LABOUR ATTACK £5 MILLION GIFT TO MICHAEL 'FOXY' VOLPE AND HIS LITTLE OPERA COMPANY

The Labour Group accuse the Council of face saving by agreeing to the outrageous demands of Michael Volpe.

The Dame is not sure they are right.....

The better educated Europhile councillors (not you Palmer) will not have missed the irony of Volpe being a fox in Italian….and he has certainly lived up to the reputation of his namesake.

He has been like a savage and wily fox in the Hornton St chicken hutch.

'FOXY' VOLPE & THE CLLRS

And the end result is that Michael ‘Foxy’ Volpe has the council over the barrel: so much so it might not just be face saving, but ridding itself of an intractable problem.

'Foxy' says that the £5million will sort out OHP until it forms a charitable trust in 2016. 

He goes on to hope our £5 million, plus loss of interest of £150k, will see it through until 2023 when it rashly believes it will be in profit.

The Labour group say this is whistling in the wind. They may be right for with backroom costs of £412,000 for staffing, marketing, depreciation and insurance a profit is a figment of Foxy's imagination.

According to Emma Dent Coad the proposal evades the question of how much OHP will pay for using prime facilities in Holland Park. 

‘It has never been clearer that the Council is using the language of austerity to justify ideological decisions. 

The self-professed ‘richest Council in the universe’ can find cash for the opera, but makes ‘tough decisions’ when it comes to vulnerable and struggling residents. Once again Kensington and Chelsea Tories have been caught squeezing the vulnerable to fund indulgence.’

This business cuts across political boundaries. There are diehard Tories disgusted by this profligacy when, as Labour’s press release states….

 “These proposals come within the context of yet another year of crushing cuts in services.The disaster of the new contract for Special Educational Needs children’s transport, which put our most vulnerable children at risk, was the result of the ‘difficult decision in the face of austerity’ to save £447,000/year – a sum almost equal to the backroom costs of running the Opera. A further £415,000 is to be sliced off the Play Services budget, making it increasingly difficult for working parents to find affordable after-school and holiday childcare. And £500,000 has already been sliced from Youth Services.”

The Dame is an apolitical old thing but she agrees with this assessment. 

She expects her taxes to be spent on imperatives first and fripperies later. 
She certainly never expected to be a stakeholder in a third rate opera setup.

This sort of nonsense plays straight into the hands of the opposition.