Medway Renaissance bites back

It would seem the organisational assassination caused by Cllr Alan Jarrett chucking the abacus out of the proverbial pram at the last budget meeting has received a response from the organisation which he so lambasted.

Brian Weddell, who so 'incapably' ran the Medway Renaissance for a whole six years, without any slur or indignation I might add, has written to challenge the badly timed attack to Medway Renaissance and by default his reputation as a manager of people

You may remember at the time this blog challenged the political stupidity of highlighting such fiscal incompetence at the same time as you are trying to present yourself as a good steward of tax-payers money.

Challenging the Tory accusation head on, Brian stated;

"It is worth noting that the team was disbanded in March 2011. It seems odd that questions over the building programme have come to light one year later as the accounts should have been settled by the end of the Summer 2011"

Councillor's are required to maintain the highest standards in office. This attack on an organisation, which by association was managed by staff who have professional reputations in industry and public service, may warrant a referral to the Standards Board.

Alan Jarrett's speech to the chamber inferred he was misled on multi-million pound projects by officers and staff at Medway Renaissance; clearly this position is under dispute from previous staff members of the organisation so attacked.

Given the sums of money involved we do need to understand where the problem lies; for if it does lie in the Council, which I suspect it does, we will need to review our financial control and those Councillor's responsible for it, to ensure it does not happen on future projects

The letter is also damning because by implication it states that Cllr Jarrett may have given a false justification for his multi-million pound budget in late February, which as this blog stated at the time, not only failed to challenge the £5.9m of outstanding Council tax but also failed to justify the brutal cuts to front line services.

Lied to over bus station

A good header; how long have the public waited for this mea-culpa of incompetence?

Many of my regular readers have no doubt been waiting for any comment on the front page of the Monday Medway Messenger.

Whilst it would be remiss of me to make Cllr Jarrett look any less in grip of his brief he seems to have done it all by himself.

Anyone reading this piece will now utterly dismiss his arguments on all the other fiscal matters which he was trying to appear credible; I suspect Cllr Jarrett was trying to lance the boil of the bus station but to do it at the same time as you are trying to sell you own Tory Party on local finances; Not sensible at all.

I have to give it; makes the gaffe over city status look like a walk in the former Brook park (before it was uprooted).

I also suspect many of the officers were not briefed in advance; the thunderous looks from the officer bench said everything... they of course said nothing... which said everything.

The KM article echoes my interpretation of the budget meeting and those from other press articles; a total lack of control over the finances and £14.3m announced cuts to front-line services.

As I stated last week; it is all very easy for Cllr Jarrett to come out now and blame Medway Renaissance and officers, but that does not fit with the pattern of obfuscation that we have observed from Tories for a year or more.

I would suggest the Tories either knew and didnt tell us last year or they didnt and do not have a grip of the finances

The issue of the bus station is not new; it has come up monthly since January 2011 when Cllr Vince Maple led on the timetable and cost for the bus station; Labour have since asked question after question on the fiscal position on the station and have poured over financial statements to discover the truth.

The answers given by the Tory Council leader and Deputy leader at Full Council were not substantive in any way; coming so close to a local election and the convenience becomes apparent. The lack of clarity after the election surrounding the Arriva negotiation and the fact the station was half-complete on opening is of course not only Medway Renaissance - many of these things were under the direct control of the Council at this point.

The simple truth is the Tory leadership could and should have been open and transparent with the public from the start. The mea-culpa has all come a bit late am afraid.

We knew it was a financial noose but it seems the Tory backbenchers were oblivious. Many (now stupidly) fobbed Labour off as nay-sayers, as 'Medway knockers' or even harsly labelled as supporters of the old bus station. I dont expect any acknowledgement or admittance they were wrong; an apology is too much to ask.

Tories of course spent months refusing to accept our reasoned argument that this bus station was a botch job; now finally they can admit it was.

Dont expect a rush to advertise it!

Budget full of broken promises

YourMedway piece highlighting Tory failure over tax

Having attended the budget meeting last night it was a parody of party positioning and would have been a turn-off to all those with an open mind.

I suspect that is why we are getting fewer and fewer people attending Council meetings; the ability to influence or get an answer from the ruling elite is well known. People have become openly cynical of our political discourse and the corrosive nature of our democratic structures

At one point last night I almost filmed the proceedings on my iPhone but it does raise a question; there is a reason why other Councils film their meetings and why we dont. The Tory front-bench is utterly closed minded.

