Wednesday 30th April 2003

Spend it on the Roads

Where is the budget going? Tea and buns for local councillors?

---

[zumbruk]

In any other country on Earth, this kind of ripoff (and all the other ripoffs imposed on us by the Government(*)) would have people rioting in the streets. Hell, even the normally placid and obedient Japanese started burning down railway stations a couple of years ago in order to complain about the "service" (doubtless infinitely superior to ours). What is *wrong* with the Brits?

(* I read yesterday that the Government have effectively confiscated the Kengestion Charge money by reducing the GLA precept by an amount equivalent, so there will be no money to spend on PT improvements, much less on the roads.)

[v8thunder]

Just to give you an idea of the government's idea for road maintainence; the road I live on looks as though it was used for practise by the Desert Rats. We have lobbied the council endlessly about resurfacing in the local area, and what have they done? Bugger all. THEN when they had some money to spend they covered two local cul-de-sacs (and I mean really narrow cul-de-sacs) with speed humps. We got a newsletter through a few weeks later saying that 'the demands of motorists and residents had been met' as 'speed humps have been placed in the Grange Avenue area to reduce accidents'. I have lived in this area for 17 years and the only accident on Grange Avenue I can think of was in 1996 and involved my dad and some black ice. The introduction of speed humps simply means that the residents will experience parking problems as not all the houses have driveways.

This is yet another example of the government saying that they have been in touch with the people when in fact they have their own, pointless, badly-researched agendas on their minds from day one. Of course they will spend it on the roads, just not on anything remotely useful.

[chris_crossley]

The only thing the yanks have better than us. No taxation without representation. (Thats independant, no quangos thanks or back handers). Do we know where the other £30 bill went?

[james_j]

Yes, it's a disgrace.

And we call ourselves a democracy!

[g-force]

My home council's attempt at resurfacing the road is covering it with tarmac on a very hot day and librally throwing chippings over it which then congregate in their thousands in the gutters. The tarmac consequently melts, paint work and windows get chipped, people are showered in a hail of chippings when cars go by and the idiots have to spend tons of money sweeping all of the loose chippings up. Bunch of morons.

[simon5480]

this is what we are about now, bent councils, promise and fail tactics by the government of the day and nodding dog plods who have been slowly downgrading responce to crime for years in the hope we will get used to it and of course accept it. Get used to it cos it's never going to change now...

[Martyn911]

Our council in West Dorset do this. Tar and gravel just hides the bumps as the road is never level. The roads down here are a disgrace and a danger to all users and its about time some of our tax is spent getting it sorted. They even get the Motor insurence tax and never spend it on the roads!

[dazren]

Would be nice to see the councillors charged with misfeasance, sent to the tower and their heads chopped off. I miss the good old days when theft from taxpayers was less the norm.

DAZ

[cortinaman]

the nsr damper on my bmw was broken thanks to a pothole on burnt mills road,basildon 3 weeks ago.after getting the car repaired(£130) i sent a letter explaining when,where and how the damage occured and sent a copy of the bill to the council.yesterday i got a note from the councils insurance department asking for photo's of the potholes.i have 16 pictures of diffrent potholes within a 100mtr length of the road,some measuring over 1.5mtrs!

the thing that gets me is,i drove up burnt mills road on my way to work tonight and the road hasnt been touched!.i feel like phoning the insurance dept and meeting them on the road and showing them the holes first hand!

AND ITS VOTING DAY TODAY!!!....... i wonder who i'll NOT be voteing for???

[turbohead]

I have lived in Australia most of my life, and held a drivers' licence for 30 yrs. I worked in the UK (Kent) for a year in 1996-1997, and owned a car, and drove it extensively.

I love the UK (being born there) and it's people, but I was honestly shocked at the amount of traffic on the roads in the South. I truly felt suffocated by the amount of traffic in the south of england. The M25 particularly was almost a surreal experience to me coming from a relatively un-congested city (Brisbane).

We have our own problems, but therre has to be a limit when people say enough. I enjoy cars and driving, but that does not extend to crawling along at 5 MPH on a clogged freeway to get to or from a job that i hate.

I take the train to work everyday. It takes me me less than 30 mins to get to work. For my driving pleasure, I have a Subaru Legacy RS Turbo , and a Westfield kit car that I am building.

I consider myself a car enthusiast, but that does not mean that I blindly reject all attempts by government to control private car usage. Noone wants to live in a country ruled by cars and road makers. Take a stand against the powerful interests that want to turn our countries into a freeway! Driving should be about fun.

[v8thunder]

Sorry cortinaman. The council, although they are supposed to represent us, actually hate anyone with a BMW (or similar) as it's 'off message'. If you'd knackered a 1.0 diesel Micra or some other piece of disposeable st, they probably would have bought you another one. I'm amazed how these people get away with murder by simply jumping on the PC bandwagon and supporting everyone except the most valuable majorites in order to win our 'respect'.

[cortinaman]

well,i got a letter from basildon council's insurance department yesterday asking for the photo's i took so they can see for themselves,the thing i dont understand is why they dont just meet me there and they can see it for themselves as they have done absolutely sweet f.a to the road since i called them about my suspension!

im sending them the photo's but if i dont get recompenced for my inconvinience then i will take it up with my m.p(teddy tailor) at one of his surgery's as he is not backward at coming forward.

[v8thunder]

Good luck. Let's just hope your photos don't get 'lost in the post', and be thankful you weren't driving a GTD40 or something similarly ground-scraping. Makes you wonder about the safety risks posed by tack-on bodykits, doesn't it?

[DIGGA]

I think the "tea & buns" reference is perhaps closer to the truth about local authority spending than people realise.

When my wife & I were looking at venues for our wedding reception last year, the guy who showed us around one of the places, an beautiful old stately home (not at all cheap to hire out), told us that the NHS directors regularly used the dining room for meetings, and had a bloody good feed at the same time too.

The chap who showed us around this place was clearly as unhappy about this as I was - it is a real waste of valuable funds - but the fact remians that local councillors (I'm talking generally here, not just local to me) still go on 'fact finding' missions to see how bins are emptied in other contries and other such nonsense.