Author Topic: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)  (Read 115740 times)

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Offline Hugo

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #240 on: January 08, 2019, 09:01:52 pm »
The Social Service's staff moved out of their Civic Centre office block a month ago.

When I walked past the building today I noticed a plume of steam coming from the flue on the roof, so we are paying to heat an abandoned building.

I wonder if the heating is also still on in the other 20 or so abandoned offices?


Couldn't the water pipes be drained and turned off?


Possibly cheaper to heat an empty building than risk a water pipe freezing & bursting with the subsequent damage that can cause?

Offline Hugo

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #241 on: January 08, 2019, 11:07:24 pm »
I presume that the electric and gas had been disconnected so why couldn't the water pipes be drained and turned off?


Offline norman08

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #242 on: January 09, 2019, 09:04:29 am »
C,mon Hugo you are being too sensible here , it's not their money so they don't care ,as soon as they emptied the place guys should have gone in and disabled everything ( incase of vandals for one thing ) ,,,,  how do you know the heating is on in council buildings and hospitals ,,, yes the windows are open 😡

Offline cygnusx-1

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #243 on: January 09, 2019, 05:49:08 pm »
If you want to flog the place, I am sure a few quid to prevent rot etc will make  the place more saleable.......of course you would not complain if the place just fell down would you? All the rear ground floor windows have been boarded up already.....those facing NWP Headquarters will of course have the long arm of the law looking after them!!? The hospital doors used before 1965? will require hinging the other way to stop them opening into the corirdors but I am sure it will make a nice hotel otherwise.

Offline norman08

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #244 on: January 09, 2019, 06:15:00 pm »
If they want to flog it 🤔 Aren't they giving it to the developers that built the new offices .

Offline nwpo

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #245 on: January 13, 2019, 05:25:40 pm »
Yes, the Civic Centre offices are part of the deal for the developers. Their looking to turn it in to a hotel/spa

Offline SteveH

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #246 on: January 31, 2019, 02:09:01 pm »
Eleventh hour hand off of services by Conwy county refused

A number of town councils have refused to take on a list of services handed to them at the eleventh hour.
Conwy County Borough Council (CCBC) have identified a range of services that are "at risk" with a lack of funding available and have decided to try and pass them off to town councils.

The services include car parking, playgrounds, libraries, CCTV and public toilets.

Cont.     https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17398959.eleventh-hour-hand-off-of-services-by-conwy-county-refused/?ref=mr&lp=4

Offline SteveH

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #247 on: January 31, 2019, 07:26:18 pm »
Second bit of good news today.............................

A cash strapped North Wales council gave away almost £580,000 in complimentary event tickets over the last four years.

Figures revealed in a Freedom of Information request to the Local Democracy Service that since 2014 Conwy Council gave away 25,272 tickets at a value of £579,595.63.

More.....  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17400589.580000-worth-of-free-tickets-given-away-by-conwy-council/?ref=mr&lp=1

Offline SteveH

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #248 on: February 04, 2019, 10:41:53 am »
Why county chiefs are paying a council 200 miles away to answer the phone
Bracknell Forest council is now looking to pay a Welsh speaker to man the hotline, which it gets paid £80,000 to run.

A council in the south-west England is on the look out for a Welsh speaker ... to answer the phone to elderly people 200 miles away in Flintshire.

The local authority in Bracknell has been paid £80,000 by the North Wales council, to run an out-of-hours emergency helpline.

But as the emergency response officers are likely to end up receiving calls from people who want to Speak welsh, it is now on the look-out for a Welsh speaker to man its phones.

The officer will be working for the council's 'Forestcare' service, which is an out of hours provision that supports distressed residents across the country.

Law requires the council to meet Welsh speaking standards but prior to the job application being listed, the authority had been using a translation service to deal with calls from Welsh speakers.

The arrangement caught the eye of satirical magazine Private Eye in summer 2018. A column in the magazine reported on how "in the wonderful world of outsourcing, BFC has won a contract to monitor out of hours the lifeline alarms of elderly and vulnerable residents for 25 local authorities and housing associations, one of which is Flintshire County Council in North Wales."

