flamboyant Posted August 1, 2014 Report Posted August 1, 2014 Hi Flam, Glenda's post on page 14 of this thread (post number 334) would seem to answer this query. Yes you're right Dippy but I was rather hoping that Cllr Rone, Cllr Kenyon or maybe even Cllr Johnson could confirm it and the reasoning behind it? Since the figures quoted would pay for a full time administrator in Children's social care. Who are particularly short staffed with at least 4 members of staff absent with stress due to staff shortages! Two of whom are on the verge of being admitted to hospital! When exactly are the Council going to get their house in order?
Ubique Posted August 1, 2014 Report Posted August 1, 2014 Western Daily Press. 18th July 2014 ......not sure if they really mean they will send " a letter to every person in the county " , should keep the Posties busy . The firm tasked with cutting ‘a jungle’ of unkept grass across Wiltshire is to send a letter to every person in the county to apologise for not being up to the job. But Balfour Beatty Living Places, which controversially won a £50 million contract to maintain Wiltshire’s roads, verges, parks and fields for years, said it was responding to residents’ concerns and was drafting in 11 new teams to get on top of the job after residents across the county deluged the council with complaints. The council’s contractor said it was pledging to get on top of the job, and had devised an ‘action plan’ with council chiefs left on the receiving end of dozens of daily complaints from Mere to Minety over the grass cutting. Residents in dozens of villages had resorted to mowing playing fields, parks, playgrounds, open spaces and verges themselves, and opposition councillors and residents accused Balfour Beatty of winning the contract with a multi-million pound bid too low to mean they could fulfil the work. Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/sorry-says-contractor-Wiltshire-grass-cutting/story-21657943-detail/story.html#ixzz399Pw7CLt Read more at http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/sorry-says-contractor-Wiltshire-grass-cutting/story-21657943-detail/story.html#23peLP6Pd8BwkShv.99
megilleland Posted August 1, 2014 Report Posted August 1, 2014 Thursday 31st July 2014 in Letters Hereford Times Letter from Trevor Swindells, Chairman of Hereford in Bloom, says we can all do our bit when it comes to litter. WE, in Hereford, have just had a visit from the regional judges of Britain in Bloom and I cannot praise the workforce of Balfour Beatty enough. Their men did a great job to ensure our day went well. It takes 3.5 hours to complete the judges’ tour and it went without a hitch. As a company, Balfour do have a serious problem as their budget has been slashed and this has affected their labour force – but on the two days prior to judging they had even litter-picked the route. However, I do have a complaint against the general public. I arranged for a driver with two lady passengers to go on ahead of the judges’ city tour, and they filled over five large black sacks, one being a stinking bag of fly tipping, left at the end of Broomy Hill. The cost of this litter from just bits of paper, sandwich containers, drink cans, bottles or anything we don’t want, is hundreds of thousands of pounds every year and the majority of us are guilty. We have in Hereford city some excellent community groups who are doing a grand job and I hope they will help start spreading the word. There are many ways you can help your community so we have got to get back that old wartime spirit of working together to make our world a better place. Herefordshire relies on tourism and long grass does not help, so the following remarks are directed at our councillors. I agree the wild flowers are great but the verges and signs must be kept clear and the cutting of grass in parkland areas only three times a year is just madness. By leaving it you change the texture of the grasses so that they become coarse and uncomfortable to sit on, not to mention the fact you need different machinery to cut longer grass,. And dog mess cannot be seen and this can have serious health risks for children playing in the long grass. So we are all in this together, we can all help, the council needs that help, let ‘s give it a try. TREVOR SWINDELLS, Chairman, Hereford in Bloom. Has Mr Swindells just realised the city is in a mess as he got ready for Hereford in Bloom. All the stops appear to have been pulled out for this exercise. Now the judges have moved on can we expect BB to pullout and react to the next knee jerk request. The judges should have made their own mystery inspection of Hereford in Bloom to see the reality The council should have a proper plan in place to get this essential work done regularly.
stupidfrustration Posted August 1, 2014 Report Posted August 1, 2014 Thursday 31st July 2014 in Letters Hereford Times Has Mr Swindells just realised the city is in a mess as he got ready for Hereford in Bloom. All the stops appear to have been pulled out for this exercise. Now the judges have moved on can we expect BB to pullout and react to the next knee jerk request. The judges should have made their own mystery inspection of Hereford in Bloom to see the reality The council should have a proper plan in place to get this essential work done regularly. Nope I'm pretty sure Trevor is frustrated about the sad state the town that he loves is in. Trevor is a very "mature" gentleman who runs Bloom for free out of the goodness of his heart. Sadly - all the stops - we're not pulled out for hereford in bloom - I'm pretty sure that other towns do this much better - but not for the lack of trying on Trevor's part! The council do have a plan on how / when to do essential work - I'm also pretty sure "we" would think it's not enough. And I'm also pretty sure from your usually great informative posts that you don't understand how "pots" of money work. There was a link on the HT and this site where you could play with the council budget - have a go at it and see if you can do better - if so - please state what you did on that tool as it highlighted to me the difficult decisions that have to be taken.
