Shropshire Council’s £2,265 stay at hotel
Monday 8th August 2011, 11:30AM BST.
Four councillors and the chief executive at Shropshire Council spent more than £2,000 of taxpayers’ cash on a three-night stay in Bournemouth while attending a conference, it has been revealed.
Council leader Keith Barrow, chief executive Kim Ryley and leading councillors Nigel Hartin, Ann Hartley and David Lloyd used a local authority credit card to pay for their stay.
The cost of the stay at the four-star Norfolk Royale was revealed by a Freedom of Information request.
It showed a total of £2,265 was spent on four rooms for three nights and one room for two nights at the hotel while the officials attended the Local Government Association conference last year. The figures are revealed on the website www.whatdotheyknow.com
Shropshire Council today defended the spend, but it was slammed by campaigners and union chiefs who claimed the officials should have stayed in a Travelodge or not even bothered going.
Emma Boon, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance, today said: “It is outrageous that councillors are running up massive hotel bills at a conference, worse still it’s one where the outcomes are unlikely to benefit taxpayers.”
Nicky Clark, from the Shropshire Cares Campaign, which tried to save the Grange Centre from Shropshire Council cutbacks. today said: “They should have stayed in a Travelodge. I think it’s a despicable waste of money. ”
Felicity Roberts, spokeswoman for Shropshire Council, said that in each case the cost of the accommodation was just over £160 per person a night.
She said: “We did not send anyone to the LGA conference this year and are very selective on sending anyone to conferences.”
By Russell Roberts
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Thet’s nearly £190 per person per room. Albrighton Hall hotel, 4 star, rooms from £69 per night. How much was being spent on the mini bar? Why were credit cards used as the Council has a booking system for attendance at Conferences.
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It’s a bit far from the conference centre ph7, but I admire your efforts to help.
Keep it up.
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well surely with their i pads they dont need to go to conferences hey? Be smart, use technology and avoid travel, i expect to see all their travel claims going down now they have skype too
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And lo and behold – they DIDN’T go to the conference this year, their travel expenses were therefore lower.
Them iPads have started working already! They’re an even better investment than I thought.
Hey?
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Just back from holiday in south-west France.Price of house s/c with swimming pool for a month less than what this lot paid for 3 nights.There were 10 of us with room for more.My wife is a teacher while I’m in Local Govt.
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Is this what we pay our Council Tax for????
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No Diana – it’s what MY Council Tax was spent on.
Yours was spent on…let me see…ah, that’s right. Carbon paper.
Didn’t you get the memo?
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£12,000 on Ipads, £2,265 on a hotel.
We’re supposed to think this is all perfectly acceptable?
Not a chance.
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we are all in this together – yeah right!
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Isn’t it more like £161 per room per night? Also isn’t Bournemouth a tourist location where the increased demand from a national conference would allow local businesses to increase prices to this level?
Perhaps the answer is to host the next one in Shropshire.
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if there were 5 people then its about £153 per night which is not bad at all. And only 4 rooms means that they cut costs by sharing. (Although it would be interesting to know which two shared a room!)
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Great maths – poor reading. Actually 4 persons for 3 nights and one person for 2 nights = £162 a night. Not overly indulgent for a coastal 4 star – however they should use cheaper suitable accomodation.
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omg not again! kim ryley is a pr disaster
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Sad to read the Star attacking the council again. This was the Local Government Association National Conference with Eric Pickles and other senior Ministers outlining policy for the new Government. It was important for Shropshire, as a new Unitary Council, to be there to question and influence the policy makers. Sad to say they didn’t listen to much! The hotel was not the dearest and not the cheapest and the price reflects the conference week. It included breakfast but not anything else. No bar bills and I paid for my own meals. This was non political with all Parties being included. This year we did not attend the Conference and are not planning to attend in future years. If we do go again I will take a tent, although I suspect my deputy leader will not want to share it with me.
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so to ask agin what everyone else has said, why not a travelodge, premier inn, etc etc? why overspend taxpayer money for no reason?
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the ss is not attacking anyone keith, it is reporting on info that is available to the public,albeit via the cost of an foi and its in the public interest to know how tax payers money is spent.
If it is important to attend these events, why couldn’t one person attend and then share the information rather than more going on a jolley for the boys.
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Absolutely shocking. First the i-pad disaster and now this. One rule for you and another for the rest of us. Anyone who re-elects you needs their head examined.
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This is exactly why no Council employee has any respect whatsoever for these people. Did anything useful come out of it ? NO. What a suprise.
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they arent attacking the council they are attacking the current regime, its like if im a dedicated Chelsea fan but pleased to see the back on Ancellotti, it doesnt stop being being a blue to the core, but it was better when we had Jose running things
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I find it so hard to see why they didn’t listen to you, we see such sensible ideas from Mr Ryley and his political leaders normally!
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You can’t blame the Star for this – you’re the one who spent the money. People have resigned for less than this. It’s about time you did.