The Flintshire job alone is worth £80,000 to BFC. So when Doris in Mold takes a fall and presses her buzzer, someone in faraway Bracknell will contact her neighbour, next of kin or emergency services."

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/county-chiefs-paying-council-200-15775082

Offline SteveH

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Conwy council have wasted more then £320,000 on a building they can't use in Mochdre.

In May 2016 Conwy County Borough Council (CCBC) entered into a lease for a site on the Mochdre Commerce Park in an attempt to centralise its environmental services to one location.

However the council have been unable to use the site since entering into the lease in 2016 due to a major fault with the concrete base which has meant vehicles could no enter.

In February 2017, after a nine month rent free period, CCBC began spending £20,000 a month on rent. It was not until June 2018, having spent £320,000 worth of rent on an unusable site they approached the landlord to strike a deal to not pay rent until a solution was decided upon.................  Cont.  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17497179.conwy-council-wasted-more-than-300000-on-an-unusable-site-in-mochdre/

Offline SteveH

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Councillors in Conwy have become "frustrated" with plans for another pay rise just a year after their last one.

The Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) has decided that councillors should get an extra £268 a year following on from a £200 rise in 2018.
Cabinet members could also receive an extra £532 a year.

Pay for county councillors in Wales is decided by the IRPW so the decision is out of the hands of the people who would get the money.
But members of Conwy’s Democratic services committee meeting recently expressed their annoyance with the process and argued that members are being ignored by the panel.

They were told that they could not vary or delay the implementation of the pay rise and they’re advice was only being sought on whether to implement the increase to senior councillors.

Members of the council had written to the IRPW asking that pay rises should only be decided once every five years to coincide with the electoral cycle.
Councillors have yet to have a reply from the body with officers saying they had only received an acknowledgement of the letter.

The committee was asked to consider if proposed pay rises for senior members of the council including committee chairs and cabinet members should go ahead.
This would see cabinet members getting an extra £532 a year.
At the moment councillors in the county get a basic salary of £13,600 a year, this goes up to £29,300 for cabinet members and £22,300 for committee chairs.

Councillors will have to decide whether to give any civic salary to the posts of chair and deputy chair of the authority.
If paid, the payment would be £22,568, up from £21,800 for a civic head, the deputy chair salary would remain the same.

Cllr Julie Fallon said: “It’s not that we’re supporting the pay rise. We’ve tried, we’ve been ignored, we’re not happy with this, we wanted them to listen.”
Members of the committee voted unanimously against recommending the pay rise for senior councillors.
Cllr Susan Shotter said: “We have this discussion every year and we sit here wrestling with out consciousnesses and the situation stays the same.”  ref Pioneer

     

Offline Ian

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I wonder if it's ever occurred to them that they could donate the excess to the Council tax funds?
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline DaveR

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Councillors have the option to decline to accept any increase. One or two do just that, but I believe many do not...

Offline SteveH

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More on the above story, from both the Pioneer and the DP, with varying accounts, none of them good.

"Council "failed" in its process of acquiring Mochdre site.
Now an independent, external review has found that there were "process failings" in the way they took on the new lease at Mochdre and CCBC have admitted to missing steps when it entered into the agreement in Mochdre

Cllr Sam Rowlands, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: “The report into how the situation at Mochdre came about is a very sobering read, with many parts highlighting weaknesses in our processes which we don’t normally see."
More    https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17518310.council-failed-in-its-process-of-acquiring-mochdre-site/?ref=mr&lp=5


Bungling Conwy Council to fork out £600,000 for bin wagon depot with floor 'too weak' for lorries
As well as paying £400,000 for the lease the authority is on the hook for more than £200,000 worth of rates for the site

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/bungling-conwy-council-fork-out-16008159

Offline Ian

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If it weren't our money they're squandering it would be hilarious. 

"CCBC said they are set to change the process they undergo when entering into a high value lease using its project management framework as a structure "

It's almost unbelievable that no one thought to check the load bearing capacity of the floor, given its intended purpose. I don't believe it's rocket science. 
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.