Biomech Posted August 2, 2014 Report Posted August 2, 2014 Oh Hereford in Bloom... that explains why they left the grass and pretty weeds to grow to long, they were going for a win
Ubique Posted August 2, 2014 Report Posted August 2, 2014 Waiting , with interest to see if the City won any awards / certificates for Hereford in Bloom . If they do the Council and BB will be in High Town blowing their trumpets long and loud .
Biomech Posted August 2, 2014 Report Posted August 2, 2014 I saw a big stack of poppies that had grown through the wild grass, by the city wall I think. Clearly it was wild, but it did look quite nice :P
Ubique Posted August 2, 2014 Report Posted August 2, 2014 WW1 ,this is my effort - it's nothing compare to what really happened . One only has to read the names on War Memorials to see the effect / personal grief of war . The Poppy seeds were purchased from B and Q with all profits going to TRBL - a good cause.
flamboyant Posted August 2, 2014 Report Posted August 2, 2014 The Councils balance the budget web page is http://youchoose.esd.org.uk/HerefordshireCouncil They want us to make the decision on where cuts should be made, they will make them where they please and claim it's what we wanted! Notice you haven't been invited to participate by post! So unless someone's trawling the Council website which I doubt you would never know it existed! Plus the simulator doesn't break down the service areas! I'm also confused about the inclusion of roads, wasn't that already budgeted for? No I was not trawling the Council Website, someone sent it to me! Lol
megilleland Posted August 2, 2014 Report Posted August 2, 2014 The council do have a plan on how / when to do essential work - I'm also pretty sure "we" would think it's not enough. And I'm also pretty sure from your usually great informative posts that you don't understand how "pots" of money work. There was a link on the HT and this site where you could play with the council budget - have a go at it and see if you can do better - if so - please state what you did on that tool as it highlighted to me the difficult decisions that have to be taken. SF I run my affairs on a simple spreadsheet which shows me where my money comes in and where my money goes out. A process which works very well. I can forecast what my financial position is at any moment in time. I work on the basis that I do not buy anything unless I can afford it and I do use a credit card. The council is a body, which like me, has money coming in and going out, but unfortunately does not appear to have full control over its finances. Money is being spent all over the place and overspends are not realised until too late, so a fix using creative accounting is applied and hidden in the Annual Report and Accounts. The accounts are difficult for many of us to read, but the jargon and terms used, are to smokescreen the reader from the reality that lie (no pun intended) on the pages. If some learned accountant would like to run an evening course on understanding public accounts, I myself would be interesteed to learn more. Regarding your comment about not understanding how pots of money work, I can only assume that the only pot the Cabinet use is a chamber pot judging by the crap that overflows from it on a regular basis. I am taking your advice to look at the simulator and will report back on how I got on, although my preliminery view didn't bode well. The download data (XML) or (CSV) is double dutch and totally unusable. I notice that there are 160 submissions, although this contradicts the information here which shows not one submission has been made in Herefordshire to date - other people experiencing problems?
flamboyant Posted August 2, 2014 Report Posted August 2, 2014 Megilleland if you don't understand the figures we are all doomed! If there's anyone out there who has a shred of hope of deciphering Council Math I'd put my money on you! If I had any that is... The simulator like everything else the Council do is a crock of Crap! Cllr Johnson have you ever visited your back offices and looked at how efficient they are? I think not! So how exactly are you going to make efficiency savings! I think you took the word of one of your self serving minions! Try running an audit on the staff in your directorates and find out what they actually do, you have several managers that you will struggle to find, unless you know their home address that is, there's a tidy little sum you can save! Don't even get me started on the 2pm finish Friday afternoon! You can not run a business from the comfort of your arm chair! Then I suggest you do an audit of how many exit packages we are paying aggrieved staff because one of those overpaid suits made yet another mistake that cost us dearly!