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This conference is an annual event and is announced well in advance. The Council has a centralised booking system where hotel costs are invoiced. This system There was no need to pay for hotel rooms on a Council credit card or did the atendees decide to go at the last minute. Part of the Council’s system is to look for the best value rooms. The same system also issues travel warrants for train fares. Oh, and you don’t have to stay in the actual conference hotel as there are plenty of hotels within Bournemouth and near the conference centre. Deleagate fees for such a conference are usually about £300 plus per head, this usually involves at least one paid for meal, the main conference dinner. Oh, and meals are part of Councillors and officials expenses. I believe the current lunch rate is up to £9.90 minus the first £2.50 of the bill. Alcoholic drinks are not reasonable expenses.
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The Conference hotel was booked by staff in the normal way and the hotel we stayed in was not the Conference hotel. The room was not paid for on a credit card, as reported, but the councils procurement card. This is similar to credit cards, but saves money by avoiding the administration coats of dealing with invoices, as well as giving payment to the supplier much more quickly.
We publish all expenditure made on this card at http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/opendata.nsf in a variety of formats designed to allow people to analyse and share the statistics as freely as possible. Why anyone needed to use FIO to get this information is beyond me. The implication is we were trying to hide this which is simply not true as the information is freely available.
To ph7 I repeat I did not claim for any meals but paid for them myself. I did not, nor never have, claimed for any drinks.
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“nor never have claimed for drinks” – clever double negative or a typo?
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Yet again you are missing the issue, Keith. WHY did 5 people have to go? WHY did the chief exec have to go? (he should have been working back at the office) WHY does a council credit card make it any better and WHY do you think you can defend this payment to the people of Shropshire who are suffering to pay your allowances and expenses? Resign, Resign.
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£161 per night is a pretty reasonable rate for a business hotel during a conference week. But I’m appalled to read that you had to pay for your own meals.
When I travel on business my employer picks up the tab – get your claim in Keith, sounds like you work for a pretty shoddy employer ….
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A conference that FOUR councillors have to attend? They’re having a laugh (at our expense).
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Couldn’t you have booked it a bit cheaper on your shiney new ipad?
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It is not really prudent that Keith Barrow explains himself in this manner – paranoia-creep I think has set in. It is not the Shropshire Star shooting the flak but normal everyday members of a society which is being forced more and more onto the barricades.
It is sad to learn about the ill-considered society wrecking actions of the Shropshire Council. SCC you are dealing with real people, not sheep or cattle. So please get a grip and stop insulting the hands that feed you.
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Yes SCC. Stop it with all the hand insulting.
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How very typical Mr Barrow that you would choose to criticise the Shropshire Star for reporting something that you don’t like.You are quick enough to use the same organ to peddle your untruths and disgusting policies when it suits you.
This report is just the tip of the iceberg and if the people of Shropshire get to hear just how much money you are going to waste in re-deploying the councillors into the West Wing then you really are going to need to switch off your I-pad/ laptop/ blackberry because then the heavens will open up on you completely.
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You will do well to remember this Kieth and Kim, a quote from a popular book… “It’s our choices that show us up for what we are not our achievements” … Remember this when we come to vote at the next election.
Mike
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Here Here ! – 6500 employees will NOT be voting for the staus quo that’s for sure !!. Cheerio.
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Here Here !. Their time will come. What goes around comes around. Of the 6500 employees that get a ballot paper they are not going to vote for the staus quo that’s for certain. Cheerio!.
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It’s not an ‘attack’ on the council, rather on the spending decisions made by senior managers and councillors. Given the current changes being forced onto employees, their families and the impact it will have on the wider community, I think it’s right to raise these questions. I also don’t think it’s appropriate to make about tents when feelings are obviously running high. It just highlights that Mr Barrow doesn’t take public concerns about his actions seriously. I would urge all readers to to write to their local councillors and ask for a vote of no confidence in Mr Riley
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Another PR disaster for the council, looks like Barrow & Ryeley have become more of a liability than an asset, hey?
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The SS is not attacking the council but quite rightly reporting yet another example of self-indulgence by council leaders at a time when front-line services are being decimated and employees are facing pay cuts.
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Absolute disgrace, while people struggle to pay their bills including their council tax, these numpties live the ‘life of riley’ on a credit card which we all pay for. When I travel on business I use a Travelodge, why to these idiots think they are deserving of all this public money? Sack the lot of them, we do not need a massive bureaucratic organisation running our county, its time they slimmed down and cut all the fat off………
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When we attend conferences in London, we share twin rooms. Our accountant says it makes his balance sheet happy.
Am I the only one who finds it weird that the one place you think would have the tightest grip on spending – somewhere that controls public money – can get away such creative accounting.
Great website link by the way – I notice a Freedom of Information Request has already gone in for the ipads.
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You can still stay in travel lodges, etc for a fraction of the cost. My wife is from Dorset and we visit regulary and stay in a variety of Travel Lodges, Guest houses and B& B’s and i can assure you it does not cost £161 a night.
