What has your council wasted money on?
What has your council wasted money on?
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Discussion

Coldfuse

Original Poster:

518 posts

224 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Living in Aberdeen we have a bit of an economic bubble, but even so there has been some places and things that Aberdeen City Council has spent money on that defies belief.

Example one: Anyone living in Aberdeen will be aware of these things Click here!

It seems they are there for passing on information to drivers about the state of the city traffic or possible hold ups. On the few occasions i have seen them lit they have displayed dross about drink driving or fastening seatbelts. Now i believe there is around 6 of these units dotted around Aberdeen, i know of the locations of three, and the word on the street said they cost in the region of £200,000 each for purchase and installation. 90% of the time they are blank...

Example two: Roads, but one road in particular. Unfortunately the road in question is not as upto date on google streetview to make showing it useful. But the street suffered badly in the weather we had two years ago and there was alot of potholes and undulating surfaces. And when i say alot i mean ALOT. So what did Aberdeen City Council do in their infinite wisdom? They decided to put speed bumps on this road and not fix the potholes.

What grinds your gears locally for you? Pictures and descriptions would be nice.

Manks

28,176 posts

252 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
These:



Speaking personally I don't want to touch the bin I am putting rubbish into and I am sure many people feel similarly.

Coldfuse

Original Poster:

518 posts

224 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
I agree, i barely want to touch my own home bin laugh

Willeh85

760 posts

173 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Cant think of what they've wasted money on recently but last year when we had that really bad snow for a few weeks and the country ground to stand still after the snow had cleared there were some fooking awful potholes on the A52 along the stretch which is in Derby its self.

Derby City Council took forever and a day to actually repair the potholes and had all sorts of bullst reasons as to why they hadn't been fixed. In the end they had to pay out almost twice as much in damages to the cost of repairs to motorists with damaged tyres, alloys, and etc.

So basically instead of paying for repairs they had to pay out three times as much than if they'd just done the work in a timely manor.

big_boz

1,685 posts

237 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Not a waste of money, but has anyone seen the Leeds city council websites new tool for choosing what public spending should be used for?

Its excellent, basically you as the constituent get the same target set as the council and that same budget then you can use sliders to decide by spending area where you want to make cuts, increase spending, increase revenue and so on.

For each area it gives you a guide as to what a cut or increase will result in, i e so much less on policing = so many less officers, so much more on schools = so many more teachers and so on.

Really clever idea and helps you to really see the problems that local councils are faced with.

All councils should adopt this tool IMO, hopefully it will be a success and get rolled out everywhere.

4key

12,103 posts

178 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Wages mostly, none of them are worth above the minimum.

Robmarriott

2,969 posts

188 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
I have the other side of the coin here. My local council have just (this week) replaced all the street light bulbs in my area with energy efficient ones, which now means ALL the lights in the area are back on. It's brilliant.

jamoor

14,506 posts

245 months

Robmarriott

2,969 posts

188 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
I have the other side of the coin here. My local council have just (this week) replaced all the street light bulbs in my area with energy efficient ones, which now means ALL the lights in the area are back on. It's brilliant.

Robmarriott

2,969 posts

188 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
I have the other side of the coin here. My local council have just (this week) replaced all the street light bulbs in my area with energy efficient ones, which now means ALL the lights in the area are back on. It's brilliant.

A.J.M

8,389 posts

216 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
My council has installed massive speed bumps in some housing estates, they are a safe area for learners to go to etc.
some local villages have the mono blocks at the main road entrances as well. All which will be expensive.

The cash should have went to fixing potholes, 2 motorbikers have been killed in the last 18 months in accidents from hitting the potholes.

Idiots.

vx220

2,725 posts

264 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
The Hollywood style basildon letters...

RemyMartin

6,759 posts

235 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Road surface dressing.


FOOK OFF. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

228 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
I started something similar before.

Stupid roundabout art work and such :

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...
sigh..

fkin council

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=dudley&hl=en&a...

7mike

3,214 posts

223 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
£9.2m worth of these


z4chris99

12,525 posts

209 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
taunton Deane;

turning a car park that generates 135k a year into a "park" for drinks and homeless
cost 2.5m
http://www.tauntondeane.gov.uk/irj/go/km/docs/Coun...

two park and rides that NO one uses, they cost nigh on £10m to build and run at a loss of £5000 a week

Vipers

33,506 posts

258 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Coldfuse said:
Living in Aberdeen we have a bit of an economic bubble, but even so there has been some places and things that Aberdeen City Council has spent money on that defies belief.

Example one: Anyone living in Aberdeen will be aware of these things Click here!

It seems they are there for passing on information to drivers about the state of the city traffic or possible hold ups. On the few occasions i have seen them lit they have displayed dross about drink driving or fastening seatbelts. Now i believe there is around 6 of these units dotted around Aberdeen, i know of the locations of three, and the word on the street said they cost in the region of £200,000 each for purchase and installation. 90% of the time they are blank...
Didn't show the sign, but if one of those northbound on the A90 from Stonehaven, I wonder why that put them at the end of a layby, the last thing you want to be doing at 70 is to be looking at a sign as you pass a layby in case some plonker pulls out.

I queried with the Aberdeen council why all the lights were usually on in the underpass near Portlethen, They Sid they didn't want you exiting a dark tunnel into bright sun........ Words fail me, total waste of money.

And there are still of pot holes around town.




smile

DanielSan

20,014 posts

197 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
Stoke win this I think. They're having a new council office building being built at the moment as the old building that's only 20 years old and cost £20million is apparently no longer good enough. And not only that, but the old building is to be knocked down.

Vipers

33,506 posts

258 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
7mike said:
£9.2m worth of these

Wouldn't it be cheaper to educate the bloody kids, such as take those bloody earphones out of your lug holes, put the phone away, and look before and as you cross the road.




smile

Eighteeteewhy

7,259 posts

198 months

Tuesday 13th November 2012
quotequote all
They are currently building a

'Queens jubilee arch'

In my town, here in Wales, a year too late.

rolleyes