There’ve been so many stories in the media recently regarding the Council’s reserves that you’d think that Mr Clegg and his Lib Dem party in Sheffield would have checked their facts before launching in to their pathetic claims that Sheffield is sitting on huge reserves that could be used to protect front line services. In an open letter, Nick claims that Sheffield has £167m reserves, a figure he has taken from the Council’s ‘statement of accounts’ that has a line labelled ‘useable reserves’. What he conveniently failed to say was that many of these are earmarked to cover committed expenditure, some as the result of national legislation. For example, it includes £26 million that we are looking after for, and belonging to, Sheffield’s schools; £25 million that can only be spent on council housing; and, £57 million that is committed to our ‘capital programme’ – the really big projects that span a number of years like rebuilding schools, new road schemes, major building repairs and so on. Government rules are very clear that we cannot spend this money on services. Other committed reserves for major capital projects, such as ‘Streetsahead’ of around £48million leave a true ‘useable reserves’ figure of around £11million. Now we could, in theory, use this money to support services, but would that be wise? To put this in context, when Sheffield was devastated by flooding a few years ago, the council spent over £7million that wasn’t recoverable from government compensation schemes; recent bad winters have seen an additional spend of over £2millon to support measures across the council. Our reserves are in fact equivalent to a household that spends £20,000 per year and keeps just £170 in case of emergencies. It makes sense to keep some cash back ‘just in case’.
Leader of the Lib Dems in Sheffield, Cllr Shaffaq Mohammed, seems equally inclines to mislead the public as he too has indicated that he would use reserves to support next year’s budget. Is this a case of misrepresentation of the facts, or an attempt to mislead the public? Or maybe it’s more an indication of just how little Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems in Sheffield understand about economic and accounting procedures. Time for Nick and Shaffaq to apologise, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Hello Brian,You have been in politics long enough to know what a dirty place it can be.The one thing that one should learn and that is not to keep anything sensitive that your enemies can use against you.Seemingly small things can destroy relations when things like the surplus reserves are put into the public domain just as though you areb trying to hide something.As you spelled out the specific areas to where amounts could and couldn’t be spent you can expect the man in the street to start wondering what on earth is going on,all this money and hundreds being made redundant.To the man in the street you must accept it just doesn’t make sense and that is exactly why the scabs of the liberal party have brought this up.They know virtually exactly where the reserves could be used and what they couldn’t be used for,but that is politics.Instead of keeping things of this nature,can i say secret,get them into the open that way joe public already have the information so there is no shock and probably the liberals wouldn’t even have bothered mentioning it.If the boot had been on the other foot don’t tell me you wouldn’t have tried to make hay with it.Depending on how this council maintains public services up to the next round of council elections you will be aware if there is any s..t to be thrown then it will be thrown.Quality of services allied to losses of council jobs can and will affect the results of those elections and the arrival in the public domain something as large as a percieved cover up of council reserves can have a dramatic affect on the results of those elections.It took a fair time to get rid of the Conservatives and subsequently the Liberals so please don’t gift it back to them.Wise up and use what god put between your ears do not try to hide anything that can ultimately destroy you.Be clear of what your policies are and how it will be funded,and unless specific items are classified too sensitive to be released then let the public in on things,after all its there money you are dealing with.That way you will stifle the Liberals when they crawl out of the woodwork.The name of the game is to give your enemies nothing to hit you with.Bryan, you have enough labour councillors Tony Damms and Pete Price to mention just a couple who should be fully coversant with all the party tricks that are used,some legitimate and some things put in to wind the opposition up.Between you, you should have enough experience in council warfare to shut the liberals up for good.Brian
Thanks for the comments Brian. This information is already published and in the public domain; the problem is that Nick and Co are deliberatly misrepresenting facts and trying to detract from what they are doing in London to support the tories in devastating the country with their unfair cuts. We endeavour to put as much information in to the public domain as possible but not everyone takes an interest until they see a story, irrespective of it being untrue, in the media. It certainly doesn’t help when the Deputy PM is deliberatly misrepresenting the facts to the point of lying.
I’ll continue to put the record straight on Lib Dem lies and hope that the mass media will give it the same coverage so that people can see the truth of the matter.
