6 September - The wheels are falling off all around us
The wheels seem to be coming off local government after 13 years of cuts in
Government grants, Birmingham being the prime example right now. A lot of family
silver has been sold off, parks in Bexley and car parks in Havering. It is bad
enough for the local economy when Councils are forced to raise parking fees to
unaffordable levels - up to £7·50 an hour in Abbey Wood. The result is 144 Amazon deliveries to this address so far in 2023 with
very little money spent in the borough and nothing in Bexley car parks.
Councils sure know how to damage local businesses but some more than others. Havering across the river is
selling off four town centre car parks. That should be good for local traders.
Local authority suppliers are feeling the pinch too.
Capita is accused of selling software that isn’t theirs to sell and thanks
in part to their inability to hold on to data securely their share price is
down to just pennies.
From Belfast Telegraph. 13th August 2023.
Bexley is still outsourcing more services to Capita.
I am right now listening to the Conservative Opposition Leader in Birmingham on
TalkRadio. He has uncomplimentary things to say about Capita who he claims
overspent by five times on their IT system known as
Oracle. That is the system which was a let down at
oneSource nearly four
years ago which Bexley
fortunately wriggled away from. What sort of incompetents do not learn from
their mistakes?