DEDICATED volunteers have begun the long-awaited project to clear the main Dawlish waterway. The Brook has been the subject of criticism and complaints over its appearance and condition, particularly a large build-up of sediment which became known as the town’s newest ‘beach’.
Read more...https://www.middevonadvertiser.co.uk/news/volunteers-tackle-dawlish-waterway-sediment-build-up-804244
Well done to the volunteers. Please keep up the good work, it is well appreciated.
@Vicks
Agreed, but they shouldn't have had to do it.
The council should have done this as soon as it happened but they kept passing the buck and making excuses as to why not.
We don't need Councils, replace them with cohorts of volunt-workers instead.
Environment Agency i hear interfering about the amount of work that can be done in the brook. These jobsworths in this case need to get a p45.
@DAC
Dont give them ideas they would quite happily devolve themselves for doing any work like grass cutting ,maintainence of public buildings etc etc and spend the money on useless vanity projects . This abject lot cannot even replace a wooden bridge in the manor but can spend £90k to tart up manor house.
@1263 It's already happening. Councils encouraging and facilitating volunteering is just an extension of Cameron's Big Society and what Wrigley as Leader of TDC called 'Community Powered Councils'. It sounds more inclusive, it aims to make people think they have greater say in democracy, but it's just about ceding any responsibility and accountability because they haven't really got a clue.
Public services have already been outsourced to charities which rely on volunteers and businesses which focus on profit for shareholders and social enterprises who despite stated social and environmental objectives pay their Directors large salaries and in many cases rely on unpaid workers too.
I'm all for middle class, retired people on decent pensions volunteering if it makes them feel good, as long as Council Tax is reduced given that Councils are using these unpaid do-gooders to fill the void left by cuts and redundancies in Council departments.
Obvioiusly that's not going to happen as our taxes pay for the likes of Councillor 4 jobs Dawson who is just as bad as former 4 Jobs Wrigley who pretends to work as our MP.
What happens when we run out of middle class pensioners who want to clear sediment or pick up litter to 'stay active' and 'connect with others' and when pensions cease to exist or can only be drawn once a person is 80 ? And that's if pensions even exist in the future. Everyone else will be working multiple jobs in the zero hours/gig economy before we just eventually revert to serfdom.
Some of the volunteers will be Lib Dem Councillors looking for photo ops in the local press. I'd be all for the likes of Wrigley and Dawson doing some physical grafting as he'll be on around £100K p.a. paid for by the tax payer and she'll be on something like £25K p.a. from her Councillor positions. The problem is they're physically not up to it. And from what I've seen they'd think it would be beneath them anyhow.
Volunt-workers think they're doing a community service. They'd be better off protesting for better services and to stop the cuts and redundancies for those workers who are actually qualified to do jobs like sorting out the brook. Anything else is tokenistic and part of the problem, not the solution.
Please 