Hi Bryan,sorry for not spelling your first name correctly but l have had my own for nearly 77 years and l tend to forget there are other spellings.The point l was making is that whatever you do to inform the residents of Sheffield its just the size of the place that means only a small number will see it and as you are aware in politics you exploit that situation for your own gain,and that is just what the liberal creeps have done,the trouble is that when you react as you must do people who haven’t seen the article in its first airing think exactly what the Liberals want,you have something to hide.I am not sure many people in Sheffield with more than a daffodil between the ears believe a single word that Clegg has to say,after the debacle at forgemasters l reckon he’s blown it in Sheffield.I am not aware where he came from but l would second a motion to pay his fare back.Pity we can’t get one of our MPs to raise it in parliament and watch him bluster his way out.I thought your article that l originally answered was very good and explained what was required,more is the pity that you can’t reach the multitudes.Bryan you would be amazed at the reaction from people when they read the publicity of the reserves and who immediately assumed it must be right because its in the star.Keep up the good work because the Labour party in Sheffield is our only chance of salvation.I started work in 1950 and have been involved in many disputes with the City Council because of my position but as bad as some situations were we always knew that when we made an agreement with either Labour or as it was in the early days The conservatives we always knew who we could trust l sincerely hope its the same now.Brian
Today l received a letter that related to some of the neediest people in Sheffield.The letter came from “Richard Palmer”,head of Housing Commissioning.The letter contained an ultimatum to all tenants that you either pay what we demand or your connection to City Wide Alarm will be stopped.There are one or two bits of conning about what to do if you can’ afford the new charge and that kind of rubbish,but the outcome will still be the same”No Pay and you are off the service.I would like to ask Mr Palmer what will happen”not that you will be personally bothered or involved”when a tenant decides to opt out,doesn’t have any type of phone and falls to the floor and with no city wide system operating because the tenant has opted out,is this the “Caring Council” that a lot of us respected.
I think this piece of slight of hand by the Council to hit the elderly is diabolical to say the least and you are adding to the number of coordinators on large incomes,come on Council,protect the elderly and infirm,you know the ones you came into politics to help,if this is the help you envisaged my suggestion is please vacate,or get rid of the people who put before you things that we thought had gone away in 1945.You the councillors should kick this rubbish into touch and sack the people who dared ask you to consider it.And as a footnote for the people who still have difficulty paying your food bills the increase cost for a person now paying £14..54 for this service will be a further £1..66 per week,this is a 14.689879% increase,and that is for a service that is not that good.are we sure that the Conservatives have not infiltrated the people set on to help the council,l really wonder.The major problems with advisers is that the have no idea what really goes on,on the other side of the street so to speak,if you live in a big house with plenty of land how on earth can you be expected to understand how the less well off live and this applies to councillors as well,before you make a decision just try to put yourself into the position of someone on benefits,out of work,had a mortgage for say 5 years and the kicked out of a job,what will happen to the families of these people.These few examples are no different from what you want to do to the ones who least deserve to be hounded for money just to feel safe and protected.I wasn,t born yesterday and am aware of the problems facing the council,but please stop putting money men and women into positions and telling them to save money,they will always take the line of least resistance and go for the ones who can fight back the least,that is cowardice and l never thought a labour council would resort to that.Sorry for the comments but it is supposed to be a country of free speech and l feel devastated by this treatment of the eldely.Brian
Over the years we have had problems with over zealous managers from Kier who seem to have a very low opinion of tenants and any comments the tenants make in relation to a reported problem.This week we had a team in searching for stop taps that appear to have been buried by previous private contractors during the Decent Homes renovations.This meant that any burst that happens during the night or early mornings the tenant had no chance of the tenant being able to reduce the water damage.After a mishap in a flat where it neccesitated turning off the cold supply and a search for a stop tap resulted in a blank,management was contacted and fortunately this manager made a decision to try to rectify the situation.The team sent out to try to resolve this situation have been terrific,finding stop taps all over the building,virtually none labelled as to what they controlled.We are hoping that taps situated in areas inaccessible to tenants will be re-located where tenants will be able to recognise and operate if required.l would like to praise the lads who are doing this difficult job in difficult situations at times and are always available when you ask them a question, so for the second time in a couple of weeks we thank the lads for the pleasant disposition they display.We have also recently had 2 managers who came up and they were shocking,bolshi and certainly not wanted in Welwyn court again.If anyone is interest the heating engineer was called Andy,known him for years and he is always the same,exactly what all visiting workers should be like,its a pleasure to have him in the building.Brian
Hello labour councillors,Whether it is the silly season or just a change in the weather but it seems as though certain aspects of service delivery are tending to be worsening of late.Whether what seems to be happening where l live tenants are making appointments and staying in all or part of a day only to find that no-one comes, only for the fitter whatever turns up the next day and expects the person they should have visited the previous day not in or having made appointment to visit hospital/physio or just gone shopping,this is a shambles way of running an organisation and needs sorting out so that everyone is speaking the same language and a good reliable service is able to be given and received.BRI
Hi Karen,While on this site will mention that nothing has been done to repair the 55 TM bus stop in Crystal Peaks,this is showing disrespect to all the mostly elderly people who use this bus service.If they cannot see the danger at this stop they need to attend specsavers,a blind man can see the danger and to make things even worse, most of this service users being elderly,and a hell of a lot are poorly sighted and unsteady on there legs,so come on the ones responsible for the upkeep of these bus stop areas,get your fingers out,BRI W.