flamboyant Posted August 3, 2014 Report Posted August 3, 2014 Does anyone recall this post from another thread? Just in case we forget I wanted to remind everyone! bobby47, on 17 Sept 2013 - 10:49, said: Jim, Yes being a Councillor is difficult. I couldn't do it. Im not good enough, Im certainly not clever enough and so I choose to do this. And 'this', sitting behind a keyboard is no small task. Our job is to vote you into Office. When you do well, we shower you with praise, and some of you get to become Mayor and have the opportunity to switch on the Christmas Lights. But when you do bad or worse sit back and do nothing then we use this technology to voice our views. This is what it is and our democracy is all the better for it Jim. Yes, there are down sides, sometimes without trying I can hurt another's feelings. We all can but I say it's a price worth paying to make sure our local leaders do what they are expected to do and graft and earn their badge of office. Do I feel sorry for Councillors who work hard? Not in the least bit. I hope when they finish their day they are knackered. They choose to embrace this Office and 'stand'. Now, after reading this I'd like you to press the button, raise the Rone Atkinson topic and tell me what you think, even if its to tell me to get stuffed. Hi bobby on the Rone / Atkinson thread look at who get's what and who claims expenses etc I for one didn't stand because of any pay in fact I didn't know you were paid the ethos behind it was ok but it was never going to happen I get the very basic salary and I work very hard for it I offered myself up to be chairman of the health scrutiny committee and not take the extra money to do that job which is around £12,000 per year twice as much as my allowance I did that quietly behind close doors but the new Tory leader choose the former leader of the council of full salary to do the job my concern was we have are backs against the wall financially and we were going to lose the scrutiny officer the two cllrs that put this up had just been shuffled out of a position which they were in receipt of extra allowance , I felt I was and am good value for money check my record if everyone involved would have done it including senior management I would have voted for it but as I said how much was posturing I'm not sure. Comments Cllr Kenyon?
stupidfrustration Posted August 3, 2014 Report Posted August 3, 2014 SF I run my affairs on a simple spreadsheet which shows me where my money comes in and where my money goes out. A process which works very well. I can forecast what my financial position is at any moment in time. I work on the basis that I do not buy anything unless I can afford it and I do use a credit card. The council is a body, which like me, has money coming in and going out, but unfortunately does not appear to have full control over its finances. Money is being spent all over the place and overspends are not realised until too late, so a fix using creative accounting is applied and hidden in the Annual Report and Accounts. The accounts are difficult for many of us to read, but the jargon and terms used, are to smokescreen the reader from the reality that lie (no pun intended) on the pages. If some learned accountant would like to run an evening course on understanding public accounts, I myself would be interesteed to learn more. Regarding your comment about not understanding how pots of money work, I can only assume that the only pot the Cabinet use is a chamber pot judging by the crap that overflows from it on a regular basis. I am taking your advice to look at the simulator and will report back on how I got on, although my preliminery view didn't bode well. The download data (XML) or (CSV) is double dutch and totally unusable. I notice that there are 160 submissions, although this contradicts the information here which shows not one submission has been made in Herefordshire to date - other people experiencing problems? I think a simple "in" and "out" coloum on a spreadsheet for the home is nice isnt it. Its easy - why isnt it that easy for the council eh? To be fair to you Megillieland - you are much smarter than that - and you know its no where near the same principle. Emergencies come up - tax implications and mgt of money is all important in business. Im sure you know this - and I believe you are over simplifying it for effect. With regards to pots of money - there are different pots - from different departments of the government to be spent in different ways and have strings attached. What I liked about that servery was it quite simply illustrates how difficult some of the choices are. 165,000 people in our county - 60,000 in Hereford central, 161 submitted responses. Shame really. Its interesting to note when you look at your links above it shows the results from around the country - and most people have voted to reduce council tax. So - when we do this - wey hey - we can all save £10 a month!!! Whoop - winner! But the compound issue is a lot less money for the council to keep any level of service. What will we do with this modicum of saving? Perhaps have 3 pints in the Commercial? Also - in Hereford on that servery - "we" choose to reduce the bus service. Im guessing those replies are from people who have cars and dont need a bus. Sod those people who live out in the sticks - if they cant drive - $uck em! They shouldnt have chosen to live out in the middle of no where! We also choose to reduce the "back of house" council expenses - yeah - the staff that are hanging on in there - the staff that do work hard, the staff that bring work home and are working till 11 or 12 every night, just to keep paddling - yeah - lets hit them some more! Im pretty sure they spend too much on paperclips as well! Cut back on Paperclips! Perhaps we can send people to argos and "borrow" those little pens - that will save the council some money too! There was also a decrease on building houses and investing in the future - all very interesting stuff isnt it. Like with the hot food debate - it feels like people dont look 2 or 3 steps ahead, but just consider the immediate problem as they see it.
