Thanet council approves ‘progressive budget’ for year ahead

47 Comments

1. How on earth can anyone class it as a balanced budget when the current year budget is estimated to be overspent by £1m ?

   It’s built on sand like every budget before it.

   £168k for “new” street cleaners compared to over £1m for a staff pay rise will tell you everything there is to know about the Labour Administration.

   Don’t forget, these are the same Councillors who voted themselves a backdated 10% allowance increase shortly after taking office.

   Priorities ?

   • Oh dear – I guess you’ve never worked in a large business.
     The budget used for staff salaries isn’t just based on what they’re paid. It takes into account overheads such as pensions, the equipment they’ll, the electricity they’ll consume and even the office space they’ll occupy.
     It all costs money.

     …and yes – priorities.

     People want clean streets.
     They want graffiti sorted out.
     They want more council houses.

     It’s clear to me that this budget works towards achieving these priorities.

     • I don’t want council houses, or any other new housing. They clearly can’t cope with the streets they already have.

     • The base staff budget is based on all of those things. Increases in salary calculations exclude all of those elements unless staff suddenly use more electricity, office space, IT equipment etc when they get paid more.

       Economists are predicting inflation to fall to 2% in the next financial year yet TDC are giving staff a pay rise of almost three times that ?

       To revert to my original point, spending over £1m on staff pay increases compared to £168k on street cleaners is an insult.

       • If you have a look around, you might notice that there’s been a cost of living crisis in this country for the last two years.
         Wages haven’t kept up with the rate of inflation over the last few years and even if inflation falls – it’s still a sign of life becoming more expensive.
         Council workers are very often those in the lowest paid jobs, who will be bearing the brunt of an economy on its knees.
         Giving them a modest payrise to sweep our streets, take our rubbish away and maintain our open spaces is the least the council can do.

         • If street cleaners’s pay was linked to how many streets they sweep, they’d get far less!

       • Why is it insane ? Workers have s right to be paid a decent wage. Why should their standard of living down because you want a graffiti removing machine

         • So long as they do a decent job.

       • ‘Ecomonomists’ maybe predicting a 2% inflation figure next year, but that’s on top of a 10%+ two years ago and 7%+ this year. So in 3 years prices have gone up over 19%+ over the samebperiod (including this pay rise? Pay has gone up 9.75% so a real reduction in pay of over 10%!

2. No mention of the Madeira Waterfall in Ramsgate which has been out of action for years and looks an eyesore.
   It is part of the Destiny Memorial.
   This iconic site should now be a priority as TDC / RTC claim that Tourism is important for Thanet.
   I noticed no mention of other derelict sites either, all tinkering around the edges again.

   • If RTC look after this – it would be in their budget not TDC’s.

3. Does this mean that my street will be swept every week, instead of just litter picked by volunteers once or twice a year?

   • What a daft comment.
     You get that Thanet is a big place right?
     What it means is that your street will be swept more often than previously.

     • How much “previously” do you want? 20 years ago it WAS swept weekly. Even in the recessions of the 70s & 80s, street cleaning and public toilets were ALWAYS priority for councils – until they started funded funfairs owned by off-shore companies that is!

       • Good point I suppose.
         Unfortunately the Thatcher, Major, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak happened.

         • Thatcher and Major were a bit more than 20 years ago! I guess modern history isn’t your strong point.

         • It was Blair and Brown who started off this mess.

       • Or, until they lost 60% of their central funding in a decade.

         Time comparisons are only relevant if you factor in the budget frameworks and economy at the time; when Councils see continuous reductions in funding, it is no surprise whatsoever that statutory functions struggle.

         However, I’m rather proud of everyone involved in this one, and think it’s an exceptionally strong budget, considering the national funding constraints.

         • Are you also proud of the fact that TDC have hiked their Council Tax to the maximum amount allowed by law, allocated £1m to an inflation busting pay rise whilst many low paid workers across the area struggle with far lower pay rises ? Average pay rises across the nation are forecast to be much lower than 5.75%.

