Author Topic: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)  (Read 115957 times)

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Offline norman08

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We the simple people know it wasn't fit land, used to be the local tip with the Afon ganol running through, all that land gets flooded , just makes you wonder how brain dead they are on the council.

Offline SteveH

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Mileage claims, housing benefits and affordable homes - today in North Wales politics
Here's what North Wales councils have been discussing today.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/mileage-claims-housing-benefits-affordable-16026270


Offline Dave

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Well that's the council tax bill received! The increase is twice that of my OAP increase and I have to pay tax on the latter too. Had the council  not wasted so much money perhaps they could have kept the rise somewhere closer to the annual inflation rate.

Offline Nemesis

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Have all ready contacted our 2 local councillors asking for an explanation as to why we are expected to pay for their fiscal mistakes. Garden waste collection they reckon costs £600K per annum. This is less than they have wasted on the storage facility in Colwyn Bay for bin wagons. They need a reality check. Guess what...??? No reply from our councillors.!
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.

Offline Ian

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From Which?:

The highest increase in England and Wales is in Pembrokeshire, which has seen a 9.97% increase. Band D properties in this area will be charged £1,377.25 in 2019-20, up from £1,252.41 in 2018-19. Residents here also saw an increase of 11.04% last year.

Elsewhere, residents in Powys will see their bills go up by 9.72%; the Isle of Anglesey has rises of 9.13% and Conwy has upped the rates by 9.12%. In fact, of the top-10 highest-percentage increases, all 10 are in Wales.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Ian

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I think it's fairly clear that CCBC is poorly run, abysmally managed and squanders our money on a vast scale.  But we could change things.

It's within the power of the WA to institute a change whereby all council tax increases must be kept to the rate of inflation or face a referendum among the council tax payers. The current system leaves council tax payers effectively powerless, as CCBC simply trot out the same old excuses time after time.  We don't have to accept this. We could start a campaign throughout Wales to force the WA to make a change which would restore some power to those who pay the cash. As things stand councillors can take whatever decisions they want, safe in the knowledge that they don't have to face the electorate for quite a while. That needs to change.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Meleri

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Ian I totally agree with what you say, but if you look at the Council Tax bands on CCBC website they haven't been reassessed since 2003 & house prices have risen considerably since then, most people will find they would go up at least two bands. Do you know who makes the decision for reassessment & how often they do it, is it CCBC or Central Government?

Offline Hugo

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Meleri,    I think that Scotland was the first country in the UK to have the Council Tax reassessed and this was followed by Wales not long after.
I think that the Wales banding was based on the value of the property in 1993 but I'm not positive about the year.   I remember in 2005 our house was uprated one band and I had one heck of a ding dong with an unpleasant guy in the Valuation Office.     I won the case and our house was then reinstated to our previous banding.
My understanding now from talking to people who have just brought property in the area is that the new purchase price of the property reflects the Banding rate

What I don't know and must find out if England was also rebanded in the same way as Wales and Scotland were.

 After I posted the above I checked the Council Tax banding for England and copied it below.      It doesn't look like England has been rebanded but of course I could be wrong.       A definite vote loser for whoever tries to implement it in England

Properties in England are put into one of eight bands (A-H), depending on the price they would have sold for in April 1991.

The valuation band ranges for England are as follows:

Council tax bands in England
Council tax band   Ranges of value
A   Up to £40,000
B   More than £40,000 and up to £52,000
C   More than £52,000 and up to £68,000
D   More than £68,000 and up to £88,000
E   More than £88,000 and up to £120,000
F   More than £120,000 and up to £160,000
G   More than £160,000 and up to £320,000
H   More than £320,000

     

Offline Hugo

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These are the Council Tax bandings for Wales and were based on the property values in 2003  ( not 1993 as i first thought )

Council Tax bands in Wales (based on 1 April 2003 values)
Band   Value at 1 April 2003
A   up to £44,000
B   £44,001 to £65,000
C   £65,001 to £91,000
D   £91,001 to £123,000
E   £123,001 to £162,000
F   £162,001 to £223,000
G   £223,001 to £324,000
H   £324,001 to £424,000
I   more than £424,000

The big question is "why is England's based on the 1991 values and not 2003 like Wales? "          They would generate  much more money nationally if England had the Council Tax bands rated on the 2003 values or better still on the current values



Offline Meleri

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Thanks Hugo for that information. Every year the Council Tax goes up considerably & if CCBC carries on wasting money the way they are I can see a huge hike again next year. I & haven't ruled out that they will reassess the Tax Bands when they get desperate either. They really should be concentrating on demanding a re think from Cardiff in how the allocated money is distributed between Counties as it's most unfair they way they calculate it at present, instead of making ridiculous comments like " we are where we are so must make the best of it", then squeezing every last penny out of Conwy County residents  $hands$

Offline Hugo

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I'll agree with that Meleri and Ian made an interesting comment about the increase in Council Tax in the UK.         The top ten highest increases in the UK are all in Wales!    Something is wrong somewhere

Offline SteveH

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I have been following this case, and I am pleased to hear the outcome,........ however the costs to CCBC both in bringing the case and having defence costs awarded by the court, would have been substantial.

 A council prosecution against an experienced shepherd chosen as high-profile tenant of a £1 million National Trust farm, for £1 a year, collapsed dramatically on the fourth day of a trial today(FRI).

Outside Llandudno court, defence solicitor David Kirwan said :”I am very, very disappointed with the attitude of the council. There has been no apology. They nearly ruined a very honest and well-respected man. I believed passionately in my client’s innocence.”
Cont        https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17692701.your-good-name-remains-judge-tells-farmer-who-took-on-national-trust-tenancy-for-1-a-year/

Offline Ian

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A lot of questions about the case, too.

Quote
The case, costing thousands of pounds, was brought by Conwy council after trading standards officers visited the farm in January last year

Fascinating.  So Trading Standards officers still exist, do they? That alone was a surprise for me, but if so then they clearly have questions to answer as do the council's legal department, who ought to have checked the facts of the case prior to bringing it.

Having a case collapsing mid-trial is usually indicative of very poor preparation. So will the council now publish the details of what went wrong? Because they should.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline SteveH

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The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has demanded Conwy Borough Council conducts a full investigation into its decision to pursue aggressively a case against a Great Orme farmer.

The case against the farmer Dan Jones collapsed during a court hearing in Llandudno.

Cont.  https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17701154.conwy-council-accused-of-witch-hunt-against-great-orme-farmer/

Offline SteveH

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Re: Incompetence: CCBC (and other Public Bodies and Statutory Undertakers...)
« Reply #269 on: October 09, 2019, 12:11:19 pm »
CONWY council’s taxpayers have been floored – by a £636,000 “sinking fund”.

That’s the sum it’s so far cost the council because of a 35-year lease deal signed in 2016 to park bin lorries and gritters in a commerce park at Mochdre.

Then it was discovered that the floor wasn’t strong enough. The landlord agreed to freeze rent last year while problems were sorted out but now payments – of thousands of pounds each month – have resumed.   cont   https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/17956586.conwy-council-deal-park-lorries-mochdre-commerce-park-cost-630-000-date/