Dozens of community and voluntary groups across Barnet are likely to have their funding stopped or reduced following the £10,859 cut. This is reported in the Barnet Times here
Also in the news is the massive new allowance of £7,500 for Councillor Melvin Cohen, who will get the cash for chairing a committee which meets 4 times a year. This is reported in the Barnet Time Here.
Organisations affected by the cuts include the Barnet Somali Community Group, Barnet Action 4 Youth, Barnet Cypriot Youth Club, Hendon Sea Training Corps, and several regional playschemes and toddler groups.
I'm sure that all of these will be happy that they have helped pay for a couple of holidays and a few slap up meals for Councillor Cohen. Former Council Deputy leader and Tory Parliamentary Candidate Matthew Offord writes a blog about sailing on the Barnet Times. I should imagine that he'll be especially pleased to see that Barnet Council have taken decisive action to keep the Riff Raff away from the upper class twit sailing community, with the cuts to the Sea Cadets. Well known Cypriot husband and wife team, the Tambourides, who copy a nifty £50 grand in allowances between them, maybe could chip in a few quid for the Barnet Cypriot Youth Club.
What is truly bizarre is that these cuts to voluntary groups are being touted as "efficiency savings". Doesn't it occur to these numbskulls that this isn't efficiency. The old saying goes that "the devil makes work for idle hands". Giving youngsters positive activities is an investment. Small amounts for voluntary groups make a huge difference. What difference does a £7,500 allowance make to anyone in Barnet apart from Mickeytaking Melvin? His defence?
it was the Independent Review Panel, not him, who decided to grant the annual award based on the "size and intricacy" of the job.Sorry Melvin, that isn't good enough. You don't have to take it. You could set a good example. The Times reports
Mr Cohen talks about "reasonable renumeration". What has happened to the concept of public service. Mr Cohen thinks he should get £400 per hour for his part time committee work, but begrudges unpaid volunteers who do priceless good work a few quid to keep playgroups and community projects running.Mr Cohen said: "Each committee meeting entails reading through masses of paper, double-sided and in small print.
"Each committee involves three or four hours of reading and preparatory work.
"If you accept the principle of reasonable remuneration then surely this significantly increased burden should be remunerated.
Last week Mike Freer trumpeted his EASYCOUNCIL project. It strikes me that the only thing easy about it is cash for councillors.
Rog
ReplyDeleteThis is really quite disgusting. If the council had said something like: “Look, we’re really sorry. Times are tough. Everyone is having to tighten their belts and we just can’t afford this right now” I am willing to bet that many residents would have accepted the situation - albeit reluctantly.
But to cut these grants whilst giving Melvin Cohen an obscene pay rise is truly despicable - and mean.
Does the council have a death wish, or are they so arrogant and contemptuous of the public that they simply don’t care what we think?
Any cuts are regrettable, but I tend to look at the bigger picture. Yes, there is waste in the council, but some of that waste is forced upon them.
ReplyDeleteFor example, if an individual goads an official into a response, then complains like some child that the response 'offends' them, and does so as a point-scoring exercise, the subsequent processes waste a large amount of time and public money. In such a case, it should be pointed out to those that pay for council services that certain individuals are manipulating the system.
I think it's fair and right that the public are aware of ALL waste; after all, it's their services being cut, whether it's for an individual's pay rise or for some tomfoolery that has been engineered, either by an official or by a member of the public.
Accountability is what is needed, from pay rises down to people who walk off with a pencil, and everything in between.
I do truly hope that the local press highlight such wastage, and ensure that those who pay know exactly who is wasting their money.
Pat,
ReplyDeleteNice try.
It’s a terrible waste of £10,000 on a lawyer when an insurance company was willing to provide one for free.
ReplyDeleteNice try? What's that supposed to mean?
ReplyDeleteReal people with real needs will go without some services that they have paid for with real money that they worked in real jobs to earn. It's not a game.
Some of that money will be wasted in a little game of tit-for-tat. How do you think those real people will feel about that? How do you think they will those involved on both sides?
Are you proud of yourself? You talk about the cuts but you haven't really considered who is paying for this game of oneupmanship.
Pat,
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, in a previous post you said your job was monitoring my blog at the town hall, paid for by the taxpayer. You also stated that your IT manager helped you in this endevour.
So before you criticise me for wasting taxpayers money, I'd consider the old adage - People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, if you get my drift.