Thats more like the Rindi we know a like, keep it up old chapLol, ok I'll start being silly.
I love Cameron's new brand of caring, sharing Conservatism, or Tory-Lite as the new brand is apparently called.
mr britcliffe
- Thread starter tosh
- Start date
Since I'll be seeing you at the theatre tomorrow you can spill your dirt before Neil tells me his gossip re: a councillor.
Lmao at you, Cyfr and Neil!
You're like Ena, Martha and Minnie.
Lilly you'll have the trio spinnin in their gravesLmao at you, Cyfr and Neil!
You're like Ena, Martha and Minnie.
Since I'll be seeing you at the theatre tomorrow you can spill your dirt before Neil tells me his gossip re: a councillor.
The amusing thing is it was that important that I don't remember what it was now. I shall have a think!
The Tories overspent by 450k in THEIR first quarter (ie projected £1.8m loss) and blamed Labour for the year before, despite the books balancing in Labour's year. Just thought I'd put the record straight.
It was £42m - it peaked at £46m. £22m for Council Housing and £26m for the Council Tax Payer. When The Council Houses were transferred the Council had the £22m wiped out PLUS another £10m which reduced the Councils' debt to £16m currently.
It has not increased because Gordon Brown has for 3 years financed the Council's Capital Programme. We normally borrow £2m each year but he has given us £2.5m per year. £7.5m. So we don't have to borrow.
An important question is where are all the interest savings on the £10m debt write off being spent? The savings figure is around £900,000 per annum by the way. Also to consider that Council House sales receipts have risen sharply with house prices. This all comes to the Council so where has this money gone too. And we spent 450k on Concessionary Fares prior to any national scheme. Now we have the Government scheme, the Council's scheme has been scraped. So where's that 450K a year gone?
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No, it's many factors combined. However building utopian white elephants like the Walker Development on an old thriving market was a disaster.
George Slynn was neither my cup of tea either. But he at least put together a £4million Town Centre plan but the lottery funding £2m fell through and he lost control (1999) to the Tories.
Only two leaders have contributed anything significant to this Borough in the last 20 years. George did the Globe Centre bringing 100's of jobs to the Borough. Ian Ormerod on a lesser scale sacked the senior management at the Council leading to a mini revival.
Graham, how the hell could the Council Housing be £22 million in debt? Surely the house rent pays for everything for the houses? If not why are the rents too low?
Sorry about all the questions but I can't understand how that could happen.
The HRA loans were around £22m, might have been £23m when the were repaid. No idea how it was that. Presume previous Housing schemes???? Might have been from some of the 70's builds as the loans were generally taken over 40-60 years? Need to check back for a proper answer.
Your referring to the HRA account (like a current account as opposed to the loans account). That has a surplus on close of around £450k. That has now gone into the Council's coffer's this year and a reason for the healthy accounts though it was tenants money. Part of the transfer agreement.
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Yes Graham and they also scrapped the Works department in 2002 which was a profit making department keeping money within the council and bringing in money from outside contracts, a fact that was never taken into consideration when setting the budget, meaning they had to find around a extra £700,000 just to stand still, plus using rebates that they weren't entitled to, to the tune of £560,000, its hardley any surprise they left a huge budget deficit, which has now been addessed and the council finances are back on track, and back in the black
The first bit is somewhat right. Labour scrapped outside contracts. Well Mike Chambers Chief Exec did and I am not sure how much authority he had. At the end of the day it was Labour's fault. Such as the grass cutting contract at the college had come up for renewal and we didn't tender. There is a lot more to this story and I never got the bottom because the people involved have gone.
And guess the rebel at the time was! So we're on the same side and I can count on your support then!
The second bit is rubbish. The accounts according to De Loitte Touche were a mess. Paper profits were being recorded between an antiquated broken down green screen computer system and for the 20 weeks (intermittant) it had been down, an old ledger book. All the payments were historical and not relevant to what was happening as they were internal contracts from the old Tory loony days of CCT (Compulsory Competitive Tendering). £700,000, it might as well have been 700,000 washers, it was paper money, not Tax Payers money.
It still happens now. There is a payment from the Market Hall for Central Services for £175,000 which no-one can work out what it is for. It makes the Market Hall appear to be just keeping it's head above water and why we have higher than necessary rent increases and why byzantine accounts frightened off the private sector.
You have had the 1999 figures. If you work out the budgets had we been ratecapped, the Council's budget would now be around £12m approx. It is in fact now £15m because of above inflation increases.
That's a £3m deficit on current spending. I say that as a reminder of the Tory years in Government and the circumstances in which Labour Councillors had to run the Council.
Are you living in dream land?
I have worked in 3 different successful stores in the town and have only taken that kind on money on Christmas Eve !
An average day at Our Price or Music Zone was £1800-£2000.
I have been looking at some properties this week, and in my opinion, the rent on council owned property is far higher than a lot of the private sector, and some of it seems extortionate. My brother worked for a popular sports shop in bury precinct, and according to him, a good saturday (not christmas or anything special) would generate around 7 thousand, but that would only just cover the rent, since that time, out of town outlets have taken thier toll and the shop had to close, if a business cant survive with 7 grand turnover in one day, something is sadly wrong.
There are shops on Oxford Street, the highest turnover per square foot of retail space in the country, that don't do ten grand a day.
The only 'shop' in Accrington that might possibly achieve that figure is the knockin' shop, near to Greg Pope's office.
'Many a true word spoken in jest' .. always plenty of repeat customers in this game. Hey, Garinda ... am bored .. perhaps we could go 50/50 .. one in Ossy, one in Clayton. Am I joking ? not quite sure.. I didn't claim that they took £10k a day every day, and are both of those shops now closed down?