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Authority’s party costs hit £15,500
Saturday 28th March 2009, 12:20PM GMT.
Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council has spent more than 20 times the amount of any other council in Shropshire on parties and ceremonies to mark the end of the authority.
While the four other district and borough councils and Shropshire County Council have spent a combined total of about £700 on events to mark their demise, SABC has spent £15,500.
The bill includes an £8,000 parade and civic service at St Chad’s Church this week, £5,000 on a party to be held on Monday and £2,500 on a commemorative silver salver.
But SABC officials say the money for these events has come from unspent balances and is at no extra cost to the taxpayer.
However, the huge cost has been criticised by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
Susie Squire, campaign manager, said: “We’re in a recession, and there is no way this council should have blown taxpayers’ money on a party when ordinary people are struggling to put food on the table.”
The next highest spending was more than £500 by North Shropshire District Council.
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Ok it never came from the taxpayer however it is still obscene .Why not give it to shrewsbury based charities?????? instead of on back slapping shin digs and silly marches through town.
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Oh we’ve got some money left over lets have a jolly !!
SABC officials say the money for these events has come from unspent balances and is at no extra cost to the taxpayer.
It was still OUR money you spent you morons but what do you care eh?
You just go out and enjoy yourselves boys and girls.
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“SABC officials say the money for these events has come from unspent balances and is at no extra cost to the taxpayer” , forgive me for being stupid but where did the money come from in the first place? The legendary money tree in The Dingle? What an obscene waste of money, especially the silver saucer, what use is it to anyone? I suppose they’ll probably use it to serve their cucumber sarnies on at Frankwell Ivory Tower.
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This money has come from the taxpayer and cannot believe the councillors think it was justified. Just goes to show who they are really representing.
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Well said Mr Finch,although I would suggest that the funds for this beano originally came from us, if not where did it come from? Councils have but one paymaster, the publics pockets.Councillors wonder why we have no confidence in them; once again they have had their noses in the trough. I always thought they portrayed themselves as public ‘servants’, yet again this case proves it is we the tax payer who are paying to serve up the canapés. What an arrogant bunch of people they really are.
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move over to the next trough and make room for the next greedy pig.
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‘Unspent balances’ = money not spent on services for the people of Shrewsbury. It’s still our money. The £2500 on a silver plate to commemorate something people voted against was really quite depressing. Whose money did the councillors think it was?
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We have to pay to celebrate people spending money they did not own? What about the lack of affordable homes in this town now the council housing windfall has been spent on a poor quality badly designed venue called Theatre Severn, catering for what seems a rather small section of the population.
Good riddance SABC I just hope that things will be more accountable with the next authority but I won’t hold my breath!
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shame on them and their wasteful ways, these councils in shropshire are all full of fat cats on bloated salaries getting rich off my hard earned taxes, i feel they should all be sacked
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Let’s just hope the new administration isn’t as carefree with other peoples money as this lot have been. I still find it difficult to believe that Cllr Williams could blow two and half grand on a plate and for what purpose is it? They could have got the same done in highly polished stainless steel and who would have been any the wiser once it’s locked up in the temple overlooking the river?
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What an appalling waste of OUR money,the councillors responsible will no doubt soon be canvassing for our support and votes as they attempt to get aboard the new gravy train.
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andrew please don’t be taken in by the deceit. Of course the money has come from the taxpayer, it didn’t grow on trees !
What they are claiming is that the money has already been taken from taxpayers, so in their eyes it is ok. What they fail to comprehend is that if they had not blown it on ‘jollies’ for themselves, it would be available to cover future costs, which taxpayers will now have to stump up for.
Realistically I don’t think they fail to comprehend that at all though. They just think taxpayers are too stupid to see it, and are desperately licking out the remnants in the trough while they stil can.
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Nice work if you can get it. Lets all remember these jolly’s when the local elections come round
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Pigs in the trough!
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I heard Judith Williams on Radio Shropshire this morning trying to justify the spends,I started with an open mind,she very quickly changed that.What an embarassment they really are. Although they’ve been decrying the new regime I expect a visit in the coming months as they try once more to board the Gravy Train Special..just so they can change things for the better, again… Another cucumber sandwich anyone?
