Transport chiefs in York are to look at whether hundreds of pupils in the city could be given free bikes to help them get to school.Yes, indeed, councils wasting our money, providing ‘free’ stuff willy-nilly, etc, etc. It’s a bad idea in this time of belt-tightening, but it’s not the worst.
The worst is the reason they are considering this. It isn’t to save money…
The idea is one of a string of possibilities which will be analysed by City of York Council as it tries to make school runs safer, less congested and more environmentally friendly.And this is the business of the council, now, is it? How their school pupils actually get there?
Amazingly, not only is the answer apparently ‘yes’, but these policies are resulting in the addition of yet more staff to the payroll – staff who should now be protected against the inevitable cuts!
Coun Ruth Potter, who chaired the committee which examined the issue, said: “A number of constructive ideas have been put forward and we put forward 14 proposals in all.As Blue Eyes points out, these are the non-jobs that are being protected while cuts are made to those front-line services that the taxpayers actually want, and see a benefit from…
“One of the most important calls we are making is that school travel plan co-ordinators are protected in the forthcoming budget process. Without the work they do with schools, the council is never going to realise its objective of reducing the number of car journeys to school.”
6 comments:
Personally, I would say that nothing has changed ..
"Management" jobs & "Non-jobs" have been and always will be protected .. that's how the ruling Party on these Councils secure their own futures by "buying" votes ..
Clearly it's a deliberate policy to cut the services people actually want to ram home the point about how evil and heartless the government is.
As long as a single lesbian outreach worker, five-a-day co-ordinator, school travel planner or smoking control officer remains on their payrolls, nobody can tell me councils are strapped for cash.
Well said Curmudgeon. It's way past time to call councils to account, and to define, very rigidly, what are the core services they must deliver. Of course, they'd still be perfectly free, as are we all, to to offer charitable services to those they consider needy - but using their own money, instead of extorting it from other people.
I am rapidly coming to the conclussion that the "finance crisis" does not exist. It is, like the constant terror threats, merely meant to force the public into accepting more, and ever more control.
The Dictatorships of Europe have seen how well the "We are at war with East Asia. We have ALWAYS been at war with East Asia" tactics have worked, NOW they turn the method onto controling ot money as well as our freedom.
Follow ups to....
"Personally, I would say that nothing has changed .."
Meet the old boss, same as...
"Clearly it's a deliberate policy to cut the services people actually want to ram home the point about how evil and heartless the government is."
It's hard not to see it that way, isn't it? And as PT points out, it's long past time for an overhaul of exactly what they are supposed to do.
And what they shouldn't touch...
"I am rapidly coming to the conclussion that the "finance crisis" does not exist. "
If it didn't exist, they'd no doubt invent something else.
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