SIR - David Cameron's summer reading list for Conservative MPs (report, August 4) omits the most important book of all: The Bumper Book of Government Waste by Matthew Elliott and Lee Rotherham of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
It reveals numerous examples of government waste totalling £82 billion and should be compulsory summer reading for all MPs.
Kevin Jackson
Poole, Dorset
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TWO articles in the Echo(July 4 edition) made my blood boil one on page eight about the police claiming they have a shortfall in their budget then on page 17 about a police convoy on a training exercise through Loughborough to Oakham for VIPs.
What planet do these people live on, don't they know people all across this country are struggling to make ends meet and these clowns are wasting our money?
On top of that it's pretty obvious they are not concerned about their carbon footprint.
I am going to send these articles to the TaxPayers' Alliance I am sure they will make a meal of them and so they should.
And another thing the only time we see any amount of police is when there's VIPs or The Royals about.
Mr G V Marshall, Nanpantan Road, Loughborough
AT a time when people are losing jobs thanks to the credit crunch and rampant inflation, isn’t it reassuring to know our council is happy to waste thousands of pounds of council tax-payers’ money on non-essential jobs?
Take, for example, its recent advertisement for a “community engagement officer”. For a comfortable £30,000 a year, this job will “focus on supporting community groups to work on environmental issues as well as developing relationships and coordinating a programme of events across the borough”. How pleasant for them.
In the same advert, the council is happy to trumpet the fact that it is “expanding” its “environmental sustainability jobs” department. Surely, this is not sustainable in itself? Less expanding and more contracting in the public sector would be much appreciated by a public feeling the pain of economically rocky times.
But, of course, local government is always happy to waste our money. Just don’t come to us asking for a rise in council tax. You don’t need it if you can advertise for jobs like this.
TIM NEWARK
Tax Payers’ Alliance, N5
If it's not about parking spaces, it's rubbish collections.
If it's not dogs on the beach (or anywhere at all, according to some folks) it's seagulls daring to breed.
My favourite is people whinging about council tax then doing sweet Fanny Adams about it.
So, being the kind of person who likes to try to resolve issues, I have a suggestion or two to make.
Instead of moaning about the daylight robbery regarding tax, why don't we set up a branch of the Taxpayers' Alliance in Whitby?
I've been toying with the idea for a while; unfortunately it seems that the majority of people prefer to moan into their bitter rather than getting off their backsides or out of their comfort zone, whatever you want to call it.
Either google 'taxpayers alliance' (I'm sorry, I haven't got the address to hand) or get in touch with me.
You can either write or catch me ranting in a pub (not sure if any pub would like to be associated with me so I won't name drop).
Either way is fine with me but I'm more humorous when there's a crowd.
Why don't we get out of SBC and have our own council again?
We managed before didn't we?
Why did we go for it in the first place?
I wasn't really around when it happened but it's always seemed like a silly idea to me.
How long for a skatepark?
How much money has been wasted on the beach management thingy or the marina?
When are we getting our bridge to the East Pier back?
Let's harass SBC this summer - it'll keep us out of mischief.
As for seagulls and dogs, well I like them quite a lot. But some people don't, which is fine with me.
Everyone's entitled to an opinion but the only suggestion I can make is a cull.
We need to be completely honest about the situation and admit, once and for all, there are far too many and the town, nay the planet, can no longer sustain such numbers of dirty, greedy creatures that breed at an exponential rate.
Yes, I'm talking about politicians and people who whinge and expect others to fix things for them (I refer back to the 'can't be bothered to get out of their comfort zone').
An immediate cull is the only solution.
Let's fire the politicians and get decent people in the corridors of power who actually give two hoots about their constituents' views.
Somebody who thinks a maternity unit in Whitby is a blooming good idea, somebody who isn't going to rip us off by claiming higher expenses during their 'duties' as our representative.
Someone who'd make MPs stand outside the House for a cigarette and check the DVD player at home for the missing Child Benefit discs.
Someone who's lived life on the bottom rung and knows how hard it is for those of us on minimum wage or benefits.
I want a decent human being who isn't afraid to do what's right for the people under his or her care.
I want someone worthy of my vote.
Either that or we all turn to anarchy because living in a society where the rich get richer and brown-nosers get rewarded is slowly but surely making me want to go into politics myself and nobody would vote for common sense, honesty and straight talking now, would they?