Ubique Posted August 3, 2014 Report Posted August 3, 2014 Quote ......Also - in Hereford on that servery - "we" choose to reduce the bus service. Im guessing those replies are from people who have cars and dont need a bus. Sod those people who live out in the sticks - if they cant drive - $uck em! They shouldnt have chosen to live out in the middle of no where! I have passed my three score and ten a few years ago -we reside in a small village 4.5 miles to the NW of Hereford . I still have a car and drive all over the country - however Mrs Ubique and I still use the bus at least once a week to travel into and return from Hereford . We completed the survey and surprise surprise the timetable has changed - however we have no complaints regarding the new timetable - we , of course have bus passes ( and grateful to have them ) the bus into the City is at 0930 and returns a couple of hours later . The major difference is that on the inbound route the bus used to stop at the City Bus Station which suited us - it now stops at the bus stop outside the new shopping centre - no problem . We still wait for the bus on the outward bound trip at the City Bus Station . I know that I am only reporting about one bus trip , I am sure , but have no knowledge that other services my not suit all the bus travellers.
Biomech Posted August 4, 2014 Report Posted August 4, 2014 "To the member who inquired about cut grass being a fire risk Balfour Beatty say it will not be a risk unless we have an extended period of hot weather." Councillor Preece - so now that the grass is on fire, what say they now? COUNCILLOR PREECE, do you want to get off your fat ass and answer the question? After all, you were the one dealing with BB and the non issue of grass fire. That's right, you people only show your faces when it benefits your agenda, you couldn't give two shits about actually engaging with the constituents or dealing with actual issues.
flamboyant Posted August 4, 2014 Report Posted August 4, 2014 Biomech not sure you can accuse Cllr Preece of having a fat arse, where's your evidence? Sorry Biomech I couldn't resist, go gentle with me! Lol ;)
Roger Posted August 14, 2014 Report Posted August 14, 2014 Broadleaf (Surrey firm) have been in Churchill Gardens this morning from just before 8 am. The grass is of a scruffy length and should not be beyond the capabilities of BB but there you go ... The people don't seem to have enough of the right equipment as they are strimming swathes of open grass which would more efficiently be cut with a ride on mower. There is one on site but it's deployed by Churchill House ...
twowheelsgood Posted August 14, 2014 Report Posted August 14, 2014 There is something desperately wrong with the system - those who administer it and those responsible for it (councillors, we are looking at you) - when a gang has to drive 150 miles to cut our grass (and even then, not very well)- where's the eco-brownie points in that? I've just come back from 2 weeks cycling in Gwynedd - perfect roads, all the verges and grass neat and tidy, open and free toilets everywhere, very little litter, beaches litter picked and bins emptied every day. How do they manage this? Gwynedd has 20,000 less population than Herefordshire, yet is huge - almost the size of Luxembourg. It is a Unitary Authority, the same as Herefordshire, with the same 10 man cabinet system. Two reasons why I think they manage it; 1. There is no Hoople, Balfour Beatty, Herefordshire Housing, Halo, Severn Waste Management, Skylon and all the other 'outsourcing' on a hollow promise to save us money, whilst sucking tens of millions of pounds out of the county and into private pockets every year. It's all direct labour and boy what a difference. 2. There is not a single Conservative councillor - just imagine that! Crossing the border on our return, we instantly had to assume the 'I'm not drunk, just dodging the potholes' position, which, on the A44, starts literally as you pass the ridiculous 'hereyoucan' sign. What a desperate state we're in.
Chris Chappell Posted August 14, 2014 Report Posted August 14, 2014 Cllr Preece's arse is no larger than most men of our age and size, and every day he gets off it to do his Ward work! Cllr Preece and I have asked the Cabinet Member, Cllr Rone why firms outside the county are now cutting the grass. Because of the back log, BB couldn't cope, but apparently most local contractors were already committed to cutting grass and other similar work. So BB went out across the country to find contractors who could cut the grass at the lowest price. Two Wheels, far be it for me to be critical but it is worth saying that like Luxenburge, Gwynedd has EU money, has money from the Welsh Parliament and from their rate payers. The scandal would be if it is discovered that they use their money on street scene and not on people! Herefordshire just gets its money from rate payers, who can not afford to pay more and Government hand outs. The Tories will be gone next May, things will be very different after that. Please bear with those of us who are trying hard to undo the The damage done over the last few years.