And that is where the deep problem lied in the budget. The simple fact is this budget did not have the consent of the public when compared with the open and transparent processes at other Labour, Conservative and Green Councils up and down the Country. Many of these organised open forums where community priorities could be set and where the public could be allowed to take part in the difficult decisions that need to be taken place. Despite the assertions of the far left; if your budget is cut by £14.3m we all need to make tough calls.

Yesterday was about the centrally imposed will of the sunset Cabinet on the rest of the Council. The opposition of course challenged with the resources we had available; but when you are fighting an administration with paid accountants and staff, it is simply unrealistic to expect an opposition to come up with a multiple-hundred page document. The public know this.

The speech from Cllr Jarrett started off sensibly; he made a critique on the Cameron Conservative Government claiming that the direct grant settlement was outrageous, that DCLG was spinning the truth on cut percentiles, and that floor damping remains despite the pledges of the Conservatives in opposition. He therefore fully supported the opposition view that the context of this budget was a failure of a Conservative government to not only represent Medway residents but in also communicating with them in a straight fashion. I could almost have been forgiven for thinking he was making an opposition speech at one point...

But then however came the blame part.

Despite months of documented incompetence on programmes and projects, with copious overspends, and a litany of errors, there was absolutely no acceptance that this is actually the fault of perhaps a poor model of financial governance and control. The blame was put on officers (now retired) and organisations (now defunct) who quite conveniently are not around to defend themselves.

Of course the fact that blame was put on officers and defunct organisations perhaps suggests systemic weakness. The fact I believe systemic weakness is endemic is just highlighted by the constant news stories to this effect. There was no acceptance that systemic weakness is currently an inherent problem at all.

There were copious allegations of incompetence, a bit of xenophobia (the anti-Scottish jibe on Brown) and the usual taunts and yah-booh which comes with these events. Accusation of lies and contortions are usually the preserve of those caught in the spotlight with nowhere to hide; the simple fact is we were getting a fog of blame from the administration which only serves to highlight an understanding that failure had occurred but an unwillingness to accept it was the fault of political leadership. Now we can debate the level of blame; but to absolve yourselves of all blame is unbelievable.

So once blame and incompetence had been spread onto everyone else we came to the pledges. A claim that front-line services would not be impacted despite a £23.5m cut last year and a £14.3m cut to this years budget; when we did see and are currently observing cuts to front line services. Again, a truly honest politician would have stated that because of the centrally imposed Conservative cuts some uncomfortable judgements had to be made to square the circle.

As it was there was abject denial about this. The pledges on Free Swimming, Sure Start, Concessionary travel and the Freedom Pass were all well made; but the public need only look to which party suggested these things in the first place; Labour motion after Labour manifesto committment.

I am very happy to argue on these points; but Tories take the credit for actions which they themselves opposed, then introduce and then under-fund. As a public we then see cynicism erode our political discourse; as promises are broken time and time again.

And this was a broken promise budget. A bad deal for Medway. Its background was Tory cuts, its foundations based on documented concern over financial transparancy, consultation and management and its conclusions were Conservative; cuts to services for the most vulnerable, be that Sure Starts, Care homes and supporting people budgets.

Medway Messenger telling the truth to Tory myths; they are targeting vulnerable for cuts

I believe a different approach could have secured our support. A truly open and transparent budget process with the public on priorities, an awareness that whilst blame can be spread to the government for not being fair that some of the reasons are systemic weaknesses in the political management of the Council that need to be overcome.

Many of the positions in the budget my colleagues supported and like many members of the public there is good and bad in everything. We did support the Council Tax freeze, the investment in an anti-airport campaign, free swimming and the token move towards travel for our young people.

Whilst delivering my speech last night I was challenged for pitching my speech to the public through the Medway Messenger [and its readers]; too right I was - thousands open to reason as opposed to the tired and trite dogma of the ruling elite in a room with an audience of a dozen political hacks... Why do you think I blog?

Budget shows Tories cant be trusted

I will be joining my colleagues tomorrow to vote against this bonkers budget from this Conservative administration

I believe it is a bad deal for Medway residents, and one based on a flawed prospectus and a total lack of contact with the public that we are elected to serve.

