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Post by smithy1 on Sept 26, 2014 21:50:36 GMT 1
I heard a whisper that some youth clubs groups in Shrewsbury will be closing in march next year with some jobs being lost. We are supposed to be on the road to recovery and it seems the goverment are still trying to penny pinch where ever they can.
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Post by SeanBroseley on Sept 26, 2014 21:58:25 GMT 1
Oh we haven't seen anything yet.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2014 21:59:12 GMT 1
What recovery? As far as I am aware the haves have continued to make money throughout the recession. It's the 99% who have felt the burden and are continuing to do so.
I am surprised that the youth centres have lasted this long!
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Post by El Presidente on Sept 26, 2014 22:09:50 GMT 1
Free swims for toddlers has already gone.
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Post by jamo on Sept 26, 2014 22:17:16 GMT 1
Stop moaning. Don't know when you're well off you lot !
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Post by El Presidente on Sept 26, 2014 22:19:07 GMT 1
Stop moaning. Don't know when you're well off you lot ! If you please Mr. Scrooge, it's gotten colder, and the bookkeeping staff would like an extra shovel full of coal for the fire?
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Post by mattmw on Sept 26, 2014 22:19:27 GMT 1
Head of the government Civil Service announced 5 more years of cuts today. Certainly those working in the public sector know the worst is yet to come - don't eat old, ill or vulnerable in the next 5 years folks
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Post by Jonah on Sept 26, 2014 22:24:02 GMT 1
I heard a whisper that youth clubs in Shrewsbury will be closing in march next year with lots of jobs being lost. We are supposed to be on the road to recovery and it seems the goverment are still trying to penny pinch where ever they can. Having just experienced a 12 month marathon planning application I can assure you there are more deserving areas worthy of cuts.
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Post by Matster on Sept 26, 2014 22:36:39 GMT 1
The phrase "Osborne picked the lowest apples from the tree" rung out this week.
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Post by Feedo Gnasher on Sept 26, 2014 22:45:58 GMT 1
I heard a whisper that youth clubs in Shrewsbury will be closing in march next year with lots of jobs being lost. We are supposed to be on the road to recovery and it seems the goverment are still trying to penny pinch where ever they can. Having just experienced a 12 month marathon planning application I can assure you there are more deserving areas worthy of cuts. Would that not suggest planning is struggling to operate properly as it has already suffered cuts?
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Post by Stowmarket Shrew on Sept 26, 2014 22:49:58 GMT 1
I heard a whisper that youth clubs in Shrewsbury will be closing in march next year with lots of jobs being lost. We are supposed to be on the road to recovery and it seems the goverment are still trying to penny pinch where ever they can. Having just experienced a 12 month marathon planning application I can assure you there are more deserving areas worthy of cuts. Hi - sorry to hear that. Don't want to make this thread political at all but I work as a Town Planner in local government. From the inside but, bluntly, things are shambolic. Morale is rock bottom, employee numbers are as low as they have ever been and workloads are up at least 20% on last year? We have to face 20% more cuts in the next three years and we're all on notice again (my third time in 4 years). All the while the government keep farting around by changing the regs every week and, sorry for making it political, mostly for ideological reasons. I elected to work in local government as I like to make a difference, for public benefit but it's absolutely shambolic at the moment and will get a whole lot worse. I have a close relative who works for shropshire counci, and by all accounts it's even worse there. Im genuinely sorry to hear about your planning application. I have been working very hard not to let anyone down at the council I work for. I have done 53 hours extra (unpaid) so far in September on a contracted 37 hour week but I am still behind on workloads? I hope you got the right outcome
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Post by Jonah on Sept 26, 2014 22:50:58 GMT 1
Joking aren't you? To many European laws and ridi ulous policies more like.
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Post by Stowmarket Shrew on Sept 26, 2014 22:59:06 GMT 1
Joking aren't you? To many European laws and ridi ulous policies more like. Nowt wrong with policies but I accept planners need to be as pragmatic as possible. Ive worked in planner for 15 years and theres nothing of relevance from europe in planning except for a few envirinmental regs which probably apply to less than 1% of applications. like everywhere in local governnent right now times are tough, which is a real shame when planning needs to play such a huge role in supporting the recovery
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Post by Jonah on Sept 27, 2014 7:36:36 GMT 1
Joking aren't you? To many European laws and ridi ulous policies more like. Nowt wrong with policies but I accept planners need to be as pragmatic as possible. Ive worked in planner for 15 years and theres nothing of relevance from europe in planning except for a few envirinmental regs which probably apply to less than 1% of applications. like everywhere in local governnent right now times are tough, which is a real shame when planning needs to play such a huge role in supporting the recovery Sorry Stow that remark was in reply to Feedo and not you. I have no doubt there are many who as conscientious as yourselves but in my experience they aren't in Shropshire? ?. Seriously my experience may be unique and I haven't got the time to state all the facts on here. Basically bats have more rights than myself which cost me £1000 to find out and nearly 10 months later I get a decision with 17 conditions attached. From my point of view very little commonsense or any sign of pragmatism.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2014 8:10:28 GMT 1
Bats have rights!
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Post by SeanBroseley on Sept 27, 2014 8:25:21 GMT 1
If the government is in deficit it means that financial inflows from the non-government sector (which includes us) are exceeded by outflows to the non-government sector. In principle that's not an altogether bad thing.
We hear about the burden that this puts on future generations but it also gives future generations risk free/low risk interest bearing financial holdings.
Issues about government deficits - because they are about the balance between inflows and outflows - are logically separate from the total size of government expenditure. That they are often (always) conflated suggests the idealogical nature of the issue.