Biomech Posted August 14, 2014 Report Posted August 14, 2014 What caused the backlog and what is being done to make sure it doesn't happen again? After all, they have even less work to do now with the cuts to services - surely you'd agree that if they aren't fit for the job they shouldn't have been awarded the contract?
twowheelsgood Posted August 14, 2014 Report Posted August 14, 2014 Herefordshire just gets its money from rate payers, who can not afford to pay more and Government hand outs. The Tories will be gone next May, things will be very different after that. Please bear with those of us who are trying hard to undo the The damage done over the last few years. Complete nonsense, and I would hope that you know it. Even a casual glance at the Council's 2014/15 tax leaflet shows that Council Tax funds only 25% of spending, with government grants making up 32% and the Dedicated Schools Grant for 2014/15, excluding amounts going directly to academy schools, a further 23% (£75.4m). We were told (by Councillors) that things would be very different when Amey went - they are - they're much, much worse now. You'll have to try harder than that to convince the electorate you're worthy of our vote ...
Cambo Posted August 14, 2014 Report Posted August 14, 2014 The football season is upon us not just in the primier league but @ local level also so are the council cutting the grass more often in these areas now like the George playing fields? Was down there the other nite & it looks not to bad I know that teams pay to play on the pitches so the council have a responsibility to make sure there's a decent playing surface.
Roger Posted August 14, 2014 Report Posted August 14, 2014 Because of the back log, BB couldn't cope, but apparently most local contractors were already committed to cutting grass and other similar work. So BB went out across the country to find contractors who could cut the grass at the lowest price. “This exciting opportunity to work with Herefordshire County Council further strengthens our position in the local authority services sector. We are dedicated to delivering an effective, efficient, sustainable and customer focused service for the county which we will achieve through flexible delivery, innovation, and staff development.†Balfour Beatty Website That quote is from July 2013. Is it that the contract was awarded and then BB wasn't paid the pro rata rate for the period and so never cut the grass? Or is it that they were never up to the job? I do see they have a load of 13 plate vehicles tho ... When the grass cuts went from 7 to 3 did part of this £200M contract not get paid? And where is the cash coming from for all this desperate catch up stuff involving a Surrey firm? The credit crunch started in 2008 so a 2013 contract should not have ended up so poor so soon. Oh ... And the local elections are next May so the grass might see a cut in the run up to that I suppose ...
Biomech Posted August 17, 2014 Report Posted August 17, 2014 You remember when I said every time Chappell pops his head up he snipes at everyone else... The Tories will be gone next May, things will be very different after that. Please bear with those of us who are trying hard to undo the The damage done over the last few years. Yeah well... Stop blaming everyone else and get it fixed.If you can't or have no power to make change, then you shouldn't hold the position of councillor
Frank Smith Posted August 25, 2014 Report Posted August 25, 2014 I have never seen Hereford look so rough, long grass and overgrown trees's and weeds everywhere. I even noticed weeds on top of the old city wall, what does that tell you about our council?
Denise Lloyd Posted August 25, 2014 Report Posted August 25, 2014 Yes indeed around the county where the verges have not been cut or are going to be cut late the surface water flooding will be a real problem this autumn and winter. The ditches were blocked last year but this year the situation will be further exacerbated God help us another winter of discontent.
Roger Posted August 25, 2014 Report Posted August 25, 2014 These are BASIC issues ... cutting grass ... it's not like sending a rocket to the Moon ... I would guess all the money is being wasted on the Management tier of people being paid huge amounts of money to decide how to cut the grass ....
twowheelsgood Posted August 25, 2014 Report Posted August 25, 2014 Yes you're right, it is SO basic, yet it is seemingly impossible for tiers of management to do it right when a simple team and foreman managed it to a very high standard pre-privitisation. It would be VERY interesting to compare pre-privitisation of the parks and Highways team with post sell-off to Balfour and see who does what now. After all, the parks and verges have not changed in area, neither have the roads changed too much. The basic mechanics of grass cutting and highways manintenance are unchanged. What has changed will be the management/worker ratio and the overall costs of a very basic service.
dippyhippy Posted August 26, 2014 Report Posted August 26, 2014 I walked the dog up the Ash Path, from the back of Bulmers to Yazor Road. Several trees blew down in the January gales.....they are still there in August. There is no water in the lower part of the stream, the top field has just received it's first cut of the year...following the grass fire on the lower field,( the old Whitecross school playing field.) After time and money were spent clearing the banks and the brook, the whole path from top to bottom is a completely overgrown mess.It's going to take some serious effort and man hours to get this back to looking even half decent.
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