The basis for this budget is a Local Grant settlement which saw a reduction of £14.3m to our annual budget from Eric Pickles; added up to last years cut of £23.5m and we see a Conservative government happy to take from Medway residents to pay for other more wealthy authorities in Surrey and Sussex. I simply can not sit back and accept that our residents have to pay for residents elsewhere who live in relative affluence.

I also believe that despite all the promises Medway continues to suffer from floor damping and our Council continues to have £5.9m of outstanding Council tax to collect. This is outrageous and unacceptable.

When Tories are talking about fiscal prudence the evidence stands for itself as this blog has regularly commented upon to much annoyance to those who would rather not allow any form of free speech. Sanctions are the preserve of the desperate; not the strong.

Despite almost a decade of Conservative-rule we enter another budget cycle having no apology for the failure to account for the previous year Council overspends on the bus station, school projects and other major works.

It is another balanced-budget on paper only; for we all know they will then break their own rules as soon as they vote it through.

Despite the Conservative Press there are measures within the budget which are positive, many of which largely lifted from our Local Election Manifesto and Motion submissions including;

• Freeze in Council Tax to help families who are struggling to balance family budgets
• £50,000 toward an anti-airport campaign (at last!!)
• Keeping the lowest Council Tax in Kent which is a legacy of Medway Labour on the creation of the Unitary Authority
• Funding for Free Swimming which the Tories scrapped in 2010
• Retention of Concessionary Travel for elderly residents
• Moves to introduce Medway Freedom Pass for young people; but we are concerned about future sustainability (as indicated last year)
• Continued investment to reduce unemployment including Apprenticeship schemes

I do not support and am concerned by measures in the budget:

• A cut to Sure Start funding which will impact families and young children
• Doubling of car parking charges. At a time when inner city centres are suffering fall in footfall
• Rise in rent charges. At a time when families are struggling to balance family books
• Cuts to Supporting Adult Budgets at a time when people are struggling to get a job
• £250,000 cut to road maintenance budget at a time when residents have had to stomach years of traffic jams on the Brook and in Chatham

The budget is about making choices about funding for services but it is also about consulting and taking residents with you. Do we pay for golf courses or do we pay for care services? Do we pay for better roads or more libraries?

Whilst the Tories can jump on asking the public to decide priorities I believe, and I believe the public believe, that we should be asked.

The Tory group in Medway claims to listen but in the last two months has rejected a referendum on an airport, rejected any consultation on the budget and failed to fairly consult, to my mind, on the closure to care homes.

In a period of austerity the public should be allowed to answer the tough questions and set the local priorities, with full awareness that a time of deficit reduction we all need to tighten our belts.

Some Tories will pretend it is not an either / or but to them they have chosen to make the cuts in particular areas; they have picked a focus.

If Labour were in power we would make different choices based not on the whims of a sunset clique, but on detailed consultations with the public.

The Record of Shame

Meanwhile; whilst we talk about a lack of respect for the people of Medway the list continues. Lets look below at the alleged Medway Tory record

• £86,000 on Council Credit card bills. Poor financial control
• One of the poorest Local Authorities for fraudulent payments in the UK. Lack of financial control over procurement
• £5.9m un-collected Council tax. Worst in South East
• £1.2m Woodlands School fiasco. Poor financial control.
• £35m under-investment in Medway roads. Lack of investment
• Chatham bus station balls-up. Full cost £10m on public purse
• Lodge Hill consultation a sham and had to be extended. 5,000 homes proposed in an area with lack of transport capacity
• Sell off of Nelson Court, Platters Farm, Robert Bean Lodge and Shaws Wood Care homes
• Medway Tunnel fiasco purchased behind closed doors and potential for Tory Toll. Time bomb left for residents
• The 11+ Fiasco caused by incompetent management in education
• 'Better for Less model' with 'over-egged' savings according to Unions
• Closure of the centuries-old Rochester Market to provide income generating car parking
• Closure of Dickens Centre in Rochester highstreet
• Sell off Tourism Information Centres
• New taxes; vulture car, Allottments tax, charges up.
• Bus route cuts
• Strood Market threatened
• Destruction of Aveling and Porter building to provide income generating car parking
• Destruction of riverside wharves to provide thusfar non-existant development
• Vandalism (tree felling etc) of The Paddock and overspend on the Brook regeneration
• Vandalism of Riverside Gardens (tree felling etc) for "Dynamic" Bus Station
• Sell off land opposite Rochester Airport for development
• Failure to ensure the refurbishment of Pentagon toilets despite allegedly wasting £200,000 earmarked.
• Medway Magna allowing to submit proposals for the destruction of Capstone Valley
• Selling off parts of Watts Meadow for development
• Selling off Copperfield Green Space for development
• Stoke Crossing Fiasco over run
• Walderslade School cost over run
• Proposed closure of St John's C of E Infants and St Peter's Primary School
• Closure of Ridge Meadow Primary school

The list goes on and on and on and on and on.

