Would we be so compliant if we really knew what was going on with our money?

By David Howard,

For years Barnet Town Hall has been  showing signs of old age, doors creaking like old knees. Lights dim like fading eyesight and debates inaudible like failing hearing . Mere mortals reluctantly accept that these are the inevitable signs of old age.

Fortunately buildings can respond to tender loving care and be restored to meet the needs of the next generation .  There has been rapid progress in improved light fittings that give out more light with lower running costs and are still in keeping with the ambience of their surroundings.  Sound amplification  systems have also moved forward  so it is possible to have good quality all round sound without large ugly speakers and huge desk mounted microphones.

Why is it therefore that when Barnet takes on such  project it fails dismally?

The ground floor has the air of a transient hotel lobby due for a refit instead of the headquarters of the Council striving to be the tiger economy of North London. The power base of a traditionalist Mayor and thrusting Leader

The lights in  the council chamber and especially the meeting rooms has not improved and strains the eyes as one tries to read the 902 pages of the Brent Cross planning application.

As for the sound enhancement it is a disaster.  The portable microphones are battery operated and clearly run down during the meeting so they have to be changed.  Either the battery capacity is too small or they have not been recharged prior to the meeting.   Not that it really matters as even when they are supposed to be working  it is not possible to hear in the public areas.  It could be that the council bought good equipment and installed it on the cheap or they did not commission it correctly to save money.

Ah but they did not save money.  According to the report on the action taken under delegated powers by an officer (28/02/09) the lowest quotation that was accepted for the Microphone system was £111,768 plus VAT.  It is not clear what the final cost of the amplification installation turned out to be.   But we do know that the overall works cost for the town hall refurbishment which was estimated to be about £1,000,000 finished up at about £1,500,000 .   We should be grateful it was only a 50% overspend.  It could have been an over 300% increase as with the Aerodrome Road bridges disaster which went from £3,000,000 to over £11,000,000.

The people responsible for these financial horrors are the same people who will oversee the Future Shape outsourcing programme  If they can overspend £8,500,000 on a £4,000,000 budget think what they will be able to do with a £200,000,000 budget.  They think how lucky they are that there are over 350,000 people to pay the increased Council Tax needed to make up these shortfalls.  But I wonder do we want to pay for these overspend especially as the end product is either worse or at best little better than what was there before?
Would we be so compliant if we really knew what was going on with our money?
From Dai,  a worried ratepayer or if you prefer Do call me David

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David Howard is the head of The Save New Barnet Campaign and a trustee of the New Barnet Community Association. Thanks to David for a very interesting article

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