How about a bit of forward planning when you can get accomodation far cheaper.
It is fat cats living in a world where living it up on our expense has been common place and obviously that still remains the case.
Get a grip and get in the real world.
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Not if PR stands for Public Robbery AG!
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As Manuel says, it £161 per night (total bill of £2,265 divided by total number of nights -14)
I assume evening meals are in with this total, so £161 per night seems very reasonable to me, especially in Bournemouth
keep up the good work!!
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Wow they must have loads of money there then right? Oh no wait they are the same council that is closing schools and care centres right, left and centre.
I cant beleive that someone there does not advise them better on public perception and reputational risk management strategies, the message this sends out at a time of austerity is frankly appauling.
I can speak as a former MD of a company which turned over around £4m p.a. and yet always insisted on flying economy and staying in modest hotels etc. It just simply would not have been acceptable for the bottom line, let alone for the PR and HR perspective.
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The Portfolio Holder for Reputation, Openness, Honesty and Transparency is the Leader of the Council,Councillor Keith Barrow, one of the very people clocking up the bill on the credit card! If he can’t sort out reputation management, I can see no alternative but for the council to call in external consultants again!
If a more modest level of expense had been incurred for this trip, then some of those staff that have had a scale increment frozen, could have had the money due to them under their terms and conditions of employment!
Perhaps rather than attending such events, it would be wiser for these people to read up on the Equality Act!
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£2,265 / ((4 * 3) + 2) = 161.785714 British pounds per person per night. That is one very expensive hotel
A quick look on Laterooms.com shows that rates start from just £25 per night!!!!!!!!
http://www.laterooms.com/en/p1301/pv00262w/Hotels.aspx?k=bournemouth&d=20110808&n=1&rt=1-0#ryfido
Infact even the Norfolk Royale is only £118 per night – so why did they pay so much more?
The other frightening fact to remember is that these people will have used expenses to travel there and of course you havent even factored in their time, 3 days of kim ryleys time alone must be “worth” several thousands of pounds, so I fear you could double or more like treble the true cost of this conference for Shropshire Taxpayers!
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I’m required to attend conferences as part of my job (private sector) and I can confirm that the cost is pretty typical of the going rate for conference accommodation.
So this isn’t really news, I’m afraid. Just another example of somebody extracting a figure from a FOI request and presenting it out of context.
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The difference being that if a private sector business wishes to spend that money then thats their right, when taxpayer money is spent on it surely they should have a bit more sense during a period of cuts and wages cuts etc?
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The figures quoted date back to July 2010, well before the current situation (or rather fiasco) with the employment contracts. As one of the attendees pointed out above, they didn’t go this year.
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As a shareholder in the Private Sector I disagree.
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i work in the private sector and i process the invoices so I know that everyone well to be honest the bosses (of course us mere mortals like im not allowed) but they would spend like £10 or 20 grand just like that on taking a client out to ascot for the day or something they stay only in 5 star hotels and ive seen hotel bills approaching 500 pound a night from some senior sales staff and its not even to win a contract just to keep up good relations and networking so i think to be fair the public sector are pretty efficient on this kind of thing generally its just we dont get freedom of information requests where i work and I wouldnt reveal the company I work for so you just dont find out about it
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What they do in the private sector can’t be compared with what people are complaining about here to keep clients etc etc you have to keep them sweet hence why it is done in the private sector more .
As for this bill of £2kish for four people for three nights to be honest it is rather reasonable in bournmouth that week possibly they could have stayed in a travel lodge etc but if it is not the norm .
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Sorry to be pedantic Anon, but I do hope your mathematics is a lot better than your grammar.
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If you work in the private sector, you’re not spending taxpayers money. We have a right to know. End of.
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Good on the Shropshire Star for publicising this, we have a right to know because we only pay their wages after all!
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Disgusting waste of taxpayers’ money. Well done Shropshire Star for raising this. Perhaps they will think twice before five council staff attend an expensive jolly again. I think I may withhold my council tax – why should I pay for this?
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its really nice to know when im already about £3,000 a year worse off due to travel changes my pay is frozen and my pension is being cut and they want to sack me for doing nothing wrong and then make me another £2,000 a year worse off that they still have the money to do this, this makes me want to punch someone
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Hi demotivated worker,
It is all making sense now, the £14K spent on filing cabinets in the refurbished West Wing at Shirehall is to keep the credit card statements and Travel Brochures in. Top drawer holiday brochures, second drawer for credit card statements and the bottom drawers for all the letters changing staff terms and conditions.
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stop being a lazy public sector worker and moaning about your pay then and get back to work if you think you are worth so much get on your bike and go and get a job in the private sector or you cant take the long hours and hard work probably!
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Do you actually know demotivated worker then to qualify that response Gary?
My guess is that you and the posters of comments 31 and 61, are typical of the usual armchair experts who perpetuate lies based on nothing more than your own ignorance and stupidity.
