his/her last e-mail said....... ( as I mentioned a few times I was out of the country ) "why dont you just come in to the office to explain the problem"!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Have you heard about the new Ministry of Defence missile?

It's called the Civil Servant, because it won't work and they can't fire it.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Opps Maybe I will have to take it back, b*gger, my dad just called and said he had a letter from the council and his council tax has been sorted out of course no apology for putting a 77yr old man through hell but hey a victory for all us little people :alright:

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Why don't you invite them to come to your house and you can then explain the problem to them!! But wait....probably the whole council would turn up at taxpayers expense!!

Frustrating ain't it?

The last time a civil servant (over here in Germany) asked me to come into her office, I turned up and handed her a bill for £200. That being the equivalent cost of my 2½hours of time (as a consultant I charge by the hour). She never asked me back again!!! Problem solved over the phone!!

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

I don't think HBC can refuse to accept payment in cash, just so long as it is in legal tender (i.e. you can't give it to them in pennies, more's the pity). There is no law yet that says you have to have a bank account, and therefore they cannot refuse cash.

It is probably a job creation scheme - you have one employee to send out the direct debits, one employee to file them, one employee to ignore them, and four employees to send out threatening messages and Summonses.

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I notice that in Clayton the residents have been complaining about litter strewn streets. Only to be told by HBC's Cleansing Manager, Steve Riley, that Clayton's street sweeper could change his route to deal with problem areas but that this would mean that other areas would go untreated.

This was reported in the Observer, on the same day it carried a full column article by the numerically and linguistically challenged Peter Britcliffe, in which he said "That's why here at the Council we need to work even harder to improve your public services, so that you get value for money and the job well done."

Which, if true, would be a novel departure indeed. Sounds to me like the cue for another round of pointless feasibility studies. 'CLEAN, GREEN, SAFE AND LOCAL' my backside!

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Hi tealeaf and busman747. You do not know what throwing away cash means. Braunstone Council estate in Leicester was given £49.5 million under the NDC program, that is New Deal for Communities for run down areas to improve them. That in its self is a joke, but it is tax payers money, your money. It started as a dream of a better future for the residents then turned into a nightmare. Bureacrats so called experts and vultures landed here in droves. They saw gold in Braunstone and moved in with every bright idea to relieve us of as much as possible and boy are they doing a good job of that. It is called resident led. What it really means is residents led by the nose, they selected the most gullable they could find. Many other residents like myself who dare to speak out are branded disidents. Government have secret files on us as if we are a threat to the country. Braunstone is a good place to live, we moved here 45 years ago, this money could have helped many people change their standard of living, but that is not to be. The average wage of the staff is 30 grand a year for doing very little but talk about how clever they are and we have around 70 of them. The council have just sold 250 council houses for £250 to the accountable body housing association, not bad for them.
I am looking round for other areas to seek points of view to see if I am wrong for fighting the system. One company dug up asbestos in the estate but told no one, another buried hundreds of tons of contaminated rubbish in the back gardens of people homes, is this regeneration.

Alan.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

I really don’t believe this. This is the quote that started this thread, by yours truly:

19.April 2004

Quote..”I've just read saturdays Telegraph website. The Bureacrats at County Hall in Preston have decided to spend money on putting up road signs reading "Welcome to Lancashire" on all the major roads coming out of "Blackburn-with-Darwen". They're already up on the roads coming out of Blackpool.

Is this not the most incompetent piece of bureaucratic nonsense yet devised? How much will this cost us, and why? Can anyone think of other examples to match this loonacy, from either Lancashire or Hyndburn Council? Unquote”
I have now had a quick look at tonight’s evening telegraph, and here is an abridged quote from the paper:

6th Sept 2004

Quote “Drive to cut road signs clutter
A REVIEW of Lancashire's road signs has been launched amid fears they are making the county look untidy.
Lancashire County Council's highways chief has ordered a review to make sure signs aren't cluttering up roadsides unnecessarily.
Coun Jean Yates fears many signs are now surplus to requirements because they direct people to places which either don't exist or now have an easier access route.

She wants to see, wherever possible, directions all placed on one sign, rather than on several staggered down a road.

Her move is backed by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which, by coincidence launched a campaign to reduce the number of signs on the roads.

