Keep spending...

You've got to hand it to Broadland District Council, whilst the rest of the country is facing massive cut backs, Broadland have agreed to fund an 'eco-education centre' at Rackheath.. Laudable though this might possibly be, it is surely the wrong time to be committing to such expenditure on a 'nice to have' project rather than an essential service.

Although this finding is coming from the previous government's allocation of £16m for the proposed Rackheath and associated projects it doesn't have to spent  like this just because it is there! BDC have already issued a news release stating that they are postponing  the exhibitions and consultations on the planned growth for the district and have also put the planned recruitment of a New Communities Team Manager on hold until the new government has made clearer their planning and funding  policies. (You will note that the bit about the postponed recruitment of the Team Manager is missing from the latest version of the release to be found on BDC's website! No doubt their PR people thought it wasn't a good idea to mention that).

In the news release Councillor Andrew Proctor says "significantly less public money is likely to be available to leverage the infrastructure and facilities needed to underpin growth on the scale previously envisaged". It therefore seems more than a little irresponsible to spend tax-payers' money on another one of BDC's schemes to try to gain more credibility for their proposed 'eco' town.

2 comments:

  1. There are a number of flaws in the Broadland Article.

    Firstly there is no £16M. It was £9.55M then £2 - 6M next year. I am not sure why they are predicting the higher figure, I doubt it myself. Especially since residents in the other three so-called ECO-Towns are so pleased to learn that the whole Labour project is now
    under review.

    As for the eco-education centre, there are those in Broadland District Council who will do anything to force their flawed vision on us all but for a council to set up a centre at our expense to promote their propaganda is a disgrace. It is as though people are unaware of the pro's and con's of green living. Since when has it been the role of a District Council to spend our money promoting their narrow agenda. Bad enough if it is universally accepted but seeking to justify the unjustifiable is wholly unacceptable.

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  2. Why are Councils spending money on promotion anyway.
    They seem to have forgotten that their role is to provide services for residents. It is certainly not to tell them how to live their lives.

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