Blackpool Council have today released an announcement criticizing Leisure Parcs, Coral Island and the Pleasure Beach for not contributing to the cost of the Illuminations. In a whimper for help, the “illuminations manager” (what he does for 10 months of the year I don’t know) – backed up by Maxine Callow – has called for all local businesses to contribute £20 per year.
According to the “illuminations manager”, the Illuminations exist to fund businesses. I’ll give him that the Illuminations should, and do bring people to Blackpool who might spend some money. But what’s changed? It has never been a requirement to fund the Illuminations before, and to impose a very Labour-like tax on business like that is just going to give companies more of a reason not to set up.
At this moment it’s only a request for donations, and yes, it’s only £20 per year, but what’s next? Means tested Illuminations donations? I can think of a brilliant way of saving about £40,000 per year – sack the Illuminations manager!
The Lights switch on might well have been the best event this year according to the Council, but is that down to the Lights themselves or the fact that it’s a free outdoor concert featuring a bunch of celebrities? You could put the same event in the middle of Stoke and you’d probably get even more visitors.
I don’t think businesses should contribute a single penny, and that the Council should be prepared to fund it. Hitting business with an Illuminations tax is just taking from one hand to give to the other, particularly given that only certain businesses benefit.
The council receives more money than ever from taxes and business rates and jacks them up by inflation busting percentages every year and is it locals or businesses fault that the Council employs too many people on too much money doing too little? No it isn’t.
Maxine Callow states that we are in the worst recession ever, which is true. But then demands more cash from businesses. Councils don’t suffer from recessions, they just tax tax and tax. Taxes never go down. It’s us that have to make savings and economise to fund the Council, it’s grand spending plans and the silver lined pensions accrued by the town hall executives.
It’s not my problem or anyone else’s problem that they are unable to maintain facilities with the efficiency and quality that is associated with the private sector, instead choosing to fritter away money on gimmicks supported by self serving middle management jobsworths.
But this is the Council that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. Instead of looking to make savings on staffing and procedural costs like any private company would do, it’s always tax, tax and more tax because it’s easy, guaranteed money.
Remember, Maxine Callow blew £300,000 on a ghost train that only took something like £10,000 in admission fees. That wont have even covered the staffing costs. They blew £150,000 on that coach drop off point at Central, getting rid of about 80 town centre parking spaces in the process. They blew £150,000 on wireless access in the town centre – anyone used it? They blew over £100k on the Blackpool4Me web site. I don’t even want to think about the construction premiums that have been paid to the F Parkinson cartel either.
At the end of the day, everyone knows that the threat to turn the Lights off is never going to be acted upon.
If there’s a £500k shortfall then that’s what, Steve Weaver, Helen France and Julian Kearsley if you include all the perks and pensions contributions. Surely it makes more sense to eject these three executives? As I said, price of everything, value of nothing. We know the price of these people, but what’s the value?
For an extra Brucey bonus, fire Peter Callow and save another £20,000, Howard Bernstein’s 1 day a week is another £20,000 and God knows what Doug Garrett’s pay package is, was or will be, but we know it’ll be obscene.
If you start tackling these kinds of costs, the savings soon add up.
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Splendid words of wisdom!
Weaver out!
Garret out!
Cavill out!
France out!
Philtheone in, as Blackpool mayor!
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Haha, I don’t think so.
The Council make themselves an easy target but the problem is to make proper savings you need to get staff doing more work so you can sack some of them.
You do this not by standing behind them with a horse crop but by looking at business processes and where tasks can be streamlined or removed.
But like Labour continues to do with public sector jobs, we’re seeing ReBlackpool reinvent itself under Peter Callow’s Tory Council as an even bigger, more expensive group of even more six figure salaried consultants with Doug Garrett moving to some new Blackpool sub-agency getting paid even more money than he is now – and we know that’s more than £125,000 p.a.
As long as all their mates are kept in cushty jobs on a good number, they don’t care what they spend because they can just keep taxing us for it.
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Yes they are hardly a true tory council, I always understood conservatives to be by and large, carefull with money.
So What do theses executives have on Peter Callow?
dodgy pictures somewhere, locked in a safe?