The very worrying part of the recent meat contamination problem is that no one has a clue how long that it has been going on.As a 77 year old l can never remember mince being widespread or even about.As far as l can remember nearly everyone had there own mincer which they clamped on to the table and did there own mince.It it pretty obvious that rather than stringent tests being carried out on a strict timetable the system was lax or got lax for whatever reasons and now we have the unenviable passtime of not having a clue what we are eating if we happen to choose a mince dish as in burgers or virtually anything containing mince or gravy made from mince products.I shop around at a plethora of different shops and l am still alive.Whereas before this scandal l would buy mince to make my own dishes,now l find that l am going and buying actual meat,this is more expensive for obvious reasons,one cannot put top quality beef into say ready meals and charge the prices they do and stay in business.A lot of the ready meals are decent value and l still get them but only the ones with chicken in them, unless a further disaster awaits us.I don’t know about people in general,but l was gobsmacked when l heard on the news broadcasts where some of these ready meals were coming from,some were coming from so far away it must have been a toss up if it were humanly possible to break even on costs let alone make profits,it certainly awakened the grey matter between my ears.It certainly looks like a future of buying something one is not sure of or paying a premium price for something on the counter one can recognise.l feel sorry for the genuine shop keeper who according to the TV programmes should know everything about all his produce,what a load of tripe,with all there money neither the government and the local authorities have been virtually helpless in stopping it.A sleeping giant has been awakened and persnally l think that both shoppers and meat traders lives have been changed forever.Will the public ever be told who the culprits are,it’s reasonably certain that criminals are/have been involved but for how long,same answer to how long is a bit of string,no one knows.BRI
Hello Karen,very nice to see you again at Welwyn Court,l am aware you usually get bombarded with things that should correctly be resolved by other areas,but its nice to have you there in support.The episodes on Sunday 03.03.13 with the domestic hot water failure gives you an indication what life is like in places where one would think there are no problems.The hot water with very low temperatures were evident most of Sunday 03.03.13 with little chance of it being resolved when informed initially that this was non emergency,however the emergency team did arrive around 2020 that evening and indicated to me via the internal intercom that the problem was resolved,and so it was for approx 50 minutes until it failed again.The water temperature dropped to 20c yes 20c by around o745 Monday morning.It was finally resolved,or hopefully finally resolved in time for our coffee morning at which our Councillor Karen Mcgowan honoured us with her appearance which is always welcome,and that seems a very good place to end,BRI
Jack Scott councillor responsible for the Bin Service.l observed the binmen emptying the bins from the flats opposite to where l live.As l have repeatedly told you thyey are teeming and ladling parts of bins into another bin,this means they have less bins to pull out and take back.The problem is that the bins are grossly overfull and the lids are virtually vertical,these are the same hypocrits who LEAVE other peoples bins when the lids are only a couple of inches up.Jack you have been told of this practice before and yourself have allowed it to continue, both yourself and Veolia who run? the service are being twofaced by telling tenants and householders that they don,t get there bins emptied if the lids are slightly raised asa it will cause accidents,it will not it is just people like yourself and Veolia who want an easy life and don ‘t want to ruffle the feathers of the binmen,if you want the pictures of the incidents l have mentioned being slapped on to the front pages of the local or national press carry on ignoring it.This is the third time l have reported this procedure and twice you have ignored it.You are not going to treat normal householders and tenants differently from flat/multioccupied dwellers.They all pay the same rates and deserve the same service,if you want to come and speak with me get it on.l am not having a go at you Jack but you represent the council in this field so represent it for everyone not just a few,get Veolia to go out at survey how they empty these multi occupied dwellings,the ones who get a full service ,pull ouy and return by the bin men,then tell me l an wrong.You never will its always happened and until it is stopped it always will if hypocrites let it.If labour concillors cannot or will not deal with this very unfair practice,l am sure there are plenty of people who would love to be aware of what i am aware of and use it,if that is what you want Jack please let me know.I want a level playing field for all tenants,savvy.BRIAN