           I guess I know the answer given you were instrumental in paying yourself a 10% increase in allowances this financial year. It’s clear that the Unions are running the show and I dread to think what might happen if Labour get control of the national finances this year.

         • Not good enough. Clean streets, empty bins and open public toilets all year round should be your number one priority.

4. I drive down Northdown Road every morning and am very impressed at how clean the streets are being kept. A great improvement and the staff should be congratulated on their dedication to start at such early hours to improve the quality of our lives. No complaints here for this spending. Like all in public sector positions for the role they do, they are underpaid. Lets hope Ms. Pink is not expected to make a contribution to society as actions are better than poorly thought out words.

   • They’re obviously concentrating on the Labour-voting slums of Cliftonville instead of the Tory-voting and far classier people of the villages. I can assure you, my street hasn’t been cleaned in over a year, with leaves turning to mulch and blocking the drains.

     • And I repeat “poorly thought out words” Ms Pink

       • I’m still right. As opposed to your wrong and left.

         • And I repeat “poorly thought out words” Ms Pink
           “Those that cannot change their minds cannot change anything”

       • Peter Checksfield is clearly a very unpleasant and even heartless person, if his comments on this newspaper are taken seriously.

         • Yes even “tongue in cheek” comments appear to be filled with hate. Sad very sad.

         • Ms. Rees is obsessed with criticising otherposts, but has absolutely nothing to say herself on anything. I feel nothing but pity for her.

         • Even South Wales is cleaner than Thanet.

5. Let’s hope that the pet waste bins which were removed last year now get replaced. Some parks do not have any. Many streets have had them removed.

6. Fortunately for everyone, the vast majority of that is incorrect or misleading.

   Council workers do often extremely challenging roles, and perform vital services. Considering the level of inflation, I fail to see how the pay increase could be in any way viewed as excessive. Valuing workers, especially those in essential service roles, is inportant; and working to alleviate the cost of living crisis is important.

   Council tax has not been “hiked”; for a Band D property, it is the equivalent of 15 pence per week, and households on lower incomes, single person households, or those with significant vulnerabilities already have access to discounts on Council tax.

   And although we’ve already covered this thoroughly, no, it was not a 10% increase in one year, as the reality is that TDC allowances had not been raised in over a decade; so the actual equivalent is an under 1% raise per year, to try to ensure that being a Councillor is accessible to people from all backgrounds, rather than frequently just being the preserve of retired men.

   Nothing against retired men, however; it’s just that it’s pretty obvious that a representative democracy should be representative.

   • I may have this wrong but are TDC Councillors also now in line to get a 5.75% allowance rise for the next financial year to match staff pay which will be added to the 10% allowance increase for last year ?

7. Meanwhile, while services are being cut for young and old alike, that champion of the working classes Tracy Emin has opposed any suggestion that Turner Contemporary should charge an entrance fee.

   https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/09/20/turner-contemporary-should-stay-free-says-tracey-emin-as-councillor-calls-for-entry-charge-kent-margate

8. “Clean streets, empty bins and open public toilets all year round should be your number one priority.”

   Did you read the budget? Because the above very much implies that you didn’t.

   • Not priority enough. Otherwise my street would be swept more than once a year… when I chase them up via my local cllr. Stop funding vanity projects.

     What are your thoughts on Turner Contemporary not wanting to charge an entrance fee?

     • Hmmm… Helen has gone suspiciously silent on the TC question. Att least Barry has the guts to stand up and say his opinion.

9. The usual suspects on here are just fuming the Labour controlled council have come up with a fair and balance budget that protects services, creates jobs and builds new social housing, all this during a cost of living crisis when many other struggling councils are having to do the exact opposite due to the last 14 years of Tory mismanagement.

   • I’ll wait until I see a road sweeper before I congratulate anyone (NOT just a litter picker, gutters need sweeping).

