Most useless council in Great Britain

[anobium]

How about this our county council Lancashire, built a car park about 3 years ago costing £3.5 million.
It soon became apparent nobody would use it for a variety of reasons and after 12 months or so they closed it.
They then spent thousands maintaining the dammed thing for a couple of years.
They now have called in outside consultants to advise them what to do with it.
Why the hell did they not check the feasibility before they built the dammed thing and why did they not have a back up plan if it didn't work out .
Prior to this they built a luxurious office building for 200 staff at a cost of several million in order to decentralise, they are now trying to get shut of this has nobody either wants to travel or work there.
The council Lancashire County employ god knows how many thousand, so why the hell do they need to spend thousands on outside consultants.
Surely there must be somebody on the payroll who can deal with this!
Incidentally this is also the council who want to demolish the UK largest iconic bus station in Preston.
Why, because it cost to much to maintain.
I don,t know who is worse the useless councillors or the so called officers who advise them.

 

[AronSearle]

I don't have an issue with councils hiring consultants, they often hire such people to solve *a* problem, cheaper to hire a consultant rather than hiring someone.

The problem is when councils use consultants to shift decisions, blame, or just generally don't have a clue what questions to ask or what scope to set.

 

[anobium]

I don't have an issue with councils hiring consultants, they often hire such people to solve *a* problem, cheaper to hire a consultant rather than hiring someone.

The problem is when councils use consultants to shift decisions, blame, or just generally don't have a clue what questions to ask or what scope to set.

I could understand that if the council were run like any other proper business.
But we are talking about an organisation that has a workforce of approx 40, 000, with departments that include amongst others planning and business advice.
Oh and a CEO that is paid more than the PM.
I have a lot of respect for the guys at the sharp end but some of the tossers in the county hall wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world.

 

[joinerjohn]

I think ALL councils, the length and breadth of the UK are in competition with each other, to see which one can waste the most money. When I worked for our local council, the "Council Leader" (as in head councillor) had his/her own office. Because of the stupid way that Derby City Council holds it's local elections, we have a situation where the council leadership can change hands once a year, 3yrs out of 4
The department I worked for , got the contract to paint the leaders office. Always the same colours, nothing was actually changed, but each year, a different councillor would be wanting to "Get rid " of everything relating to the previous encumbent. (thinking a fresh coat of paint did the job) Honestly, they were like fookin school kids in the playground. I'm sure if they'd been playing football on the car park, then one of them would have taken his jumper, so the other side didn't have a set of goal posts as soon as they fell out.

 

[chapeau]

Public Sector. No commercial pressure to do it properly so they don't.

 

[Biker1959]

Public Sector. No commercial pressure to do it properly so they don't.

Just like the security firm for the Olympic games then- oh sorry they were a private firm.

Shi** management occurs in both Public and Private sectors- the Tory press peddle the myth that everything Private is wonderful and everything Public is cr*p- establish the facts, (if you can)

 

[RigidRaider]

A pal of mine is a professional indemnity insurance broker, meaning that he insures professionals like engineers and surveyors against expensive mistakes.

In his opinion (afer about 35 years insuring them) the local council is the last refuge of the incompetent who can't get a job in private industry. This is why local councils are so obstructive and difficult - it's the only opportunity they get to prove their importance.

Local council and environmental people delayed a friend's new factory, an investment of several million pounds in the local economy, by 18 months while they farted around trying to prove they were in charge. My friend even told me that he had reluctantly come to the conclusion that they resented his company because they were paid more and had plenty of cash to spend.

 

[chapeau]

Public Sector. No commercial pressure to do it properly so they don't.

Just like the security firm for the Olympic games then- oh sorry they were a private firm.

Shi** management occurs in both Public and Private sectors- the Tory press peddle the myth that everything Private is wonderful and everything Public is cr*p- establish the facts, (if you can)

Well I know somebody who works for said private security firm (if you want a ticket for a sold out gig, he's the man, as he runs them). He said that although the private security firm did make mistakes, far far more were made by government / LOCOG.

Guvmint/LOCOG thought they knew best, didn't want to spend the money, and ignored advice that they needed more security staff.

But private security firm took it on the chin in public to ensure further business from government.

Facts established.

 

[AronSearle]

the Tory press peddle the myth that everything Private is wonderful and everything Public is cr*p- establish the facts, (if you can)

Errr, no.

Private is better not perfect, not always, and not always the right solution.

 

[AronSearle]

approx 40, 000, with departments that include amongst others planning and business advice.

Yes, but about 38,000 of those will be useless paper pushers, social carers, enforcement officers blablabla.

A council might build a car park once every 20 years?

So really people need not focus on them hiring consultants, it's actually fine, and by attacking consultants you only set up the council to hire such people full time, then have them sit on their arse most of the time on a full time wage.

Councils are mostly ****, because they can always just raise rates to plug any financial holes, and they don't give people the opportunity to vote on spending issues (and don't give me those faux consultancies where they "listen" and then just do it anyway as they made a decision before the meeting).

 

[anobium]

I must apologise as I do the council an injustice.
There is a period when those in their ivory towers do work quickly and efficiently.
It is usually in the last few weeks in March just before the end on the financial year.
This is the time when they are scrambling about looking for ways to spend the money left over in their budgets.
It doesn't matter if it is necessary or not, the money must be spent, failure to do so will mean a reduction in the amounts they are allocated for the following year
and probably a rollicking from their superiors.
How do I know this, I was the fortunate recipient of some lucrative contracts at this time.
The only proviso was that we had to invoice them before the end of the financial year, irrespective of whether the job was finished or not.

 

[Peter1919]

But it was G4S who failed to provide the number of security personnel requested by Government not Government failing to request enough security staff from G4S

 

[chapeau]

Guvmint/LOCOG realised too late they had stuffed up and private co didn't have enough time to deliver.

Though I have to say, the army and navy personel who stepped in were a credit to themselves. Efficient, courteous and could spot a terrorist at 500m. The mrs said it was a complete pleasure to be searched and I still suspect she left some cash in her pocket just for that.

 

[gasbanni]

The reason they hire consultants is that if it all goes wrong the individuals involved can point to the consultants and don't carry the responsibility for the failure of the project/scheme.

This was divulged to a friend when he questioned a mate about his mentioning they were getting consultants in !

 

[securespark]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/18/preston-bus-station-demolition-approved