If you think public sector life is so easy, how about applying for a job in this line? I wonder whether you’d make it past the first hurdle.
I wonder too whether you’re out there each night fighting off mindless rioting, looting scum and clearing up the mess afterwards. Fat chance – stick to what you’re best at eh: posting bigotted, baseless rubbish from behind the safety of your keyboard.
Truly pathetic.
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They just think they are beyond reach. Especially kim Ryley. I am going to laugh so loud when it crashes down on him.
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If Mr Mrs public have to take and make cut backs how come the Councillors and Chief executives aren’t? How can you justify £2,265 of hard working tax payers money on such a bill? Go self catering now wouldnt that be funny errrrr fun. Not on your nelly not posh enough is it?
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i should think you should be paying for your own meals mr barrow the amount of money you earn so you should!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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hardly leading by example is it?
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dunno wat all the fuzz is bout its only small change 4 a big co like them
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Mr Barrow needs to remember that these devastating cuts are targeting the sick and disabled the elderly and the school children. His use of inappropriate humour demonstrates as usual the regard he has for local people. Righteous indignation to officers treating themselves is no laughing matter. At least not to anyone but him.
To decry the Shropshire Star for fair reporting which is nice to see in these days of media manipulation as anyone following the news International relationship with our leaders will appreciate; is a further disappointment.
Mr Barrow should be cultivating the electorate surely? we vote him in after all.
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Don’t blame the Shropshire star for reporting this story, this is disgusting. There is no excuse for spending so much money, what’s wrong with a travelodge?
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They could have stayed at the Travelodge on Christchurch Road in Bournemouth from £54 per night based on two of them sharing a twin room! If they had booked in advance.
This is totally outrageous expenditure of tax-payers money and there is no way these councillors can justify this stay.
They should apologise and pay back the money from their monthly allowance, surely?
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The reaction here from most commenters is predictible and disappointing.
This is exactly what stops intelligent and hard-working private sector executives with years of business smarts moving into the public sector.
Why bother when you are going to be bitched at by a bunch of short-sighted tax payers for using 4 sheets of publicly-funded toilet paper when 2 would be perfectly adequate?
For all you maths lovers this necessary trip cost the tax payers of Shropshire less than £0.01 each.
I’m not taking sides, just raise your heads a little and move on.
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ur jokin right? why wud they want more business managers! there is too many managers at the council, r u seriously sayin that on top of 180K kim ryley they should have another 150k + commercial manager? and then an army of business consultants!A 20k accountant can tell u how to remove cost, its not rocket science and u dont want bankers runnin councils do u m8 or theyll go bust like the banks, people in business couldnt give a fig about social work and planning and stuff theres no money in it and it requires different skills to running a business u need empthathy and passion 4 starters!
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All I am suggesting is that avoiding career politicians would be a good thing.
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C’mon Tyrone, I would rather see the penny go to something a little more rewarding, like books in the classroom or even a repair to some street lighting would be a little better. A conference without the ability to view and submit questions online is a little dated. Here in the states, all major conferences are streamed online……why not back home.
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So the council members should be allowed to have i-pads to participate in a conference?
All I am saying is choose your battles, this is not one worth getting your panties in a wad over. There are lots of opportunities to save money that are far bigger than this blip.
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The member of staff who booked the rooms is presumably facing a 5.4% pay cut. Must have cheered them up no end to know that the people implementing these cuts can still stay at four star hotels. Even during a conference there are cheaper deals to be had. Maybe once you get used to luxury you can not survive without it but not many ordinary workers at Shropshire Council will find out.
Shame on you all. The noses of the bosses are still in the trough
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The follow on FOI Act question that needs asking is ‘How much were the other 2 quotes for accommodation?’ Public accounting procedures usually require three quotes when expenditure is reaching this sort of level. The usual procedure then is to accept the lowest.
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As the Councillors used credit cards to pay for rooms, it is unlikely that a tendering process was carried out. The usual practice for booking accomodation is for the Council to be invoiced rather than use credit cards.
The council should be following best value practice. This means getting quotes but does not necesseraly mean picking the cheapest.
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Point taken, but if the cheapest quote isn’t chosen, there has to be good reasons to go for a higher one – ie closer adherance to the specification/service sought.I’ve not heard this being suggested here.
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If one had the time to do the FOI’s there will I don’t doubt be many more things to uncover. But it won’t affect those concerned they are to thick or to thick skined to be bothered. As long as it’s your money thats being spent.
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I am truly appalled and VERY angry. Council tax is my biggest outgoing, a big chunk out of my modest company pension and terrible value for money. I am appalled that Shropshire Council can think of squandering the money that it screws out of people like me in this way. If they have decided not to go on this Jolly this year then there was no point in them going last year. A total insult to council tax payers and all the hard working employees who will now bear the cost. Get real councillors or get out!!