10. I’ve been looking at the TDC website, and can’t find how often our streets are (in theory) swept at present. Does anyone here know? Thanks.

11. In the above

    Property Enhancement Programme- is it safe to assume it is in relation to

    https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2022/12/03/two-hundred-council-owned-commercial-properties-without-current-leases-and-more-than-1million-needed-for-huge-repairs-backlog/

    If so , should the works not be done asap in order to reduce the losses from rents and leases that are currently unenforceable as well as reducing the extent of inflation on the expenditure? ( the councils commercial property situation that can hardly be blamed on austerity, who had oversight for this department?)

    The costs for the homeless accomodation, i assume refer to the old Oasis building , which it has been previously reported will be turned into council housing in the future. How much of these costs is covered by the HRA and if they are outside this will the HRA be purchasing the building at the full cost of initial purchase , lending and works done to the building as and when it transfers to the housing department?

    Again within the housing budget have the works and costs relating to Royal crescent been completed and all bills settled , if so where leaseholders have opted for a charge against their properties, how has the million or so been accounted for and again has this been contained within the HRA? ( again how on earth did costs of this size manage to accrue and who should have been on top of this?)

    https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2021/04/29/thanet-cabinet-members-agree-to-measures-for-2-7million-repair-works-at-royal-crescent-and-for-recharging-to-leaseholders/

    What has been decided in respect of Jackie Bakers and its facilities and the previous sugestion of using some of the land for council housing?

12. If Ms Pink was having her street swept 20 years ago, that was 2004, if my maths are correct. 7 years into Tony Blair’s government. But perhaps modern history isn’t her strong point. And since Mr Brown left office we’ve had austerity, brexit, a purge on the few competent tory politicians who weren’t loyal enough to brexit nor to the notoriously disloyal Boris Johnson. We’ve had the cumulative results of ill judged and unnecessary privatisations (e.g. sewage in the streets, rivers and sea, all subsidised by us with big chunks of our tax cash going to service ever increasing debt to pay foreign investors), the NHS run into the ground (remember being able to see a GP pre 2010, or not having to wait 12 hours in A&E when your wife’s had a possible TIA? I do). We’ve Truss and Kwarteng’s mini budget causing a run on the pound, interest rate rises and austerity cash strapped councils having to borrow more as a result. Now we’re left with a bunch of venal, incompetent idiots who still aren’t held to account by the majority of the press, nor allowed to be by the emasculated BBC. If Labour do win the next election they’ll not be able to do much as the tories have pretty much destroyed everything beyond redemption, and left a country deeply and bitterly divided. If they have one policy left it’s a scorched earth policy, cut taxes before we go so there’s less room for Labour to do anything without raising them again. But I for one will welcome a few years break from the rotten bunch. Ms Pink can go and lie down in a darkened room with real world, Peter can “pop” on their strait jackets and play them 60s music til they come blinking into the daylight of 2029 and find nice Mr Farage is finally PM..

    • Have you been on the wacky baccy?

13. I think Ms Pink is wonderful; just my type of person. I could be wrong, but I think the Pink bit (sorry!) is used ironically, to disguise her very right wing leanings. And the titular (sorry!) “Ms” is also ironically intended to cover the fact she’s either a misogynistic male who disapproves of lefty feminists, or a real woman like the late and very much missed Clarissa Dickson Wright, who could skin a rabbit while fuming to camera about the fox hunting ban. If the latter, I think she’d make a great model for an artistic book of photographs of ladies snapped in various locations around the local littoral.

    • You sound angry?

14. So, can of you lot answer the basic question: how often are Thanet’s streets swept at present? If that question can’t be answered, then any supposed “improvements” under Labour can’t be prooved, and is very likely a lie.

    • “So, can of you lot ” – I don’t understand that.
      And only one “o” in “proved”.
      I expect it was a typ-o.

      • And I know you don’t know the answer.

        Anyway, I need to go and drive my bus. Goodbye-ee.