Dawlish Discussion

Noted in the circular from the Lib-Dems that Devon County Councilh as millions in the bank.

So why are we paying ever increasing rates for ever decreasing services.- I notice NO local councillor

has cutting or holding  rate increases as thier priority but are more intrested in "holistic " projects and 

how long they have lived in the area amd think everything is rosey in the garden.

Platitudes about how councillers have served the area well do not tally with the slow down ward spiral

of our amentities as they say how lucky we are to live in this area  with druggies shop closures, more  charity shop openings ,

higher parking charges as the council do everything in their power to drive business away..not a decent initiave between them.

Unfortunately the usual suspects will probably get elected  as its a case of lib dem or tory

  each equally bad. The only saving grace is to let them only have one term each to limit the damage. 

Never heard anything abot what the so called independents are doing.

God how we need a ratepayers alliance ....................

Why have council provided services been declining? Well ,perhaps the fact that over the past 10 years or so the amount of money given to local councils from central government has been cut back and cut back and cut back.  So....if there is a reduction in income from central government then councils have to reduce their expenditure/raise income in other ways.   

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Yes, the same old mantra about why we have no money rather than how much is wasted e.g Newton Abbot centre, costs of uplifting flytipping because of the bin tax.You will have heard the saying you cut the cloth to match income and instead 

off grandoise schemes get the basics right. You fail to mention that the general public are funding their defined benefit pensions which changing  would be a good startig point ...

 Here is some more starters

Cut down the number of portfolios in the council - so many holistic positions  are self generated.

Reduce " all year round" car parking charges as the council have to understand to bring business in to towns  parking charges are too high.

get rid of dog wardens - was there every any convictions - doubt it 

instead of keeping huge reserves ,probably in shares and investment  funds to generate income, spend it on ways to improve business.

Proposed introduction of 20 mile an hour signs in housing areas- complete waste of money.

Cost of maintenance and implementation of 50MPH speed limit on dual carriageway  - waste of money but no doubt some  jobswoth 

will come up with some stastics of potentially how many lives were saved ....................the list goes on and on 

Funding  fot Crime commissioners office /staff/ refurbishment - get rid of this position as its a waste of time.

Move from old job centre in newton abbot to forde offices , how much is that white elephant building ( still empty )costing in rates and 

mainntenance.

These are just a few points of the top of my head, I am sure other readers could contribute  more.

Well, as with so many things in life, what one person thinks is a waste of money another person thinks is essential. 

Ditto central and local government.

Threre's nearly £350,000 savings to start with......

Four candidates have come forward for the election to become police and crime commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The vote for a four-year term of office for the £86,700-a-year job was postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic and takes place alongside local council elections on Thursday, May 6.

1263 the reserves are mainly held for protection of the pension fund. Teignbridge accounts showed I think three years ago that they managed to find an extra 1 million pounds to pay into the staff pension fund, this was at a time when they were closing toilets and cutting services.