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thank god we have a conservative leader in keith barrow who is so bottom line focused and in control of expenditure otherwise how badly our money would be spent!!!! This would never have happened at Shirehall back when the Lib-Lab alliance was running things, this type of wasteful expenditure is not needed or wanted, its too much, its gold plating things which could have been done for half the price and at any time thats not on but in a recession with the cuts its just grossly insenstive to staff, contractors and rate payers all of whome are being asked to take a haircut whilst barrow and his pal live the “life of ryley” at our expense, its disgusting, they should all pay back the money now, they probably earn that sort of money in a week but for me thats a couple of months wages there, pay it back or resign now!
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Where do I need to go to get the haircut Sarah May? Can I choose my own barber or will the council do it?
Hope it’s not the parks maintenance team again, they missed my fringe last time.
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yeah like labour where so good with our money yeah right, clown brown crashed the econony for god sake, labour had no financial controls they are the party of tax and spend and they made your council tax double in 10 years
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see all these public sector lot are the same, dossing around on my taxes, over paid and under worked the lot of them, time to get the axe out and get rid of all the managers and councillors they all need a dose of private sector reality, try working at tesco for minimum wage love, they dont send us on conferernces and i wont get a penion anywhere near what kym ryley does
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Shocking! What a great moral boost to all your staff who currently face job losses and a pay cut!
Well done you. You must be very proud.
DISGUSTING
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who do they think they are? MP’s?
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Lovely jubbly.
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What’s wrong with the cheapest B&B guesthouse,it’s a bed for the night and a breakfast to start the day.It’s easy to waste hard earned council tax payers money.
If they had looked on the net before travelling they would have found a cheap guesthouse,no doubt they had drinks at the bar,and slap up meals on the card as well.
They should have to repay this money or face the sack! In future the limit is £40 per night.Get in the real world!
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It’s nothing to what they have spent on Heathgates Island, £165.000.00. Now called Weed Island. ( where have the small bushes on the Island gone? Rumour has it
that the locals have improved their gardens )
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just watched hughs fish fight with good fish being thrown away it reminds me of my council tax, they have an over quota of cash so they have to burn great big piles of it every year, no wonder they are building an incinerator another way to burn my hard earned taxes every year
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The sheer hypocrisy of this – on top of the ipad episode – while prescribing austerity for their workforce is flabbergasting.
Austerity for the council employees means a pay cut, pension reduction (a de facto pay cut) and a ‘sign it or lump it’ new contract.
Austerity for the councillors seemingly means something very different!
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2 grand to go to a conference! they should be ashamed, send one guy from shrewsbury to bournemouth on public transport and he can come home at the end of the day its about 50 quid on the train – there is no need to go for 3 days and no need to overnight or incure any expenses, take a packed lunch or go to the chippy for £1.20 they are very filling
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It just shows a lack of understanding of real peoples struggles, a simple lack of common touch or common sense, clearly these people have never been poor, never had to pawn their kids playstation to pay the council tax, never had to go hungry at the end of the month or bounce their rent cheque to keep the bills paid, they dont live in our world and yet they have the power to wreck our lives and decide our fate, so much for democracy if this is what it gives us its pointless
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If there was a fixed ‘average subsistence’ cost, determined by all Councils over the preceding year, officials attending such conferences could be granted this figure. If they choose to stay or eat at more expensive places, that’s their choice, but they should then fund the difference out of their own pocket. On the basis that if the truck driver is given an overnight allowance for a B&B but decides to sleep in his cab and pocket the difference, that’s his choice – it should cut both ways.
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It’s called a per diem.
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having just got back from a 2 wk family holiday for 5 in spain and not spent this much in total i feel sickened that my money is used by these millionairres in cabinet who holiday in the states with their i pads in the middle of a recession whilst i was put on a 3 day week breifly and had pay cuts and my partner isnt working at the moment with ill health but these lot a living in luxury
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So if I read this correctly, it is Ok for you to go on holiday but it is somehow wrong if I do the same because I am a councillor. Or is it that I should not go to the US but Spain is OK. Or taking my IPad (which I own) is wrong but a mobile phone is OK.
I spent 8 years in the forces defending peoples rights to have views that are different to mine. Your philosophy would have made the East German’s leadership feel at home in your household. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth but earnt it through the university of hard knocks. I do not seek sympathy but just recognition that we are trying to deliver improved services in tough economic times.
If you think you can do better, put your passion to better use by standing as a councillor.
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The answer isn’t to become a councillor. What Shropshire needs is the existing councillors and particularly the cabinet to start listening to the staff employed at the frontline in the council who are passionate about the services they deliver, listen to the public too. Challenge the ludicrous sums being spent on consultancy fees – you are paying a lot of money to the people at the top, it’s time the people of shropshire saw more for their money from these high earners; if they can’t deliver in-house, then should they be there? Cabinet is rubber stamping the Ryley and Barrow plan. Stand up for yourselves, make a stance, start questioning, stop rubber stamping everything put before you.
