OT:Does anyone care where the money is going?

[George]

The scenario

European money is loaned(tax payers) for the regenration of certain areas The council have to plough some of the money into a poor area to bring it up to a decent level of living. Lets supposing they use the money to revamp poor delapidated houses ie double glazing and a paint job on the front elavation. most of these houses are not council and are privatly owned or private LL so... the council send out forms to those houses that need a facelift on the front only and if you want this facelift you fill in the form and send it back to the council. This could take several months of paperwork before the operations are carried out. Several months down the line and everythings ready to go ahead,the council don't get in touch with you either by phone or post and just send out builders to measure up,the builders don't need to knock on your door(they don't anyway) and take measurments of the designated houses windows,doors. They have taken the measurements and now its time install them. Only a few houses get the DD and paint job because again the council have not informed the occupants either by phone or post when the work is going to be done. The builders just turn up to do the work and get no answer so write down on the form "Not available" and proceed to the next job and so on. Now then we have a huge amount of tenants/owners who don't know or just don't care that the work has proceeded in installing the DD/paint job and the only way is to contact the council and inquire but as I stated a lot don't care or bother to do this. So the work has been passed and theres still lot of money left in the pot or quite a lot of DD and paint so what happens to this?

The facts.... NO CONTACT HAS BEEN MADE WITH JOE PUBLIC WHATSOEVER ONLY THE SENDING OF THE FORM TO BEGIN WITH.

[George]

[Andy Hall]

There are multiple problems with all of this:

- Why is public money money going into the subsidy of private sector housing? For that matter, why is it going into public sector housing? The principle of "Give me a fish and I'll eat today, teach me to fish and I'll eat forever" couldn't be more true. If there is to be public investment, it should be on a loan basis to the householder or with something in return or better still into the means for people to make their own investments.

- Why is there such incompetence in the local authority management of such a scheme? Why haven't the incompetent been fired and the fraudulent prosecuted?

- EU budget is effectively uncontrolled and has been for well over ten years. National governments are responsible for about three quarters of EU spending but there is little accountability or control. The auditors have said that it would take at least another 5 years before adequate controls could be put into place even if that were started now. If this were a company, the fraud squad would have been involved long before now and people would be in prison.

[Cicero]

=================================== You've got local Councillors who might live locally. Write to each of your ward councillors and let them know that their decisions are effectively being ignored by Council Officers because of poor communication. Send a similar letter to your local newspaper, pointing out that European funding money is being wasted.

Many councillors, especially those with memories of the Derek Hatton days, are quite sensitive to criticism particularly at this time of year when elections are imminent.

As far as the unspent money goes, it might go into some kind of contingency fund or it might be returned to source. Either way it's a disgraceful misuse of money we've paid into Europe.

Cic.

[George]

"If there is to be public investment, it should be on a loan basis to the householder or with something in return"

On the form it has...should you sell the house within ten years you the undersigned will forfeit the balance of the work carried out to the council. Otherwise its all free of charge, this only means the front elavation work ie DG and paint work. Should you want the bac of the house doing it comes out of the housholders pocket.

Im only going by what I've seen and heard MrHall anyone with a bit of clout might uncover more?

[George]

Well it looks like it hasn't changed from those days...just a different name on the bill board.

[Andy Hall]

Bit of a weak project as well then......

[Andy Cap]

I've just had a reply from my MP, after complaining that we have never been had a vote on the EU and that it was undemocratic and his main justification for not having a referendum on Lisbon, was that we didn't have one on Maastricht, Nice or Amsterdam and so apparently as long as they stick to calling them Treaties, he believes they can continue to do ignore the country. Not sure what the difference is between what we've got and a dictatorship !

[Cicero]

=================================== Well, it's up to you to give them a little nudge in the right direction by way of a polite letter. Most councillors are very caring people; they care about losing their seats and their allowances and their coffee and biscuits at their cosy little meetings.

Cic.

[mike]

Please name the council and the streets affected.

[George]

Care to enlighten me as to why you have asked?

[mike]

So that I can dig deeper

[George]

Got a valid email? I'll be going to a councillors surgery meeting to find some info out myself or relay it to these ward councillors.

[George]

In this street about 70% of the people are working and the council have randomly sent out 3 different builders firms in the past 2 weeks who are knocking on doors to carry out repairs only to find the bulk of the residents are at work or not getting the work done because people are not available.

Jesus! it only takes a letter or phone call to let people know when the builders will turn up,surely this is costing thousands in paperwork and resources?

[Andy Hall]

This being the case, why are there handouts at all?

How can I help?

We're talking about local authority employees here. They aren't spending their money.

[George]

Only an investiagation will tell us that?

When's supper?

[Andy Hall]

.. and be an excuse to waste even more money

After you've caught the fish.