£50 Fine for having bin stolen

[Littgull]

Just Google it, I did and found the reading quite interesting.

See penultimate paragraph of linked information below to get a proper perspective.
http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2013/01/local-government-pension-scheme-opt-outs-rise

 

[PhilDawson8270]

Council now want £50 to replace it apparently and won't collect his rubbish unless it is in one of their bins...

Current council have decided to charge £60 per year for garden waste bin collection.

But i live backing onto a field owned by the council. Wth trees that the council refuse to mantain, that shed their leaves all over the garden.

So essentially have to pay th council to clear their own waste.

 

[Drago]

There's plenty of money, but two decades of outsourcing have failed.

Pay your own staff X pounds to do a job, or have a contractor pay their staff X pounds to do a job + Y pounds of profit.

Potholes - they paid a bloke to come out and paint a while mark around our local potholes. I don't know why, because they were perfectly visible to anyone with functioning eyes. I'm presuming he was marking holes for repair, but it was so long ago the paint has worn off, thus making the time spent paying the guys salary wasted.

They won't spend £50 repairing a pothole, but will spend thousands in court defending a pothole damage claim, and then losing anyway.

And like the police, the legions of people that don't actually contribute anything to front line services.

Mismanagement at so many levels is the blame, not funding. Even relatively backward places like parts of Mediterranean Spain get their bins emptied daily, yet with all the money and bureaucracy here most places get theirs done grudgingly every fortnight.

 

[srw]

If "contracted remuneration for retired workers" means I don't get a simple dustbin, I'm still unhappy. The lack of bin bags doesn't make me feel any better either.

I hope you will vote for someone who will give your council discretion to levy enough tax to pay for what you want.

 

[nickyboy]

It's all rather genteel around here and nobody marks their wheely bins and there doesn't seem to be a problem

We recently got some new neighbours who had moved from a rather more....errr....unsalubrious area of Manchester. They've plastered their bins with massive house numbers. So it seems to have been a problem where they have moved from and that is their solution.

We all tut and tsk quietly about this, as is the British way

 

[TreeHuggery]

[QUOTE 4798343, member: 45"]"Mean" suggests that they're withholding money. Councils' ability to provide essential services are weakening by the day, and its only going to get worse. There's not enough money.[/QUOTE]
trust me, an awful lot of money is wasted...

 

[TreeHuggery]

There's plenty of money, but two decades of outsourcing have failed.

Pay your own staff X pounds to do a job, or have a contractor pay their staff X pounds to do a job + Y pounds of profit.

Potholes - they paid a bloke to come out and paint a while mark around our local potholes. I don't know why, because they were perfectly visible to anyone with functioning eyes. I'm presuming he was marking holes for repair, but it was so long ago the paint has worn off, thus making the time spent paying the guys salary wasted.

They won't spend £50 repairing a pothole, but will spend thousands in court defending a pothole damage claim, and then losing anyway.

And like the police, the legions of people that don't actually contribute anything to front line services.

Mismanagement at so many levels is the blame, not funding. Even relatively backward places like parts of Mediterranean Spain get their bins emptied daily, yet with all the money and bureaucracy here most places get theirs done grudgingly every fortnight.

yep they came to sort out our drop down kerb....it had always been too high and needed sorting out cos it kept damaging the car....it took the best part of 2 years (keep inspecting it - yep it's still too high) and then when they came, it took 3 days to do. Neighbours who'd never had a drop down kerb, but paid privately for a contractor to do it...had theirs done in a day... massively inefficient places

 

[TreeHuggery]

[QUOTE 4798652, member: 45"]With respect, without any detail, why should I trust you?[/QUOTE]
fair enough comment...but I used to work for a county council....saw a lot of things....the most telling is that in our county, after an election, all of the roped off places within the building, all of the bus shelter furniture etc, will change colour depending on which party has come into power.....

 

[TreeHuggery]

[QUOTE 4798672, member: 45"]Things have changed. Councils aren't the most efficient of places - it'd very challenging for one organisation to run what are really a large number of very different businesses- but every avenue is being explored these days to make the savings being demanded. Unfortunately that is resulting in some inappropriate quick wins.[/QUOTE]
yeah don't want to get into an argument, - honestly I don't - and now I feel like I am by thinking I'm having the last word !!! but they've got a long long way to go...

 

[screenman]

See penultimate paragraph of linked information below to get a proper perspective.
http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2013/01/local-government-pension-scheme-opt-outs-rise

So the average council worker has managed to get a pot worth about £110,000, not bad if you look at some may have been part timers.

 

[Littgull]

So the average council worker has managed to get a pot worth about £110,000, not bad if you look at some may have been part timers.

For which they will have made monthly contributions during their years of employment. If you are trying to suggest that the average former council employee is awash with money from a huge pension you are massively off the mark. I have worked for a Council recently as well as in private industry. Despite the lies and myths peddled in a lot of the media I have found virtually all Council employees to be decent committed people and proud of providing services to the public.

 

[srw]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...ions-warns-leading-council-finance-chief.html

I suspect that the numerator and denominator don't match. It might be the case that a third of council tax goes on pensions, but council tax is far from the main way councils get their income.

If you buy something from most large organisations with a decent history a good chunk of the bit you pay for their people will be to do with pension costs. And if you look at an organisation which exists to provide services, like a council, most of the outgoings will be on people.

 

[srw]

yeah don't want to get into an argument, - honestly I don't - and now I feel like I am by thinking I'm having the last word !!! but they've got a long long way to go...

So have most large organisations.

Just look at the complaints on here about delivery companies or ISPs or phone companies.

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

Isn't it interesting how senses of entitlement change over time? Once upon a time, people bought their own dustbin, in the same way as they would buy their own kitchen pedal bin. Now they feel deprived if the council doesn't give them free black bin bags. Once upon a time, people thought the priorities for local government should be to care for them and their fellow citizens. Now they feel deprived if they can't get a dropped kerb sorted out fast and for free.

I think with the bins its more the fact that they insist you use the council's own bin or their own bags and they are the monopoly supplier, you can't go to Homebase and buy your own bin and put it out (unless you want to get fined). There is also the mind-numbingly pedantic rules such as someone up thread mentioned - your bin must be the regulation number of inches from the kerb and orientated to the right angle or no collection. Recycling in wrong container - £50 fine - that sort of thing, backed up by an impersonal bureaucracy. You are right about the past - but its a two way thing and the way councils have become rather impersonal entities desperately trying to raise as much money as possible here and cut corners there whilst adhering to inflexible rules and treating residents rather as an inconvenience that needs to be dealt with, is it any wonder people develop a f*** y** attitude in return?

 

[screenman]

A pension pot of £110,000 is not a lot after 40 years of paying in...

I agree, but that is an average pot and not many do 40 years.