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I have never been described as a lap dog before and I can assure you that the Cabinet members have lively debates both before and during meetings.
Most of the fees you refer to our not on external consultants but on legal (for example the Shrewsbury incinerator), HR etc.
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Just spotted this on the UNISON shropshire website, not sure how this fits in with Cllr Taylor-Smiths interpretation of ‘Consultancy Fees’ :
Council Wastes More MoneyPrint this page
More money Wasted………
Even in these austere times the authority can still fund consultants to come into the council to provide `”Essence Wheel Workshops”
Last week I attended just such a workshop at which just 4 questions were asked:
1) What is Shropshire Council ?
2) What does it do ?
3) How does it make you feel to work for them ?
4) If it was a person, what kind of personality would it have ?
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So where are all the commenters slamming you for going on holiday while people are losing their jobs?
Oh, I get it, sorry. It’s one rule for you and another for them.
Mildly hypocritical don’t you think?
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For peat sake these moaners need to get a life, i think they are all socialists just whipping up trouble to be honest, this is the councils top brass they need a good nights sleep or they wont be able to operate properly at the meeting and well frankly if you think 160 quid is a lot for a hotel well you must be a right cheapskate thats nothing if you dont pay people the going rate you wont get good staff and good councillors will you so stop complaining please
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You’re quite right. These councillors (and chief exec) need their beauty sleep. Poor things. The staff who are being dismissed, having their pay cut, adults with learning disabilities who have had their day centre taken away and people who use the reference library will just have to keep quiet. As for the going rate and good staff, what about the workers who are being treated shabbily? Good employer? I don’t think so.
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inspired leadership chaps. no really. well done. you must have really read all the harvard management text books to learn how to be this brilliant. no wonder we pay them so highly they are clearly just natural born leaders of men, inspiring us all.
But seriously, this is just what low paid part time cleaning staff like to read in the paper when you are cutting their pay
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this is another PR disaster caused by the extravegance of a few wealthy people at the council when the whole rest of the county is suffering cuts and these millionaires just dont get it do they?
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I am so ANGRY about this that I have made a tutting noise. God help the Council if they ever do anything like this again as I may be forced to roll my eyes skyward.
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this makes me furious too lets start an e-petition against it
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i wish i had that sort of money
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look here this is an old debate and i thought it was over. you get what you pay for. simples. it is a fact. if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. the reason the public sector is so poor at innovating and being efficient is because it pays peanuts and so it cant attract top talent. the managers have no discipline and no business experience. if you want shropshire council to be run well you need to get well paid professionals in like keith barrow and kym ryley who know what they are doing and have the skill set to transform the council into a dynamic and well oiled machine. they need to be suitably rewarded or they will get poached by other areas who would welcome their talents. part of the package for any top exec team these days has to be a nice car, allowances for lunch, basic entertainment budget, these kind of things. you cant do your job without it in this era. they need to network with other top brass too because thats how you do business these days. you make contacts and you get yourself known and stuff. people on here just wouldnt understand. but you have to accept. thats what its like in business. and you cant begrudge people who are just doing a job helping to put this country right and crush the unions and the other people who drag this country down.
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Who are “these millionaires”? Just because you have a job that pays more than minimum wage doesn’t make you a millionaire.
You might want to consider the tax man and the cost of living before making bold assumptions about peoples wealth.
Some more maths. The hotel cost per person was about £480 (£160 * 3) which is about 5 1/2 hours work for Mr Ryley assuming he is paid £180K a year and works a 40 hour week.
Let’s assume you earn £12K. 5 1/2 hours for you would be £27.50. I am willing to wager that over a year the average £12K earner drinks £27.50 worth of free tea, or failing that wastes far more than 5 1/2 hours of company time for which they are paid.
And I would suggest that Mr Ryley works more than 40 hours a week with no overtime pay. One of the joys of being salaried.
I don’t know Mr Ryley from Adam so am not arguing in his defence, just arguing sense.
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That has to be one of the poorest justifications for overspending I have ever read. Your argument appears to be that Mr Ryley’s and Mr Barrow should not be admonished for spending more public money than they needed to on their personal comfort, because they have employees who also waste public money. Seriously? Is that your argument, or was it just a long-winded typo.
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What a waste of money! You can get hotels for 40-50 quid a night.
And, that is well out of order. staff at shropshire council are banned from being trained or going to conferences at the moment and even if they are away overnight on council business working through the night they cannot claim for breakfast or dinner.
will keith barrow pay back for his breakfast?