Coun Yates said: "Lancashire is a very attractive county but I am concerned that that is somewhat spoilt by the proliferation of road signs." Quote



For once, I am afraid words have failed me….no doubt some of you will wish to comment on how the good use that your money is being applied to.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

If it wasn't for the fact that it's our money they are wasting the irony of it would be laughable wouldn't it?

I thought "Welcome to..............." signs were intended for county boundries so that you knew you were leaving one and entering another. Maybe the powers that be in County Hall don't realise Blackburn is part of Lancashire?

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New sign for Hyndburn:

"Welcome to the Insane Asylum" [I]

and leaving Hyndburn

" You have just left the Insane Asylum for Councils"

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Thanks Busman and Darby and all welcome postings, I have been insulted by the best Government Ministers and MPs councillors the lot. One more makes no difference you get use to them. Your site is very good, but being a retard and an old codger slows me down a little. I keep getting lost on the site. But I enjoy reading the postings. I have been in your neck of the woods many times as my job was a lorry driver for 40 odd years. Where ever you go you will always find one. I visit many sites but your site is funny and gives a good insight to your area. Many sites are council controlled and of course you cannot post the truth. I live over looking a beautiful large park, we have just been paid a visit by travellers a large area is covered in human waste and rubbish but the council do little to stop this sort of thing. Their friends get the contract cleaning up and no councillors live near the mess. A small group of residents have been battling the government for four years now over wasted money, but they all pee in the same pot and close ranks against us. It is peoples silence that lets councils and government do mad things.

Disident

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

Beat this one for waste. £150.000 in a fixed inquiry to remove one resident director of the Braunstone Community Association New Deal. His crime was to ask to see the expenses of the board of directors. He ask the fraud sqaud to investigate. In three weeks he was removed. It as now been proved that the evidence used against him was fake. Beat that one, and two more directors removed and banned from restanding for election at great cost to all taxpayers. Crime speaking the truth.

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

It's not much different anywhere in the world.... Disident.

I'm sure in Accy there are a lot of goings-on under the bedclothes.

Once the Pigs have their noses in the feeding trough, it's impossible to get them out or to let anybody else gate theirs in.

Peter Mandelson...Jobs for the Boys....People....PEOPLE.....we don't count.

This site has a lot going for it...but it's members are all REAL people with REAL stories, and they voice their opinions...just like REAL ACCRINGTONIANS.

Keep the flag flying mate!! Don't let the Bas***ds grind you down. :engsmil: :engsmil: :engsmil:

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

At one time I was naive enough to think thatcouncils would actually do what they promised and that people putting up for election would follow through once they'd been elected. It only took a few empty promises for me to realise that when it comes to local elections not much changes whoever you vote for. Is it any wonder there is so much apathy?

I dread to think what goes on behind closed doors.

"House of Cards" vs "Yes Minister" ?

Re: Barmy Bureaucrats throwing away our cash
 

I think it's time we launched the Accrington web party and put Tealeaf, Darby and Acrylic Bob into our council. Cats amongst the pigeons so to speak..:)

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Thank you for the nomination Lettie. I'm sharpening my claws as I type.

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Good news or bad news Tealeaf! We all know where the "cog wheel" went, but the rest of the steam engine is no longer in its resting place! Has HBC paid for its restoration (minus a cog wheel) or maybe sold it for scrap to generate more money to pay the expenses of councillors or more likely, has it been knicked by someone who was more aware of its historical value than HBC!

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And the sad and sorry saga continues.....


here we are, a mere six months into the new financial year and despite a critical report of the councils finances from the Audit Commission, already the Observer is reporting that HBC is, according to "Finance Chief" Joe McIntyre, facing a potential overspend of £421,000. That is nearly

Thus proving that the council not only have difficulty setting a budget but that they cannot keep to it either.

And brain-dead Britcliffe's response to this revelation is to simper sweetly and say " I am quietly confident that the budget is under control and I would say to people that they should beware would-be prophets of doom." He went on "I am sure that many other local authorities would look enviously at the situation that Hyndburn is in".

Oh really, Peter. And where would these envious local authorities be, pray tell? ALBANIA? NORTH KOREA? ZIMBABWE?
CLOUD BL**DY CUCKOO LAND ? ? ? !!!!!

How about getting your snout out of the trough for a while and do what you were elected to do for a change?

How much longer are we going to put up with this pathetic charade?