Are local councils...

[Mr Badger]

Many many years ago I did work experience in the district council offices - nepotism and corruption was rife - eye watering amounts spent on jollies and vanity projects.

How long was the work experience and what did you do? I'm not saying there weren't problems at your council, but in the past I have supervised people on office work experience and I don't see how they could gain that level of insight from a few days of getting the coffee, doing some filing and trying the CBT modules.

 

[arknor]

in newcastle some of the councillors don;t even pay council tax.... we arent allowed to know their names, not in public interest apparently.

Councils are probably the biggest corrupt nepo sham going.

 

[Participant]

And I live in a S*** hole.

Location checks out.

 

[Resident]

Re point A.

That doesn't just happen to councils, in Nottingham IIRC Games Workshop built a big new factory complex having apparently been told there was power for it, then had it sit largely idle for a long time as when it came time to hook it up the electricity board didn't have the capacity (I think due to other construction) and if what I've heard is true basically said it would cost many millions to do the final hookup as the company would have to cover all the cost of the additional works needed to upgrade the incoming supply.
In the end I think they put a load of solar up on the roofs of their buildings and waited for the electricity board to build the capacity for other projects.

A lot of construction projects run into real issues with things like utilities as the likes of the electricity companies can charge you for any upgrades they need to do in order to supply you if they are above the normal stuff, and whilst they can state when you are planning your project that there is capacity, they don't have to reserve it for you, and can use it for other projects that get built before yours or if they run into problems themselves.
There is a very good reason when the likes of a supermarket gets an extension they would often also spend the money to update all the existing lighting and other electrical appliances as the cost of getting the electricity board to increase their supply can often be 7 figures or more (the fact it also reduces long term overheads also helps). IIRC the cost of moving from one level of incoming supply to the next level up can be absolutely eye watering, even if it only needs a line from a nearby main substation.

The utilities in the area where the container park was installed were remapped during works from the previous year when the council resurfaced the entire area. The remapping was specifically done for use with future projects like the container park.

 

[adidan]

Funding to Councils is lower in real terms than in 2010.

That'll have an impact.

in newcastle some of the councillors don;t even pay council tax.... we arent allowed to know their names, not in public interest apparently.

Councils are probably the biggest corrupt nepo sham going.

I mean that comes across as they 'don't even pay council tax' as if it's some sort of grift. They have been taken to court over council tax arrears.

E: I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying they are being pursued for this.

As for not naming them, well, in today's climate I'm not surprised with twitter warriors.

 

[Mekrel]

I can't stand our council, the corruption is absolutely rife. The council is in considerable debt, despite becoming a unitary council a few years ago - supposedly this would come with cost savings.

They recently spent £3m on re-paving a section of the high street. This section has been notorious for antisocial behaviour such as begging, and being used as local car park by both the Pakistani community and delivery app drivers - despite a no access to vehicles warning. Yet they never thought to fix any of those issues by installing rising bollards. So it's now the exact same street plagued with vagrants and cars but with £3m of money down the toilet.

 

[Rroff]

How long was the work experience and what did you do? I'm not saying there weren't problems at your council, but in the past I have supervised people on office work experience and I don't see how they could gain that level of insight from a few days of getting the coffee, doing some filing and trying the CBT modules.

I was in the IS unit so I had access to everything so to speak - the first week was spent going around the site (then field trips to the satellite offices) updating the hardware audit. Can't remember exactly how long I was there but was 2-3 weeks.

They didn't even hide it.

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

Some of the comments here reminded me of this video I recently saw. My conclusion is that a Lot of this corruption seems to wrapped up in the endless bureaucracy. How does it seem right that it takes 10 years to get planning permission for a project that took 2-3 years to complete. It’s unsustainable. We need someone to take an axe to these endless regulations.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

But if we didn't have councils who else would old people blame for every single thing wrong in their lives? Won't someone think of the boomers?!