Dont let the Tories distract you; incompetence comes as standard with the Medway Conservatives.

£6m Outstanding Council Tax Bill

Do you honestly think that Medway Conservatives are fiscally competent?

The news that Medway was the worst local authority in the entire South East for uncollected Council Tax with almost £6m outstanding is an outrage which serves to highlight the total incomptence of the current Conservative administration.

This figure has worsened on my piece in late 2010 when the Conservatives had failed to collect £4m in Council tax. This is now the twelfth year running that our bill has continued to rise.

Over the same period we have seen other Authorities reduce the outstanding Council tax debts so there is simply no excuse. Unless you consider incompetence as an excuse?

This blog would suggest that the local Tories have just continued to blindly ignore the problem; this has those that pay Council Tax continue suffering the cuts to Sure Start, Libraries and other services which impact the front line, whilst a number of people are getting away with out paying.

Despite all the hot air about managing your money sensibly this current Council stands in shame as the worst performer when compared with all the other 67 Authorities in the South East. A position which serves to highlight why the Conservatives locally can not be trusted with the finances on the Council.

The Council spin machine incorrectly stated that this was only in comparison with smaller district Councils. However Slough, Southampton and Brighton & Hove are all Unitary Authorities so this is a flawed response.

We have yet to have any apology from the Medway Conservatives and not one member of the administration has deemed it appropriate to comment on their shameful legacy.

As the budget day approaches the public can smell the stench of Tory mismanagement as predicted by this blog in December. The simple fact this is but the latest in a sorry saga of financial mismanagement.

Councillor Jarretts budgetary incompetence is well documented and this latest piece of news just serves to reinforce his record; no grip, no clue, no future:

Bus Station overspend

Stoke Crossing overspend

Chatham regeneration overspend

Walderslade School overspend

Fraudulant Activity

Non-Council Tax collection (again)

The above is merely the tip of the iceberg but adds up to multiple millions of pounds of your money squandered.

The incompetence permeates every level of the local Conservative Party; they have simply lost grip of good financial governance.

Formula Grant Revealed

Below is the Medway Council formula grant settlement.

For anoraks like myself, probably John Ward, and a few others this figure is probably the most important you will see... and actually raises temperatures across the senior officer team.

Initial thoughts;

• Government has included the Council Tax Grant with the formula grant which is highly disingenuous. Removing this grant the figure is actually where the Medium Term Financial Plan predicted which is good news for the Council... (though im sure better news would have been more money)
• Floor damping still continues despite the election of a Conservative Government in May 2010 (see Tory hypocrisy on this issue here, here, here and here). This was a major campaign issue under the Conservatives; now under their own government are strangely silent
• Councillor Jarrett has also raised the prospect of a 5.1% rise in Council tax for the 2013/14 budget year. Though not relevant to the below, the fact the Council Tax Grant has remained flat since 2011 means that after inflation Medway may be signficantly out of pocket by 2013/14. Jarrett is warning the Department no doubt of the political risk. The department has continued to 'lock' all Council tax increases at 3.5% so Councillor Jarrett may have to call a referendum, should this lock be repeated next year. Labour will no doubt keep an eye
• Coupled with Medway Conservative deficits in revenue budget (£5.1m) and capital budget (£2.8m) all eyes on our benches will be on Q3 forecasts. My question at last O&S on this regard shows there may be some light here. Interesting also the budget assumptions include reductions in adult & care spend for 2011/12; the consultation exercise it seems concluded?
• The Department for Local Government has also published a disingenuous table on reductions in 'spending capacity' for local authorities rather then the below. Details found here show Medway has seen a 3.1% cut, £6.36m or the equivalent of £57.46 for every household in Medway. The Tories have form here on spinning the truth.

