Are all councils this stupid...?

[tazmosis]

So...Sally Bercow is invited - by one of the people that use the service - to visit a Day Centre for the disabled in Shrewsbury.

The reason for the visit is because Shropshire Council cuts threaten its existance.

This was the council's response.

www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/06/30/hurricane-bercow-hits-shropshire/

Are they totally stupid? I would have let her visit and minimised the bad publicity...

oh yes, and this is the same council that is cutting frontline staffs' pay but 5.4% over the next 2 years, but the top 60 senior managers - including the chief exec who earns over £180k - are exempt from the cut. Astonishing.

I think they would be stupid to just let anyone in who turns up and expects to be let in regardless of who they are. They have a duty to the people who use their service, and their staff, including privacy and safety of vulnerable people.
So the users should expect to be asked in advance if they minded being there with all that going on or if they'd rather not attend the day of her visit. And the centre could then arrange whatever additional staff etc would be needed to ensure the visit went smoothly and users and staff weren't put in a position they didn't want to be in.

If they had just let her in there would have been complaints about that too!

Visits by politicians are hugely disruptive, and turning up unannounced and expecting to be allowed to tour a private centre is unthinking. The centre is not a public place like a library, but a safe envoronment for selected serice users. Suppose it was thingy from UKIP instead, using a day centre that a member of your family attends for publicity. Suppose your family member ended up in publicity pictures, apparently endorsing partisan views? (Sorry, forgot, Sally isn't in it for publicity, but to support services). It must be frustrating for SB, and difficult for her to lead her own life, but let's not forget that she has no official role in British politics. And let's not go down the road of saying a wife automatically gains consort status when her husband gains some official position.

Yes. Public sector people generally are not very bright. Their jobs do not require intelligence, just blind adherence to "procedure" and a guaranteed wage.