Sarah Johnston, Flat 6 Stainthorpe House, Well Close Square, Whitby YO21 3AP
By Lucy Tatchell
WORCESTERSHIRE County Council has fought back at criticisms of the £44 million increase in staff running costs.
The Worcester Taxpayers Alliance revealed the total payroll cost for Worcestershire County Council staff in September 1997 was £62.017 million.
In September 2007 this figure had jumped to £106.6 million, a £44.6 million increase.
advertisementHowever, Conservative Councillor Adrian Hardman, cabinet member for finance, said: "I do think the criticism coming from The Taxpayers Alliance is very unfair when statistics show the council tax we set is seven per cent lower than the county council average and our management costs are the second lowest out of the 21 other comparable county councils in the country."
The alliance state the number of employees between these times rose from 4,171 to 4,770, an increase of 600, and the unit cost rose from £14,868 to £22,348.
Chris Wittington, spokesman for the alliance, said: "As a local taxpayer, this strikes me as a colossal amount of money, and yet I am unsure of what improvements we have received for all of this extra admin cost.
"Residents want frontline services, not armies of bureaucrats. The council should remember that we deserve value for money before they spend more millions of our cash on their own salaries and yet more staff."
Coun Hardman said the group had a disliking to people being paid a fair salary.
"This group seems to have an aversion to paying people, who do crucial jobs day-in-day-out to help vital services operate in Worcestershire, a fair wage," he said.
"It also wishes to forget that we have a government that was elected three times with a mandate of higher and fairer wages for public sector employees."
A pensioner who could face prison for refusing to pay her council tax appeared at Norwich Magistrates' Court yesterday.
Barbara Lockwood, 75, was joined by a string of placard-carrying protesters from the Taxpayers' Alliance who were supporting her stand against rising council tax.
The great-grandmother from Mayfield Avenue, Hellesdon, has pledged to pay only half of her council tax bill, a criminal offence which could result in a three-month prison sentence.
In court yesterday magistrates issued a liability order against Lockwood, ordering her to pay £796.66, including £37 costs and £16 for the liability order. They also granted liability orders against 373 other people who have not paid their council tax.
Lockwood asked to speak in court but was told she could not by the chairman of the bench Charles Nevick.
Undeterred, as the magistrates went to retire, Lockwood thrust a leaflet detailing her case into one of their hands.
Afterwards she said: "My savings are gone because of this government. No way will I attempt to pay them £700.
"The council tax was unfair from the beginning. The banding of council tax is a shambles."
A document that Lockwood handed out outside the courts said: "While they hold on to the unfair bandings of council tax I will pay 50pc of tax while still paying increased income tax on my own contribution from working - pensioners of my age should not be paying income tax.
"We must not accept further increases to council tax while our homes are being devalued by the crunch."
Simon Quilter, local taxation manager for Broadland District Council, said the council would offer help to those who genuinely could not afford to pay the council tax, but said it would be unfair on other taxpayers if the council did not try to recover council tax from everybody.
In March last year Lockwood also appeared in court for refusing to pay her council tax. She arrived at Norwich Magistrates' Court with her bags packed and expecting to go to prison, but she was left angered after an anonymous benefactor paid her arrears of £438.47 and she was able to walk free.
A Norwich pensioner who faces prison for refusing to pay her council tax is urging other people to take a similar stand.
Barbara Lockwood, a 74-year-old great grandmother from Hellesdon, says she will be championing a cause supported by pensioners nationwide when she appears at Norwich Magistrates' Court next week.
Mrs Lockwood, who has been protesting against the council tax on her Mayfield Avenue home for 10 years, owes Broadland District Council £160.
Her bill rose by 4.2pc this year despite the fact that the increase in her state pension was just 3.9pc, and so the plucky pensioner has decided she will only pay half of what is owed - a criminal offence which could result in a three-month prison sentence.
It's not Mrs Lockwood's first brush with the law - last year she appeared at the Magistrates' Court for refusing to pay £437 in council tax, and arrived with a packed bag in anticipation of being handed a prison sentence.
But an anonymous benefactor paid her bill in full just before the hearing, leaving her to walk free, much to her annoyance.
Council tax payers in Norfolk have been stung by a staggering 130pc increase in their bills in just 10 years.