2012-13 Settlement

Adjusted 2011-12 Formula Grant

(£) 85,401,992

Revenue Support Grant

(£) 1,535,423

Redistributed Business Rates

(£) 79,207,755

Principal Formula Police Grant (£)

_________________

Formula Grant

(£) 80,743,179

Grants Rolled In Using Tailored Distribution

(£) 7,963,183

Relative Needs Amount

(£) 65,109,749

Relative Resource Amount

(£) -24,183,997

Central Allocation

(£) 31,690,849

Principal Formula Police Grant (£)

Floor Damping

(£) -2,299,678

Top-Up to Avoid Losers From Additional £10 million

Council Tax Freeze Compensation £2,463,073

_________________

Formula Grant (£) 80,743,179

Transition Grant (£) 0

2012 sub-national population projection (number of people) 257,565

2012 tax base projection (band-D equivalents) 90,100

Fraud & Fiscal Incompetence

Tory Administration mis-managing huge sums of money

Amongst the worst in the UK

Most residents are now aware that the Medway Conservatives are totally incapable of managing your money sensibly.

We have a current capital and revenue overspend of £5.1m; mostly as a result of poor capital spending and huge overruns on a series of projects.

You wont get an apology for this; you will get them cutting Care and Adult Care services under the line that its necessary to balance the books.

The recent Audit Committee report on the level of fraud is a scary read; if this does not tell the impartial reader that Medway really does not have appropriate levels of Financial Control, and that Councillor Jarrett is simply out of his league; I dont know what will.

So we can run up huge overspends on capital and revenue budgets and run one of the most incompetent administrations; but sadly its the most vulnerable that must suffer.

Must be the Conservatives

£5.1m Overspend

The Conservatives talked the talk during the election about 'Value for Money' and for being good stewards with public money locally.

Of course the truth is they concealed overspends from prior to the local election to improve the electoral prospects of Conservative candidates. We can all remember the failure to answer questions on the overbudget and delayed bus station.

It is therefore very worrying to note the Capital & Revenue budget forecasts which show that the Tories have lost control of the books.

Expect a very rocky road ahead; privatization of public services is now almost certainly on the cards.

Council Budget looks bleak

Tory Council savings simply not materialising

This article is worth reading because over the next month Council chieftains will be crunching the numbers for next years budget.

The fact that the Conservatives have utterly mismanaged the books is not new news for many readers. One scroll down this blog and you begin to see the sheer level of fiscal incompetence overseen by the lead Councillor for Finance, Alan Jarrett.

Medway Conservatives have been shockingly poor managers of your money. The overspend on the bus station is but the latest example of poor fiscal management.

Not only are the figures in a bad state but on current estimates its looking even bleaker. The current capital and revenue budgets show a £5.1m overspend; some departments are clearly scraping the budget dregs because other departments have gone woefully over budget.

We all accept that increasing costs to education and child safety are unfortunate trends. Mismanaging capital expenditure and spending our reserves during the good years are Conservative mistakes. The Medway Tunnel was a Tory mistake as was the sheer failure to manage regeneration appropriately.

The last Medway Labour administration epitomised the Better for Less model. We cut the levels of local government and reduced the number of Councillors to its current historical low-level of 55. We scrapped the duplication of District and County Councillors; a confusing two-tier approach to local government which simply confuses the public who want a single point of contact. Our proposals saved millions and allowed asset sales of duplicated services.

Indeed, despite the Tory waffle about low Council Tax rates, it was Medway Labour and the creation of a single-tier of local government in Medway that is to credit for this. We created a more efficient model of governance than is quite frankly noted in some of the gravy train borough Councils in parts of Kent. I know many of those controlled by Labour would be keen to endorse a Unitary model, if this were available, and this would indeed reduce the cost of politics.

The Tory big idea is to tinker with the back-office of the Council at a cost of millions to expensive consultants. There is a visible difference in ambition and achievement between Medway Labour and the current Conservatives.

On current figures, the Tories mismanagement locally, in conjunction with the eye-watering local grant reductions, have left us in a parlous state. Some truly terrible times are ahead and let not one blue-rinser pretend otherwise; their utter incompetence locally has been hidden by increasing flows of money. As this is now turning through cash reductions and inflation, the incompetence will no doubt become more exposed.

Residents will be keeping an eye on front line service cuts; bus services, Sure Starts, road improvements, schools and budgets to reduce graffiti and anti-social bahaviour. Free swimming and the continued funding of the Young Person bus pass will also be a focus

We will all be watching the budget process very very closely indeed ans rest assured this blog will be highlighting the Tory inconsistencies, u-turns and probable bare-faced Local Election fibs