£119,000 council job rattles ratepayers

Jun 29 2009 by Sarah Bull, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

WHY, at a time of cutbacks all across the board all across the nation, is Kirklees the exception?

KMC is apparently hell-bent on sponsoring our very own Sir Fred Goodwin. They are pushing for a gobbledygook Tsar, paying a salary well over the odds to fill a newly created ‘crown jester’ post.

Their timing could not be worse, when soaring unemployment and austerity are the order of the day and suspicions and trust of local and national politicians are at an all time low.

They merrily carry on as if nothing has happened, spending ratepayers’ money regardless of cost or public opinion, again.

They appear to share the arrogance and disdain for the concerns and wishes of the public as do MPs.

There must be lots of highly competent managers who have lost their jobs and could adequately fill any post – once it has been decoded – at a fraction of the salary and no doubt additional perks and pensions involved.

We don’t need our very own Sir Fred.

JOHN LANGFORD

(by email)

Bottomless pit of cash

I REFER to your article about the £119,000 council job. I thought I must get my penn’orth in on this one.

We really need to start with the two persons “retiring”, under the age of 65, in fact just over 60, when the government want to extend the retiring age to 70 years.

Clearly they have no state pension to retire on and must be relying on the pension provided by the council which must be substantial as their combined wage is £299,000.

What pension are they retiring on? And what contribution has the taxpayer made to what must be an over-inflated pension?

If Mr Stewart can justify the savings then why were two posts created in the first place?

The problem is the bottomless pit of cash from the beleaguered ratepayer, who has to constantly top up the cash box with yearly increases.

We all know that companies are laying off, going bust and doing the best they can under these hard times. The council should do the same, but the problem is that it is not their money.

Head of human resources? What exactly do they do? My friend remarked that if the bin men go on strike, we would be in serious trouble, but if these two went on strike would anyone know any difference?.

There are far too many pen-pushers in the council and it is time it stopped. It should start at the very top.

BILL MAGEE

(by email)

Flawed consultation

I ATTENDED the consultation event at Birkenshaw First School.

I was surprised to see the council officers who were consulting were not taking any notes of what the public were saying.

Surely this was a consultation exercise? How could these officers relay the results of the discussions back to the Cabinet when no notes were taken?

As a parent of children of one of the schools affected by these options or proposals, whatever the council are calling them, I have received a consultation document from school.

At a council meeting back in October 2008, when the Conservatives had put forward their proposals for the North Kirklees School, Clr Pinnock called for a halt to proceedings due to the fact their major concern was the “narrow range of people who are being consulted”.

In addition to staff and governors, only current parents have been included, despite the fact that the proposed changes affect the wider community, particularly those who may become parents in the future.

My questions therefore are why is it that East Bierley Preschool received four consultation documents to hand out between 48 children?

Why hasn’t every household in East Bierley/Birkenshaw received a consultation pack through their door?

If they disagreed so strongly about the previous Conservatives procedures for consultation, why do the Cabinet now seem so reluctant to make their own public?

Fortunately, thanks to members of the public every household in East Bierley has had a consultation pack through their door.

As residents we all have a right to know how the council are planning to destroy our heritage and our community.

Lindsay Brook-Adams

Birkenshaw

Destroying our villages

I AM a parent of two children aged eight and five who attend Birkenshaw (CE) C First and Nursery School. Like many others, I am very concerned about the plans to change education in this area.

I moved to Birkenshaw seven years ago, mainly because I wanted my family to live in a village community with excellent schools.

Birkenshaw is just that. My children attended the village playgroup, which is based in the Community Hall at St Paul’s Church.

During their time at playgroup both the children and I made friendships we still have today. When my children moved up to Birkenshaw First School they moved with their friends, making the transition easy for them.

I am not only deeply concerned about the future education of my children and future children of Birkenshaw, I am also very worried about the impact these proposals may have on the community.

At present there is a real chance that this village will lose the middle school and gain a primary school we do not want. We have two perfectly good primary schools that are in the heart of our villages (Birkenshaw and East Bierley) as well as an excellent site for a secondary school (Birkenshaw middle school site).

Closing East Bierley and opening a new primary on the middle school site will completely divide the village. Children who attend the village playgroup will no longer be moving up to school together, friendships will be lost and the transition to school harder.

East Bierley’s pre-school would be under threat and so too the church. Where would all the under four-year-olds of East Bierley go?

What about the extra traffic options two and three would create? I pity the residents of Birkenshaw who live in or around Station Lane, Southcroft and the Kingsleys.

I am also astounded that they can include the BMS site in a primary consultation when no final decision has been made on the secondary consultation.

No-one would want a school of this nature anyway. I think its time to face facts and admit that these proposals are political in the first instance and education falls a clear second.

Why else would they continue to disregard the feelings of this community and continue to bulldoze plans through regardless of the impact on education?

My eight- and five-year-olds are already concerned about what will happen to the school they love.

Will they have to travel further to school, by car instead of walking as they do now? Will they be separated from their friends?

Unfortunately I cannot answer their concerns, only reassure them, but these things are important to children as well as parents.

The authorities are already determined to ruin the secondary education of our children by expecting them to travel four miles each way to a school in Howden Clough that nobody wants.

Now the primary schools are under threat. I really feel they need to minimise disruption for our children and build on the strengths that already exist.

I am appealing to all concerned to rethink these proposals and leave our primary schools as they are. Please don’t destroy our villages.

JOANNE FROST

Birkenshaw

Town Hall hire charges

IN RESPONSE to D McDonald’s letter (Examiner June 19), I would like to clarify the situation of hire charges at Huddersfield Town Hall.

The Old Court Room in the Town Hall hosts many successful charity coffee mornings and events on Saturday daytime, welcoming a wide range of fundraisers and their supporters on a weekly basis.

The charity hire charge rates for these events have not increased for nearly three years. To help support these events further, the Town Hall also provides the use of catering facilities and a steward is provided at no additional cost to the organisers to offer assistance and help to the people enjoying the coffee mornings.

This additional support provided by the venue (which values almost £100 per coffee morning) is covered by Kirklees Council to ensure the hire rates are accessible to all local charitable organisations.

Furthermore in North Kirklees to support local communities, organisations and charities we have reduced hire rate charges by up to 20% in a variety of rooms at Batley, Cleckheaton and Dewsbury Town Halls.

RICHARD BATTERBY

Audience Management and Development Officer, Kirklees Council - Town Halls

Fighting loss of library

I SEE Clr Firth is going to fight on against the closure of New Mill Library (Examiner, June 17).

I am glad he is getting used to being in opposition. It is where he belongs after the financial mess his Conservative colleagues left behind.

I wonder if he would have been so keen to oppose the closure if he was still a member of the Cabinet, as he was when the closure was first promoted? The fact that Conservatives didn’t object to the closure at that time suggests not.

ANNE BALDWIN

Holmfirth