Yet another example of the lackadaisical approach to financial control at HBC. A project that should have cost £111,080 suddenly costs £457,000 - an increase of £348,000 and four times as much as originally intended. How do they do it? I would have thought that checking the suitability of the ground for building would have been one of the first things to do before putting plans together and for sure before anyone started to put costs on paper.
A little variation from the original costings maybe - but four times as much?
http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/regeneration-demolition-costs-soar-1-4768506 (http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/regeneration-demolition-costs-soar-1-4768506)
The Council have been bent over and royaly abused by the developer.
The half-baked idiot in charge was whining that "A lot of the reasons are out of our control."
(Job seeker sucking up to prospective employer?)
Perhaps our Councillors are too busy with their Busses or falsifying their tax returns to notice the slight of hand?
Bodes well for the Mill House CONtract.....
I assume you are referring to Mr Wilson who, according the The Mail article, would seem to regard the need for the council to find another £348,000 against a background of budget deficits with the same amount of significance as running out of tea bags.
Mr Wilson is said to be a man with his eye on the main chance and is looking for a Directorship once the Chief Executive position is resolved.
I feel sorry for Cath Hill. She's told something will cost four times what it was supposed to and that if she pulls the plug now it will lead to disaster. Hobson's choice or what?
Quote from: marky on July 25, 2012, 06: PM
I feel sorry for Cath Hill. She's told something will cost four times what it was supposed to and that if she pulls the plug now it will lead to disaster. Hobson's choice or what?
I see your point but I am of the opinion the sooner we let one of these cowboy outfits suffer the more careful the other will be not to repeat the mistakes.
Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres
You would have thought that Keepmoat should have been made aware (by testing) about the condition of the land for the homes before they put in their bid for the work.
That sounds a very professional things to do ...must have been a bunch of amateurs on this project.
Quote from: for fawkes sake on July 25, 2012, 03: PM
I assume you are referring to Mr Wilson who, according the The Mail article, would seem to regard the need for the council to find another £348,000 against a background of budget deficits with the same amount of significance as running out of tea bags.
Mr Wilson is said to be a man with his eye on the main chance and is looking for a Directorship once the Chief Executive position is resolved.
I don't know this Wilson bloke but from what I read in The Mail he's a f***i*g imbecile who should be collecting his P45 before the end of this week.
well that ain't going to happen....by all accounts he's of the pushy type that thrives when surrounded by more wimpish 'don't make any decisions' colleagues and councillors.
Wouldn't it make sense to link this so called Raby Road Corridor development into any plans for Mill House?
local issue nothing from perseus.
Let the developer carry the costs, if they entered into a legitimate contract & they haven`t done their research into the issues involved thats their problem, any further costs should be down to them, not the rate payers.
If the fault lies with HBC in someway, Damien should get the bullet....... he would if he worked in a similar position in the private sector & dropped a major B*****K.
Perhaps we should just be grateful the contract didn't go to Manor Residents. ;)
I can think of several areas in town where houses have been built on land previously used for dumping waste - Clavering, Spion Kop, Seaton etc.....it must be quite standard for a proper assessment to be made before any costings are done. So what happened here?
Just as a point of history, does anyone know why the land in this area should have a higher level of ash?
Quote from: fred c on July 31, 2012, 07: AM
Let the developer carry the costs, if they entered into a legitimate contract & they haven`t done their research into the issues involved thats their problem, any further costs should be down to them, not the rate payers.
If the fault lies with HBC in someway, Damien should get the bullet....... he would if he worked in a similar position in the private sector & dropped a major B*****K.
From the little that I've read on this issue it appears that HBC carried the risk on ground conditions when entering into the Contract, therefore there is no reason whatsoever that the Contractor should "carry the costs".
It therefore appears that the fault lies entirely at the office door of this Wilson muppet who appears to be lacking the brains that he was born with.
Quote from: Donkey Kong on July 31, 2012, 12: PM
Quote from: fred c on July 31, 2012, 07: AM
Let the developer carry the costs, if they entered into a legitimate contract & they haven`t done their research into the issues involved thats their problem, any further costs should be down to them, not the rate payers.
If the fault lies with HBC in someway, Damien should get the bullet....... he would if he worked in a similar position in the private sector & dropped a major B*****K.
From the little that I've read on this issue it appears that HBC carried the risk on ground conditions when entering into the Contract, therefore there is no reason whatsoever that the Contractor should "carry the costs".
It therefore appears that the fault lies entirely at the office door of this Wilson muppet who appears to be lacking the brains that he was born with.
If this is correct DK, surely there should be some disciplinary action taken against the person responsible, if i made a blunder & cost my employer £300,000 i would expect quite rightly to be sacked on the spot.
I would have thought the chairman of the planning commitee should be accountable as well, but as with most things in life.... S**t rolls downhill, so some poor sod in the planning office will end up carrying the can.
You know as well as I do Fred that no one at HBC ever 'carries the can'. That's our job through paying one of the highest council taxes in the country - it's only money - it's just not theirs and as a result they don't give a hoot.