That is the current policy which he implemented after all
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As a tax payer I am very cheesed off with this sort of spending because it is just not neccessary. I accept cuts need to be made but I beleive a majority of the cuts needed could come from avoiding unneccessary spending in the first place. As they say prevention is better than cure…
Thats why this stings so much, because it could have been prevented easily. Now some poor school kid will have to go without books or a bin man will be sacked to make up this shortfall and it all could have just been avoided with a simple google seach for “cheap hotels + Bournemouth” which would have found hundreds of rooms for less than £40 a night
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i would vote for doubling the allowances and i would buy a big BMW and sack some staff just to see the expression on their face when i told them. ha ha. i would love it. i would have a right good time. go to one or two meetings a year and i would get a big office and make it air conditioned and i would make the workers work longer hours for nothing. i think i would have a statue too of me put on the top of pride hill and another one on baileys head too. yes that would be nice. i would make sure i had sandwiches on the expense account every day and coffee too. i would get a trolly dolly for that. oh it would be so much fun. if i was a councillor.
i guess i would get voted out but it would be a fun 5 years…
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I was aghast when I read this. Surely officers have a limited budget to spend on accommodation and subsistence?. Has this limit been exceeded and if so should they perhaps pay back anything their not eligible for?. I think I shall request the rules regarding this. After all I am a Shrewsbury council tax payer!. I do hope that they attended on all three days and did’nt nip down the front for some shrimp and candyfloss.
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these councillors are just parasites they are a stain on society they do more harm than good they should just resign
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£161 is just too high. I am sorry there is just no excuse on any planet and at any time spend more than a days wages on a B&B. There are luxury 5 star hotels all over the world who charge half that rate and the public sector should be whiter than white on openess, transparency and minimising expenditure on such activities
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You shouldn’t make that statement “There are luxury 5 star hotels all over the world who charge half that rate” i.e. half of £161. Would you please list just some of the UK ones for us? You might do laterooms.com etc out of some online traffic.
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plently of FACTS on the price of hotels in Bournemouth and the rest of the uk can be found on line just google it, 5 star or not they are all cheaper than £161. For a very special anniversary I stayed in the Hyatt Regency 5 star hotel in Paris recently and it worked out as about 180 euros a night I believe which is less than that!
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I’m not arguing about the price of hotels in Bournemouth nor about whether our representatives should have gone to the conference, nor whether they could have got better value for money for the council tax-payer (I’m sure they could).
I just want to know the name and location of the “luxury 5 star hotels” in the UK that will do a bed for the night for £80.50
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David, A quick search on Laterooms.com shows seven 5* hotels at less than £80 a night during the next seven days. The cheapest is showing as £55. Sorry.
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Yes, but the meeting wasn’t being held ‘all over the world’ was it? It was being held in Bournemouth and like all locations prices rise and fall with demand.
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Alison, There are luxury 5 star hotels all over the world that charge half that( £80.50)I travel frequently abroad so can you tell me where they are? eg.Where we usually stay, The Grand Hyatt is a 4 star hotel in New York and at the start of December it is going to cost us £318 per room per night, room only.
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Intercontinental New York is 5* and is £258 on the 1st of December. I cannot see any for £180, but sounds like you’ve paid too much, just like Mr Ryley and Mr Barrow.
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julian. Thanks for that, we say in the Hyatt as it is next to Grand Central Station, and just along from Times Square one way and the United Nations Building the other by the river, Therefore easy to get around.The capital Washington is also easy to get to on the train.
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Rotters. Shropshire should become a cooperative council so that we the citizens can have a greater say and put a stop to this lunacy. Keith and Kim have far too much power.
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too much
either stay in a b&b or send less people next time 2300 is just too much for the benefit you get from going to a conference
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no doubt these millionaire shropshire tory leaders holiday in tuscany with the pm :) I bet he dont tip the waitresses either thats how the rich stay rich, be TIGHT with their own money and expect us to pick up the tab for that too probably
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Where is your proof that the people you’re referring to are millionaires?
Nigel Hartin is not a Tory.
Kim Ryley’s politics have not, so far as I’m aware, been disclosed.
I don’t recall reading that any of them have holidayed in Tuscany with the Prime Minister – proof please.
Tipping habits? Again, proof please.
At least your last assertion ios qaulified with the word “probably”.
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Chief Executive’s and other senior public servants are banned from political activity and membership of political parties. That said, and given his actions so far it is clear that Mr Ryley is somewhere right of Ghengis Khan. He was brought in as a hatchet man to meet the Council’s and Eric Pickle’s plans to privatise public services. It has been clear since Local Government Reorganisation that Shropshire is being used as a pathfinder to transfer public services to the private sector, hence the pay cuts and reductions in pension contributions. In his last audit, the audit commissioner stated that Shropshire Council had employer contributions at the minimum level advised and at the lowest level of a Council in England.
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m8 – seriously….
kim ryley is not exactly a liberal guardian reading tree hugger is he? I think its pretty clear where he stands
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I think it is time to check through all their expenses claims then mr shropshire star!
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these public sector lot remind me of the looters they just take take take and no give no respect
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The “intelligence” of “reasoned debate” eh council hater? you’re really quite sad and pathetic aren’t you?
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A well balanced comment and not at all mental.
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161!!! could get 4 rooms for that
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The person I have the most respect for in all of the news at the moment is the Asian father who son was mown down in these riots.