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lol. If they do, I’m not sure I want to see them!
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Agreed, they whould have to be too obscene to be believed.
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Its pretty simple really, get rid of Garrett, France, Cavill and the other expensive numpties. Advertise for a PR agency to take on the job of promoting Blackpool and the illuminations. Leave it to them to arrange funding of the lights etc…
I can gaurantee that PR co’s will be lining up to apply for the job which would be self funding through the sponsorship / donation deals that they put in place.
As has been mentioned before, we also need to get people out of their cars and coaches so we need to move the lights from the cliffs and get them into the town centre. The tableaus currently serve no purpose whatsoever on the promenade.
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Yeah I agree, the tableaux are crap. I had a wander along there with my girlfriend one night and they’ve barely changed. There were hardly any people up there other than dog walkers.
What you say seems to be a good sensible plan…
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I actually agree a little with Maxine Callow. Local businesses (though I’d say only the ones that benefit from tourism) should be contributing to the illuminiations that draw so many tourists to the area profiting them directly. That Leisure Parcs, the Pleasure Beach and Coral Island aren’t contributing to the fund (though they do host events) is appalling.
The business rates don’t go to Blackpool council – they collect it, send it to the Government and the government gives some of it back (sometimes more) dependent on how much it considers the council needs. So as no government would subsidise a local event the money really needs to come from tourism businesses direct. The total amount of money being wasted though is a separate issue – I’d cut that waste and charge Blackpool householders less as a result.
I know the illuminations is an old idea – but it’s a darn good one providing it’s still funded to be a spectacular display rather than a run-down repeat of years gone by.
But there is one point – why did they spend all that money for that woman and her boyfriend (he paid something towards it I think) to go to Las Vegas on a fact finding mission when they can’t raise the cash to do anything here anyway? And why are we getting this story (a repeat of the Feb article in the Gazette) again?
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Wouldnt be the first time the Geazett has regurgitated a story and I’m sure it wont be the last.
Fair point on the business rates but as you mention it could be the case that the council gets even more cash than it would if it were collecting directly.
Regardless, the Lights have been going for a long time and only now the begging bowls have come out.
What annoys me is that the cost of everything for everyone has gone up, yet I can’t get my begging bowl, go down to 13 South Park Drive and ask for a handout. I have to adjust.
The Council has not suffered a shortfall in cash. It’s cash is there, its ready, its never going to stop flowing in. It has just failed to manage itself, and if it’s running at a loss then it must cut the dead wood.
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Well I know what the council would say – that the government has given it extra responsibilities and less cash. And the government would say that they’ve been given plenty of cash for what they have to do. And the taxpayer gets nowhere except jail if they don’t pay up for the extra charges.
I found my 2004/05 council tax bill in a tidy up this week. (Fylde not Blackpool of course). The most of ours goes to Lancashire like Blackpool used to – and that’s gone up 19.54% in those 5 years of £221.46 for my band E house. The fire service is up 25.73% or £15.61, Police up a massive 41.09% – £50.57 and Fylde up 42.63% – £72.53. How are we all supposed to find this extra money – and given that the population of Fylde’s about 80,000 amd say quite generously that this equates to 20,000 households at Band E level total – then the extra local taxes in Fylde alone charged in 5 years is a whopping £370.49 I pay extra now x 15,000 = £5.55million. So just how much extra is the government raking in? There’s a limit to just how much extra they can milk us all before we all start going bankrupt – and I think the fact that tax take is rapidly dimishing it shows how the government has made most of us poor.
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Those figures are exactly my point and illustrates waste in all public services never mind councils. It’s a trademark Labour Government scenario.
My costs haven’t gone up 41% so why have those in the Police?
How can costs in the fire service have gone up? Oh right, they all went on strike a couple of years back and negotiated a ransom package.
But as you say, for mere mortals it’s just not humanly possible to keep up with increases in tax like that.
Remember, if Labour get in they plan to change the Council tax valuations so that they can hit you with tax if you’ve got a garage, tax if you’ve got a garden, tax if you’ve got a nice view, tax if you’re got a conservatory.
It’s never ending, just so they can fritter it all away.
