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Letter: £437,000 for Wakeman School v £765,000 for six jobs
Monday 14th March 2011, 5:23AM GMT.
Letter: Closing The Wakeman School would save £437,664.
A browse of Shropshire Council’s website reveals the wage bill for six executives and directors is £765,000 per annum.
If these people took remuneration closer to that enjoyed by those they serve then pupils could continue to be taught in the school best suited to their needs.
Chris Lemon
Shrewsbury
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Do you really think that the residents of Shrewsbury are that thick not to have noticed the Gay Meadow site has not been re-developed because there is a secondary school right next to it?
This is nothing to do with education and far more to do with the greedy back handed land grabbing deals from whichever parasitic cult that is sucking the life out of Shrewsbury.
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And the lizards rule the governments, JFK was shot by the CIA, Diana was murdered on the orders of Prince Phillip.
ever thought of getting out more? You may then understand that property development everywhere has been hit by the economic collapse of the last few years….
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Get a grip Port Hill, if it were a satellite of Shrewsbury School the kids would still be there and the whole area would have been re-developed by now.
Its called cultural cleansing although judging by your puerile remarks I assume you have not been around long enough to have noticed.
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The more schools within walking distance of town that close the better !! You can hardly move in the Town Centre for children who should be at school. Move them all out to the suburbs I say.
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Are you sure? I see many teenagers from the sixth form but that is not structured the same way as main stream secondary schooland as such it is a choice for them whether to pop up town . Have you thought of staying out of the town?
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Did you never go into town on organised visits or at dinner-time? The last time I looked this was a free country :-)
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Nobody would ever call for other age groups to be ghettoised like this. Children are part of our community and, like everyone else, should have a place in our town centre. Shrewsbury isn’t an exclusive club for any one particular group, it’s our town and our children deserve a secondary school in its heart.
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..and who will run the council when these jobs have gone, despite all the hot-air it doesn’t run itself, or would they prefer it to be run from Westminster where the abiding question will be…………..
Shropshire? Where’s that?
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the council for shrewsbury for years has sold land to make money, to put more housing estates in a very small area. In 50 years the town will be ruined and everyone will be asking why were they allowed to build, build, build.Has there been numerous new factories, buisness’s opening to employ the masses of people that move into these houses, or are they all social scroungers moved from inner cities. If the council are serious about saving money, start by leaving the round about at heathgates alone, how much man power, time and money has been wasted there.
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Such much money that has been paid to a contractor to allow local people to still have a job. Good job you’re not in charge otherwise we would all be unemployed and without a pot to pi$$ in!
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never mind harry, when they close harlescott community centre and stop meals on wheels for the elderly and infirm, we can all gather round heathgates island and marvel at the pretty plants. I think you will find what I was trying to say that common sense and priority should come into practice. Unfortunately you will find that many decisions made by council officals lack both of these.
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Public money well spent or wasted? You make up your own mind, but when I hear council executives complaining about government cuts, I have two questions for them.
Why, did they close a road for 8 weeks in Market Drayton to replace 12ft of retaining wall at a cost of nearly £100,000?
My neighbour, in Bentleys Road, Market Drayton, had nearly 50ft of retaining wall to replace, the much narrower road was not closed for a single minute, and I doubt he spent anywhere near £100,000 on a retaining wall FOUR times longer.
Why, did it cost £600,000 to repair and renovate a market hall in Market Drayton?
What could £600,000 of your own money buy?
My house and my neighbours house have been renovated AND extended not just repaired, you could BUY our TWO houses, renovate and extend them AND still have enough money left for a four bedroomed detached house. How much do the Grand Design participants spend on real renovation projects, far far less.
Is this why, Council Chief Executive you need to close schools?
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If you think the wages the chief executives get are disgraceful, i strongly suggest you look at what their private sector counterparts receive.
They have to take on massive responsibilities and heavy workloads, the risks if they mess up are very substantial.
Wakeman has very few students, it’s a complete drain of money. Also your £400000 or whatever figure is undershot completely. Think of how many staff there are and the cost of resources, I think you’ll find it nearly sits in seven figures.
Rather than complaining, do some research.
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Well said Paddy (or is it Mr. K Riley!!)
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I heard a rather naive woman from the Taxpayers’ Alliance on the radio yesterday complaining about senior council executives’ salaries.
What she had completely failed to understand was that councils are competing with the private sector to recruit good quality staff, and that the private sector pays far more on a like for like basis for such staff.
The constant inflationary pressure of senior exec pay in the private sector doesn’t help – the average senior exec pay increase in the private sector for 2010 within the FTSE 350 companies was 45%!
Ironically, much of the funding for these excessive private sector salaries actually comes from the taxpayer. The same companies that pay these inflationary salaries are also ‘offshoring’ huge amounts of their corporate income to avoid paying UK tax. It’s pretty clear that the savings made are not being invested in new jobs – instead the money is being trousered by the senior execs. And as far as jobs are concerned, guess what? They’re ‘offshoring’ those too!
If the Taxpayers’ Alliance or the letter writer here were really interested in the lot of taxpayers or why we can’t afford decent public services, they might do better to direct their efforts at getting these scandalous tax loopholes closed.
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Two areas where your argument falls down, Peter.
Firstly, Local Councils aren’t recruiting “good quality” staff when you consider the guffs and wasted money projects that arise from them and when essential services like road maintenance etc aren’t being looked after effectively.
Secondly, although you allege that private sector fat cats are being partly funded fron the public (not sure how you arrive at that by the way, perhaps you could enlighten us further), the fact is that private sector fat cats are being funding 100% from the public.
Now personally, I don’t care how much the chairman of any large private company is being paid but I do object to the local council fat cats getting silly money, when they can’t even run the council sufficiently well, to even keep the roads maintained, heaven help them if they were expected to run their own business, they wouldn’t last twelve months.
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