While still reeling at the decision to bulldoze Don Valley,a lot of people will be thinking about other things related to the process.While my concerns and not in any specific order would be the thoughts of many Sheffielders and many from afar.The council spoke of the annual costs of keeping the stadium as the major reason for its decision.Apart from that figure what is going to be spent on demolition of the stadium and bringing the site back to a state that can be sold to a buyer,that is if the site even belongs to the City Council.I have also been discussing with others who are asking,”how much do the council owe on the original cost,and if this is correct at what rate will this be repaid.Woodbourn Road is a poor substitute for Don Valley not that anyone in there right minds would start to compare the two.Provided the council do not try to get a pint into a quart they could make a decent training setup for a limited few athletes.I feel that some of the comments made by senior international athletes the major loss could well be to reduce the localised young talent from around the area.Personally l am very sad to see the demise of Don Valley especially after such a brilliant olympics and the euphoria that followed that event,still the hands of the council were seemingly tied in trying to bridge a horrific cut in resources,no doubt many councillors of the red variety suffered a sad Friday evening.On a similar theme the next time the world student games or something similar comes up DO NOT BID FOR IT UNLESS YOU HAVE GOT ALL THE COSTS MET,one could be deemed a mistake,but a second one suicide.Its the councillors in situ many years down the road that have to take the decision that you took Friday 1st March 2013.Bri
What a lovely surprise to see the headlines in the “Star” newspaper regarding the item by Richard Caborn.If it becomes a reality it will be a iconic multi purpose stadium/arena/complex or whatever it turns out to be.Hope it’s not just kite flying to soften the demolition of the Arena,fingers crossed everyone.Bri
l took note of the statement by Councillor Tony Damms in Wednesdays “Star” regarding the shortage of dwellings that tenants are being forced into,or pay the ultimate price of potential starvation or some other depravation.If there are any of the blue rinse brigade affected i say “tough”,you elected the scumbags who have bulldozed legislation on there priorities of ruining the working class.What type of individuals bring out a law such as the bedroon tax knowing full well that there is not enough lower bedroomed properties yet still go full steam ahead with the legislation to steal the benefits from poor tenants.This was and is a crafty political move knowing full well of the shortage of the lesser bedroomed properties and the hypocrites go home to there own 8,10,16,24 bedroomed mansions,what a shower the mega rich conservatives are.One thing though they look after there own you all know the types,stiff upper lip,thick wage packets as a bonus for losing there companies and banks hundreds os millions of pounds.If “Ed Milliband” doesn,t do the same for the working class we all need to hire a flute player and follow him to Beechy Head and go for a long swim.Cannot visualise another term with the Tories at the helm,what a nightmare and make no mistake there are millions of missguided people who have been,are being brainwashed into thinking “aint it great fun” to have a go at the unemployed without asking the question where are all the jobs,and cutting benefits because the multi millionaires say “they can manage easy,they don’t need to eat food,breath air,they are just a drain on the country’s resources.The multi millionaires haven’t got a clue on how the poor people live and what is more they don’t care,the sooner they are history the better,l am the wrong side of 21 but l pray every night for a miracle.And then Milliband needs to put the boot in,hard and where it hurts and as a politician once said tax the multi millionaires until the pips sqeak,and keep on doing it so they know how much they hurt us,justice will then maybe done,if its not the more of the same.thats exact aly what they are doing to the working classes and only today departments have been told by the chancellor honest George he wants another £10 billion or so,they come out with the big numbers as though they are talking about small change.Happy Easter all BRI
This is an open request to any of our Birley councillors.For many months l have being trying very hard without much to no success in getting a very dangerous standing area at the 55 bus stop where it arrives in the Crystal Peaks bus station.I can only assume that the people who this complaint has been given too are blind,couldn’t care less,and want people to trip over an obstruction that is a “one to “2 inch drop just where the missing tarmac joins the edgeing stone.l have tripped a couple of times myself and witnessed quite a few elderly people trip when they have just left the 55bus.Last week a lady with a baby in a pram nearly lost her baby when a wheel hit the drop and nearly catapulted the baby on to the floor,fortunately the child was firmly fastened so it didn’t fly out,thank god.Help please colleagues,Bri