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Its labour, period.
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Labour to a tee, they also brag about ‘record investment’ in public services but all the ‘record investment’ is wasted on non-causes and non-jobs. Labour seem to think throwing money at everything from their ‘bottomless purse’ is the answer to everything. We keep seeing these ridiculous letters in the Gazette from Slime Gruntshaw and Jack Croysdrew praising Brown the clown’s ‘superb handling’ of the economy, whatever planet they live on I wish they would go back there.
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Record Waste
Record immigration
Record bureacracy
Record crime
Record unemployment
Record obesity
Record borrowing
Record taxes
yep, Labour sets new records all right!
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Spot on Harold, record pay and expenses for MPs as well.
PS I love your new name, but I best not abbreviate it!!! lol
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Cheers mate, my pleasure!
lol lol lol @ comment 26: ……………http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/Blackpool39s-regeneration-firm-closed.5838835.jp?CommentPage=3#comments
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” Record Crime”
Fact, Crime is at its lowest levels for decades. you excuses for brains really are a joke.
Say anything for effect, even if its total bullshit.
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The reporting of crime constantly changes in order to massage the figures. The fact that Labour has claimed to have appointed thousands more police officers yet we feel less safe than ever and never see a policeman on duty tells enough of a story for me.
I used to personally know my local bobby, PC Bolton. I haven’t moved, the only thing that’s changed is Labour getting voted in. Since then, I’ve never seen a policeman walking down my street.
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I agree with most of your comments and I propose to do something about it. My new site http://www.bispham.info will be promoted with leaflets in Ingthorpe Ward.
I am willing to help set up a series of sites for those willing to stand as Independent Candidates in the next local elections.
Blackpool needs an Independent Executive Mayor even more than it needs 15 Independent Councillors. If you know of suitable people please encourage them to get involved.
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lol lol lol @ comment 26: ……………http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/Blackpool39s-regeneration-firm-closed.5838835.jp?CommentPage=3#comments
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Sounds like this guy is on the same planet as the Labour supporters on the Gazette site. I just really do have a creeping suspicion that slimy little toad Fisher will go for that job eventhough he lacks any kind of qualification (but then again its never stopped him before) or suitability. Fisher actually used to a Director or something along those lines for ReBlackpool when he was Council Leader.
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If Fisher gets it there shoukld be public outrage.
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Pleasure Beach, Leisure Parcs (for all their many, many faults) and many of the other major businesses in the town should be the last to pay.
They are the reason people visit the resort- the primary attractions, rather than ancilliary amenities.
To flip the idea on its head, should local businesses contribute money to Leisure Parcs and Pleasure Beach to help keep their attractions afloat? I don’t think it would get very far, particularly with the opprobrium that fleapit B&B owners in South Shore reserve for the Thompsons.
I have a certain affinity for the Illuminations Department, despite every bone in my body telling me that it should not be paid for by the taxpayer. As a hard-pressed department that occasionally gets beaten with the shitty stick, it does well to continue doing what it does.
However, perhaps the time has come for some truly creative thinking to take place on the future of the Illuminations and have an open discussion about it. It can’t be a good thing that the department is treated as the personal fiefdom (or ‘queendom’) of the portfolio holder in charge, spunking their way through taxpayers’ money on projects without any proven value.
Funnily enough, the Fremont Street Experience perhaps provides an interesting blueprint for how innovative displays in the public space can be successfully funded and operated by commercial interests. Blackpool Council’s own ‘Fremont Street experience’ on Birley Street demonstrates how far short they fall on delivering to expectations. Time for the Illuminations to be run by those who ought to have an interest and a stake in its future?
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I think overpaid jobsworths like Steve Weaver, Alan Cavill et al should contribute a portion of their massive salaries. These useless people make massive salaries out of Blackpool but don’t give anything in return. But then again that’s the norm in this day and age, the people who earn the most (pop stars, footballers etc) contribute the least.
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TRUE BLACKPUDDLIAN alias the VILLAGE IDIOT
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Don’t you dare insult me, you can’t even spell my name properly. I am not an idiot, so keep your nasty little insults to yourself and go away
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