Despite his appalling and unjustifiable loss he asks for no revenge, he thinks of the whole community not just himself and says that tensions are high enough without people taking the law into their own hands.
David Cameron says we have a sick society but he has thought he could get away with creating a society inwhich many have no stake because they have no work prospects.
I do not excuse any of this criminal behaviour but there is a growing inbalance of equality and support which creates unrest.
Councillors spending this amount of money on a hotel when a centre for disabled people closes gives the wrong message and is morally wrong.
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Ok we get the costs were hi or low… proberbly more then it needed to be really, plus the admission (KB above) that the whole thing was a waste of our cash and their time and cost £2265, but BUT hey what was the travel cost on top? Also KR costs us £700per pay plus taxes so the real cost of this trip must have been around £5000+….for what? maybe to test the use of ipads?? just a guess!
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such a terrible terrible waste of money
people joke about how poor SCC is when its a 5 star rated council but now i know where the 5 star came from its the hotels they can afford on their massive public sector salaries
its time to cut the council down to size
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not usually paid for out of salaries just claimed on expenses I can easily spend someone else’s money easy come easy go. hang the expense give the cat another Goldfish attitude by the councillors.
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everyone in the public sector is as bad as each other, tax collectors, coppers, parking wardens and councillors, they are the lowest of the low, they need to all be sacked in droves i am sick of reading about the waste in the public sector just sack them all now
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Yawwwwn!
Life as troll must be so sad and lonely peaches.
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what a stupid comment when the police are out all night fighting rioters
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i dont think even now in their heart of hearts that these people really get it do they, they seriously think its ok to spend one hundred and sixty pounds on a hotel room
Do they have no concept of real world prices?
Just look on the internet you can get really nice rooms for half that price
Until people at the top at the council get a grip on prices there will never be any real financial control there
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at a time when service cuts are happening, every penny counts
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whats all this fuss about
its only a couple of grand
i earn that in a day
im not bovvered
im on hols in maldives
sent on the move from my IPAD…
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Publish their accounts in full and lets have these people out of office
election please
its time for a change
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id like to see them live in a council house off council benefits for a week, that would let them see what its like, i bet they have never been out and done a days work with the bin men, yet they pretend to understand the management of the council
LOL these guys wouldnt have a clue
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I agree that £160 a night is not unreasonable for the location at conference time, but again Keith – why did 5 councillors have go – would not one have achieved the same result?
Please answer Keith!
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yes it is READ the earlier comments, they have found hotels in Bournemouth for £25! and the travel lodge is £45!
161 is FOUR times more than they should have paid!
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to defuse the situation they could pay it back to a local charity perhaps ? Now that would be good PR / reputation management Keith
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It would be nothing comparedto the money the council is pulling from the voluntary sector as part of its budget reduction.
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kim ryley has since his arrival presided over a complete collapse in staff morale and motivation to work, he has tarnished the once proud name of the council and generally got the public, the press and the councils key partners and stakeholders completely alienated and hacked off with the council.
Is that in the job description for Cheif Executive of a large organisation?
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thats a rip off £161 a night, what was it the RITZ? You can get a very nice hotel in Bournemouth for less than £100, I wouldnt spend more than about £75 max on a hotel for a night, why should they ?
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remember this when you vote salopians, these councillors make choices with your money and they only do it to get your vote, so show your distain by staying at home and joining the 70% of voters in shropshire who hate them all so much they cant be bothered with democracy any more
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One would have thought they could stay at a Premier Inn (Central Bournemouth) on Premier Saver Pre-pay at £39 per night – two twin rooms would suffice (twin beds with a pullout bed for third person).
Unfortunately councillors, taking their cue from MPs, believe they are privileged and deserve the best, forgetting that they are the elected representatives of the people. In this day and age, it would appear that all forms of politician are greedy and self serving.
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i justlooked online and there is a loverly 3 star hotel on the same road as the conference hotel for just £39 a night! why didnt they look there!????? also why did they even need to stay when i go to london on business i just have to get a long journey home and get home late thats the way of working
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There would appear to be a whiff of Parliamentary expense scandal beginning to emerge from this sorry tale of arrogant and wanton extravagence.
Barrow’s justification is, as usual, based on the intelligence of a non-academic ex carpet salesman who has abandoned completely his moral compass and who is purely intent on self-grandeur and attainment.
What should also be scrutinised is what valid reason, for the well being of Shropshire, would there be in his continual acceptances for other jollies ?; namely Shrewsbury Flower Show – a River Cruise – trips to the Six Nations Rugby etc etc etc – there is an option – DO NOT ACCEPT!!!!!!!!!!
However based on the reasons above, his paradigm is to forget about the immoral social dysfunction and the polycentric effect created by his uncaring decisions in favour of an arrogance of self greed.
People of Shropshire, I humbly suggest, that a vote of NO CONFIDENCE is instigated at the earliest possible convenience since his position is rapidly becoming untenable.
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