The average bill on a Band D property in Norfolk has leapt from £620 in 1997/ 98 to £1,430 for the forthcoming financial year.
Mrs Lockwood, a former researcher at the University of East Anglia, said: “The cost of living is just going sky high and they have been fleecing pensioners and people on fixed incomes who are slowly realising that everything they worked for and saved during their lifetime has gone.
“But the pensioners don't seem to do much for themselves. They grumble and moan that they are having a hard time, which they are, but that is as far as it goes. They don't do anything about it. They need to make a stand.”
Councils can apply to magistrates' courts for a warrant to send a person who refuses to pay their full council tax to prison, providing a means enquiry has been held and the court is satisfied that the failure to pay is the result of willful refusal.
Mrs Lockwood said: “From last year I decided that there was no way in the world I was paying. It should be capped, not increased every April. I am really defiant.”
Mrs Lockwood is due to appear at Norwich Magistrates' Court on Monday, June 9, at 9.30am for her hearing.
Tony Callaghan, Norfolk secretary for the Taxpayers' Alliance, will be showing his support for Mrs Lockwood outside the court and hopes that there will be a big turn out.
He said: “She is a very brave woman, and it puts us all in the shade. We all ought to be doing what Barbara's doing. It is direct action that is going to make a change to all this. Maybe next year there will be a few more people following Barbara's lead.
“People really do feel that unless they take some direct action nothing will happen.”
A spokesman for Broadland District Council said: “The only way that council tax levels can be kept low is if everybody pays their share, otherwise council tax bills would have to increase.
“We would like to advise any resident in our area who is unable to pay their council tax to talk to us and to find out if they may be entitled to council tax benefit.”
Newly launched pressure group claims 10 per cent savings could cut council tax by £60
IN one year the Town Hall spent a whopping £2.3 million on publicity and a further £12.5 million on middle management staff, it was revealed this week.
The figures were obtained by a newly formed local branch of the Tax Payers’ Alliance (TPA) pressure group, who mounted a demonstration against financial waste outside the town hall at the weekend.
The group is led by Highbury-based writer and historian Tim Newark. He believes every council tax-payer could have at least £60 lopped off their annual bill if the Lib Dem-ruled authority reduced its spending to what was essential.
Mr Newark, a former anti-parking campaigner who stood for the Tories in the last general election, said: “There is so much local government waste. Islington Council recently advertised a £28,000 post for a researcher for the governing Lib Dems, promoting their policies. Is that really what our council tax is for?”
The group is researching examples of financial waste at a time when it says the council, like everyone else, should be tightening its belt.
Mr Newark added: “They replaced some perfectly functioning bicycle racks near my house with another set of bicycle racks that just had a metal band across the bottom. What’s that all about? A waste of money and carbon emissions.”
The TPA, a non-political group dedicated to reducing taxes and government waste, has launched a Ten Per Cent Challenge.
“We have identified savings that could be made from some of Islington Council’s non-essential spending,” Mr Newark said. “For example, in 2006-2007, Islington spent £2,322,000 on publicity, £12,570,000 on middle management, and £22,085,000 on pensions.
“I know that the pensions are set but they also top them up, thanks to the taxpayer, and that doesn’t happen very much in the private world unless you are a fat cat. If just 10 per cent of this were reduced, that would make £3,697,700, a total of 7.1 per cent of your council tax revenue. This could reduce the band D council tax bill by £64, something I am sure Islington residents would very much appreciate.”
Finsbury activist Leo Chapman said he was concerned that money was not well spent by the Town Hall.
He added: “The council’s communication and information department has £1 million spent on it but you can never get hold of anyone.”
He believes senior local authority staff, like those in Islington, have a “cushioned life” with none of the competition and uncertainty experienced in private business.
Lib Dem council leader Councillor James Kempton said Islington’s council tax under Labour was the highest in London and was now among the lowest.
He added: “A communication budget helps to get across to the public precisely how we are spending their money. For example, we are publishing an A to Z of services for residents. As for a Lib Dem researcher, there are currently three in the Labour office and only two in the Lib Dems’. This is an information vacancy that needs filling. It doesn’t have to be party political. Anyone can apply for the post.”
He said the council has a significant project to cut spending in all areas. “We’re determined to make sure every pound of council tax is well spent on front-line services,” he added.
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