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| DEVELOPER FRIENDLY....... |
My Dear Dame
They say that the House of Lords is a retirement home for the political incontinent but it seems that our Royal Borough Cabinet is becoming home for political incompetents!
How so, you might ask, dear Dame....As a resident of Hobury Street, I can report some bizarre gossip.It seems that Cllr Paul Warrick and his wife, Lorna are hitting hard times.
Their little home based 'legal practice' is very 'profit lite' and desperate times require desperate remedies.What to do? A quick phone call to the leader and the Cabinet members got into a huddle and came up with a new post for the unliked, developer friendly Warrick.
He thus joins the equally useless, Mary Weale, also a supplicant for income replacement.It seems that this hopeless failure is to be made responsible for "procurement policy, including the monitoring and oversight of the letting of Council contracts".
This new post gives him a financial fillip. As the developer friendly chairman of planning, the much despised Paul grabbed nearly £40k a year. The new post gives him close to £50k a year.We neighbours of Paul are wondering what experience a sole trader, operating out of a 'home office', can know about the nitty gritty and rough and tumble of local government procurement.Still, maybe the mean sod will buy us all a celebratory jar! It's good to know that Paul has 'procured' a nice little earner and that still all about who you know.....
I remain, my dear Dame, your most respectful servant,
Peter....-......
Oh dear, our procurement arrangements are pretty dire already - e.g. the Tri-borough managed services outsourcing to BT which has cost us all a fortune and the Council is still in denial about it.
ReplyDeleteThis story brought a smile to my face. By reputation this Councillor has done huge damage to the built environment of Kensington and Chelsea with his sometimes strange planning decisions and the way he steered decisions in the Planning Committee.
DeleteI occasionally promoted duds in order to take them out of harms way. "President of Functions", "Consultant to the Board" for a couple of years is often a cheaper and a more pleasant way to fire someone who is useless.
Leader Paget-Brown appears to have taken this path with Paul Warrick when he created the new Cabinet position.
Chief Executive is wrong. This position has the potential to deliver huge damage to the piggy bank.
DeleteAnd don't forget the special needs transport fiasco that saved money for Westminster, cost K+C a mint and from which Hammersmith and Fulham resigned as quickly as they could. And the man responsible for it got a CBE.
ReplyDeleteAnd, as we all know, Procurement is hugely susceptible to (so sadly rife with) corruption - not that that would put the dear lawyer off in the slightest. Warrick's freebie-count is set to sky-rocket, I hope those concerned to disclose councillor perks and conflicts are geared up for the surge. It seems unfair to have to rely so much on our elected members' personal integrity.
ReplyDeleteThe Dame is mistaken about a "Cabinet huddle" to create the new role and appoint Cllr Warrick as a member of the Cabinet. Leader Paget-Brown was dispensing patronage which is in his gift.
DeleteWarrick is now beholden to his Leader for his £50k stipend which he seems to need because of tough trading times as a home based "community solicitor". At least he wont have to pay the increase in Business Rates since he operates his business out of the spare room.
These are immense sums of money for people of retirement age. An extra £3k per month, after tax, into the bank account plus pension, plus expenses, plus perks.
DeleteOK if you can get it.
Nice little earner. Pays for the foreign holidays.
DeleteRBKC's corrupt, 16 year waste contract is due for renewal in 2021. Due to collusion between the tendering firms RBKC residents pay double the norm for waste services. RBKC's recycling is even worse. The Council spent £728,000 plus another £250,000 of residents' funds trying to hush this up. It's now agreed to pay a further £200,000 plus £65,000 a year. A district auditor received £15,000 of residents' cash to play the Council's game, while threatening the public with criminal prosecution if they quote him!
ReplyDeleteIn Warwick's hands, what is the likelihood of the next contract being an improvement on the last?
Another abominable appointment. This is the kind of role that Daniel would excel at.
DeleteYes, well, we don't the Dame sued for suggesting why
DeleteWhat?!
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe this appointment and splurging more Council Tax
This Cabinet is getting weighed down with duds. Weale, (E) Campbell, Mellen, and Lightfoot. Paget-Brown should have the self confidence to surround himself with more able colleagues.
ReplyDeleteCllr Weale (we agreed to listen but not to hear) drew down a staggering £46,513 last year from Council Tax. Councillors were paid more than £1.1 million in total from public funds.
Delete£1.1 million to pay the Councillors is only the start. There is another £40 million or so spent on offices, telecoms and the whole expensive apparatus of Officers writing their papers and having policy discussions that feed the Committees that the Councillors attend and take decisions.
DeleteSome would say that there is an overload of papers (maybe 20% of the papers get read by the Councillors) and a shortfall of quality/ability in the Councillor stock.
The Leader needs to strive to get a better balance and create a more efficient machine. Much work to be done.
Chelsea Lodge 3098? Paul?
ReplyDeleteRight on the money 20.15
DeleteWarwick is a bully and I suspect finds other sources of income from the developers he befriends against the community - he should be sacked not rewarded
Delete