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Makes the demise of Oswestry Borough council seem modest – one civic dinner – a number of citizens made freeman of the Borough – oh a half a dozen councillors made honorary aldermen.
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It really makes me wonder what thought processes these people went through,or perhaps they didn’t? It’s reminiscent of the axis powers looting the french chateaux before they retreated as the good guys rolled into town.
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probably only a fraction of the costs of rebranding the new council
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Listening to Cllr Williams on the radio today she disclosed that the £8000 mentioned was to pay for the ‘hire’ of the church and stewardship of the procession,later she said that the council had donated £10,000 to the same church recently,if that’s the case how come the church couldn’t find it in the hearts to do a freebie? And don’t assume that all SABC tax-payers are Christians,what about us Jedi’s,you haven’t provided us with a place of worship!!
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They should be ashamed!
They should do things for public good, but that was a different era!
Not so great Britain
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shame on them
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I would have suggested that they spent the money on dermalogical services,this bunch have got skin that thick they wouldn’t notice public discord,time for a characteristic U turn from Mrs W when she gets public opinion completely wrong..again…
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every penny must be repaid by those concerned otherwise they should be denied holding office again. ok repay every penny now or else
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£15,500 could have been annual pay for a council employee.
I’m glad Oswestrian brougt up the honorary alderman issue because that actually puts SABC’s costs closer to £100,000!
What’s this about there going to be 17 town councillors?
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I don’t live in the area but still think it’s disgusting!!!
Watch out for the rise in council tax and rent now the SABC have syphoned all your money away on luxurious nonsence, who said they deserved it anyway? And quite right they should all be sacked for it. Disgraceful
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In response to eva land on 1st April a new Shrewsbury Town Council will be established which will I believe be the largest in the Country. It will have (17?) councillors initially made up from current county councillors “drafted in”, and then on June 4th there will be elections for the new Unitary Council AND the Shrewsbury Town Council.
All of Shropshire (bar Shrewsbury) is parished and has a parish/town council – like Ellesmere, Wem, Newport, Wellington, Market Drayton et al (oh an Oswestry too). Done well the council represents local opinion and delivers local services and with the abolition of the Districts will now be the only level og Government at any kind of local level.
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Cool your jets folks. This is a mere drop in the ocean, if the true level of waste in the public sector were to be revealed you would all drop dead from apoplexy.
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Smellie, I suspect you are right. This is only the visible tip of the iceberg.
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I don’t know why your all up in arms and surprised about this! After all this is the council that blew 30 Million on a theatre, conveniently located right next to their offices, are spending god knows how much redeveloping the land across the road from the offices so the chairman can have a nice view out of his window instead of looking at the Shrewsbury Hotel.
They’re also considering moving the municipal swimming baths – a public service I might add – out of the town, what good is it going to be outside the town centre?
Off topic, why couldnt the theatre have been located next to the new football ground? shrewsbury would probably have benefited from an entertainments complex in an accessible location out of town.
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Indeed, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
SABC’s spending on middle management rocketed in a year.
Research by the Taxpayers’ Alliance revealed that spending on town hall staff on pay perks packages worth more than £50,0000 rose from £345,000 in 2006/07 to £1,090,000 last year.
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Don’t forget the thousands of pounds that are spent on all those pointless ‘equality and diversity’ projects and the non-jobs that have been created to promote them.
Political correctness costs the local taxpayer an absolute fortune.
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scandalous
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The person who made this unintelligent comment should be named and shamed, where did it come from then if not from us.
If it was made by a Councillor we should know before the election comes around and if a Council employee, a smart flea in the ear and some instruction on Local Authority finance is urgently called for.
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Where is this party? Seeing as we paid for it, we should turn up!
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You’ve got it all wrong,they’re excellent value for money,they would never ever consider doing anything to boost their egos.
Nurse! Nurse! My medications wearing off!
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‘No extra cost to the tax payer’… The money given to councils by the tax payer is given under the assumed belief that those trusted with spending the money will do so prudently and effectively to meet a particular ‘priorty, eg reduction of crime, anti-social behaviour, encourage good health, etc. Which priority was this to meet exactly? Funny how the rest of Shropshire, ie North Shropshire, Oswestry, Bridgnorth and South Shropshire managed to celebrate their status at little cost to the taxpayer.
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Remember.
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