Don’t councils understand that prevention is cheaper than fixing

Average councillor IQ is probably 85.

Because councils have to accept the lowest possible tender for contracts, they're always going to get work done on the cheap, even when it's a false economy. That's why so many jobs are done badly. Compulsory competitive tendering is another thing that we have to thank Thatcher for.

There are exemptions, but only in certain circumstances, eg something so urgent that it can't be delayed by the tendering process or something so specialist that there's only one company that can supply it.

And there isn't enough money to do both decent running repairs and planned maintenance anyway.

Well I don’t get a discount for my annual community litterpick. I do think there there can be partnership projects. Where I live there are council minibuses that they will train community volunteers on. They can then be booked out for taking kids to school swimming lessons, transportation for charitable and volunteer groups. Council pays for maintenance, insurance and petrol but saves on bus hire costs which are £££s

Our village has regular litter picks, drain and culvert clearing, hedge cutting, weed control, path maintenance etc etc etc. The farmers do quite a lot too, grass cutting, hedge cutting, snow clearing.

It makes a huge difference if you have an active community.

we send out volunteer crews to cut back hedges

I take they have liability insurance ?

@BecauseRonald yes I'm aware that spelling and grammar are outdated concepts these days. Along with having standards in general.

Perhaps if YOU used your local library more you'd learn not to end sentences with prepositions.

Oh dear. Incorrect and outdated.

Duplicate

Which other account would this be?

Councils don't gave any reserves any more and haven't had for a long time.

Really you do talk bollocks. I've worked in private and public sector across various departments and different levels.
There's the same amount of good and rubbish people everywhere.
Just in the private sector you have to put up with more arseholes who think they're something.

2/10

Alot of food banks were supported with Covid fund money, once that ran out its back to voluntary sector or finding other small grant funding.

Food banks should never, ever have been needed. That they are now an integral part of welfare system is a symptom of the wider shit show of short term interventions which need a long term funded strategy.

Our county council is so strapped for cash, they are doing the absolute minimum and just hoping it will be ok.

I'm a parish councillor and we've done our own manual pothole survey, a manual check of drains and gullies, and we send out volunteer crews to cut back hedges so speed limit and School - Slow signs are visible. We nag farmers & landowners of their legal obligations to keep watercourses clear because the county council no longer has the resource to do it.

We're only raising queries with the county council over issues that are absolutely essential/dangerous and we cannot solve with volunteer teams.

Money is very tight this winter in local govt, which I realise is no comfort to those whose homes are flooded.

If it's any solace - all the officers I know hate the huge capital finance projects, it's like buying a huge flat screen tv while the roof is leaking.

But are you going to turn down a free flat screen? (capital finance project for infrastructure), no, not if it's fulfilling a strategic aim and providing employment.

And god knows if the local paper saw the council turned down money for road "improvement" there would be hell to pay.

That’s so sad

Our new labour council have removed the fairly small portion of council funding for local food banks, all set up and funded by local organisations and volunteers. Half of them have closed now having run successfully for years. Plenty of money to create a bus lane on a narrow road that nobody wants.

In our unitary authority we have two types of services;
Statutory -Ones councils legally must provide such as adult social care and children services, very basic services such as bin collection.

Non-Statutory - Everything else, parks maintenance, recreation (pools, gyms),

You can Google for the full break down, but in essence, the first years of austerity councils cut their highest outgoings (staff costs), everything got outsourced so you'd have a better grip on defunding services. Then everything that was Non-Statutory got cut to the bare bones, statutory was then reviewed (often using expensive consultancy firms) and huge "efficiency savings" were made.

Now, the bones of services have been broken, the marrow sucked out, statutory roles i.e antisocial behaviour now have a single officer holding that responsibility as part of their wider role when it used to have a team supporting.

Central government grant no longer covers the basics, it's now supposed to come from business rates (which are set by central gov) or local council tax - which has been capped by how much it can increase. This has meant reserves (if councils had any) have been swallowed by a mix of inflation, high energy costs and other pressures such as increase in social care costs.

Gully clearing and road markings are at the bottom of a very long laundry list of must do's.

We complained a lot one year that the drains were never cleaned the council showed us that it was in the budget and yes they were absolutely cleaned pictures of a tree growing in a drain proved them wrong they say thats new we say it's five foot how is this new? They say there is no drain there to clean we prove there is they say its not on our land that's private property 🤔 we prove it is on there land and the only reason it looks like that is because they haven't maintained it and underneath the overgrowth there is also a path they come out remove the tree don't bother actually cleaning the drain or the path because that wasn't the job he was sent to do and off he goes again

This was in 2020? (Or 21) the drain still has not been cleaned the path is still not cleared I've no clue where this drain cleaning budget is being spent

Rain in my area is not unprecedented we were fine when we had drains that work now not so much

I would never be friends with someone who worked (it's all relative I suppose) for the local council. Unless I wanted to visit them in their grey house and hear about their 2 week all inclusive holiday to Spain.

Perhaps if YOU used your local library more you'd learn not to end sentences with prepositions.

Sounds fair to me - obviously they wouldn't pay council tax though.

All the things you mention are a failure of infrastructure.

If you have an expensive item to replace or fix, you take money from another account.

That's not how it works 😂

Many of the blockages that cause immediate flash flooding are caused by debris that's carried in the floodwater. Tree branches, bins, builders plastic etc. are picked up by swelling tides of water and lodge against sewer gratings, blocking the water's progress. It's not simply a question of "the council didn't clear the drains" although that can be in play too.

Because in a world where every department has it's own budget, the value of one departments savings aren't offset against the cost to another.

If you can save £500,000 no clearing leaves up, the your department doesn't give two shits if the department that has to deal with floods etc has to spend a few million extra,

Welcome to the world of corporate finance. Where saving £100 a year on streetlighting is a "win" despite the extra costs in crime and RTAs.

Been that way since forever, so you won't change it.

I do like the idea of more community responsibility. Give volunteers local responsibility for clearing drains of leaves. I’d do it. Anything that is centralised becomes so expensive.
We have a thriving litter picking volunteer group in my town. The council provide bags and pickers. Win win.