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Post by Jonah on Sept 27, 2014 9:08:23 GMT 1
Not at my house!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2014 9:35:14 GMT 1
I heard a whisper that youth clubs in Shrewsbury will be closing in march next year with lots of jobs being lost. We are supposed to be on the road to recovery and it seems the goverment are still trying to penny pinch where ever they can. Are they being closed or are they being outsourced to the 4th sector? I have done some parent carer participation work over the last 18 months around the SEND reforms and now transport and it needs to be made clear to users when services are being outsourced and not lost. Having said that that transport consultation is going to be interesting.......
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Post by mattmw on Sept 27, 2014 9:41:49 GMT 1
Shropshire planning has been hit by massive reductions in staff. Probably about 40% - including environment and enforcement which with probably why Johah's application so long.
None of these decisions to cut staff were taken by officers but by elected Councillors to meet government targets for reducing council expenditure. Yet same Councillors say there is no reduction in service.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2014 10:23:56 GMT 1
Not at my house! Apparently you're wrong
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Post by davycrockett on Sept 27, 2014 10:41:44 GMT 1
Which would you prefer higher council tax or cuts? Plenty of alternatives to youth clubs that don't require council spending, cubs/scouts, brownies/guides and loads more
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2014 11:28:26 GMT 1
Which would you prefer higher council tax or cuts? Plenty of alternatives to youth clubs that don't require council spending, cubs/scouts, brownies/guides and loads more Ahh but the poor and disadvantaged need there arses wiping and be allowed the best facilities for free, allows the parents to spend the well earned dole on a weatherspoons breakfast at 10am while the offspring are at the swimming pool...
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Post by venceremos on Sept 27, 2014 11:46:34 GMT 1
Can't beat a bit of stereotyping.
No wonder we never seem to get anywhere.
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Post by gainsparkshrew on Sept 27, 2014 12:08:54 GMT 1
I work in management for a contractor company that has contracts with both public sector and private companies. While I have sympathy for anyone whose job is under threat I cannot comprehend the way public sector organizations,particularly councils, are structured and their abilty to waste public money.
Please tell me if I'm wrong but at the top you have a "cabinet" made up of elected councillors,who are amateurs,part timers who are paid expenses and do the work for the public good ( i.e they were elected in local elections ! ).Most are older/retired people? Underneath them you have,for want of a word -Civil Servants, the council staff,full timers,professionals etc. These people report to the cabinet??..and do as the cabinet bid ??
So we end up with Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council building a nice new HQ next to Theatre Severn, and within months of it opening its announced that we are to have a unified council based at The Shire Hall ?. Or another example, Staffordshire County Council building themselves a new Head Office complex in Stafford. Its called Staffordshire Place, two 6 storey building adjoining each other and which wouldn't look out of place in The City Of London. They moved in 3 years ago,just as the government announced the cuts. One of the two buildings is now practically empty,and will be so in 6 months, and then the council are going to try and sell it !
The waste within the public purse is staggering and quite beyond most peoples comprehension.
On the other side of the coin,my employers thrive on the cutbacks, we have gained work from Councils because it's cheaper to utilize our staff to do the work than for the council to use their own workforce because of additional pay rates and benefits for out of hours work negotiated years back by the once strong unions
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Post by neilsalop on Sept 27, 2014 13:56:11 GMT 1
On the other side of the coin,my employers thrive on the cutbacks, we have gained work from Councils because it's cheaper to utilize our staff to do the work than for the council to use their own workforce because of additional pay rates and benefits for out of hours work negotiated years back by the once strong unions So basically you're helping with the race to the bottom, well done. Getting the same job done for little more than minimum wage and without the nasty perks that have been earned over many years. I can only assume that you and your management colleagues do quite nicely, whilst getting the job done ( in most cases down to a minimum standard) by people that are employed on the lowest wages and terms that you can get away with. All helps with the bottom line, management bonuses and share options though hey. Can't wait for your lot to start picking the NHS to pieces Oops too late.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2014 14:03:22 GMT 1
Public money.
An interesting concept.
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Post by atcham jack on Sept 27, 2014 15:05:12 GMT 1
in Devon, the following closing-youth centres, old peoples centres, old peoples homes, libraries, special needs centres, community hospital beds and s**t we are 1 down in 2nd minute ffs.
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Post by mattmw on Sept 27, 2014 15:13:07 GMT 1
Gains park shrew makes some good points. The public sector did get bloated in the mid 90s and so got involved in projects and works it shouldn't have.
However those days are long gone and most Councils now just do the statutory basics. The trouble is even those are now threatened particularly adult social care; support for the disabled and young people.
Many contracts are going to the private sector, but the trouble with that is the lack of accountability to the public. Under the old system if you didn't like the services provided you got to vote out the Councillors. Now contracts are in the private sector there is no accountability to the tax payer
Also if things go pear shaped the expectation is the public sector will still pick up the pieces. Happened with the Olympic security; happens with the academy schools and happens with the railways. All projects where the tax payer has helped pay not only for board room profits, but bail out these companies when they go wrong too.
Next one to watch out for is the privately run prisons. Looks likely there is going to be a few companies running those walking away in the next few months
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Post by SeanBroseley on Sept 27, 2014 16:47:34 GMT 1
Public money. An interesting concept. This may be another version of "tax-payer's money", which is properly understood as the money that tax-payer's use to pay their taxes as opposed to the money that government spends - which is the way it is usually used.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2014 21:29:02 GMT 1
Yes.
The money I pay my mortgage with Sean, what's that classed as? What about the money that heats my home? Etc etc.
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