Th, Aug 11, 2005Lewisham Council spent a fortune on consultants
There had been rumours about a large sum that Lewisham Council had spent on consultants to set up the PFI project for Downham.The people of Downham lost their community pool ten years ago.
Evidently Lewisham Council wanted to make sure that they get it right and decided to hire some very bright minds to help them doing it.
One thing is sure, they don't use cheap consultants. These people took two years to come up with the result that we haven't seen yet. But with a bill like this it must be a masterpiece.
We can now reveal what has been spent up until 1st August.
This total covers two different kind of advisers.
Financial, technical and procurement advice.........£ 364,430
(preparation of business cases, output specification, payment mechanism, consulting with the DA and other agencies, supporting the project team through tendering and negotiation processes, vetting bidders' financial models and accounting treatments)Legal Advice.......................................................£ 512,469
(drafting of project agreement and associated legal documents, assisting the client in the negotiation process to reach commercial and financial close of the pfi project, vetting the bidder's contract structure and documentation)
Total...................................................................£ 876,899.
And, as this is the cost up to 1st August, the tap is still running. ...read more...
Revealed: how they know it all
It might have happened to you too. You ask a Council officer a question and you get the official line over and over again. It's frustrating, but remarkable.We can now reveal how they do it.
They simply read it from a book.
We have come into possession of a copy of Lewisham Council's own bible.
It's entitled "Lewisham Lines To Take". It's produced by Communications and it's now at its second edition. It was issued on 26th July 2005.
Do you want to know the official line on Consultation, Council Tax, Housing, Policing and public safety, Parks, Pools, Schools, Transport, Travellers or any other issue that is sensitive to Lewisham Council?
Just open the book at the relevant page and you know what you'll hear if you ask any council officer.
There's also a fabulous New School page.
Try reading that and compare it to the reality.
We have scanned the whole document for you to download and read this summer.
Unfortunately the copy we had was missing pages 3 and 4, relating to Adult and Community education and Anti Social Behaviour Orders.
Everything else is there.
Saturday 13th August update:
Thanks
to Pete from Liverpool for converting our scanned pages into text.
After spotting "Lines to take" on our site he decided to help it
achieve the popularity it deserves by passing it through his OCR
software. It's now much faster to download. He sends us the following
message : So much of what you say sounds familiar.
Liverpool is currently getting two new 'City Academies'. One is just
about finished, and built on a Grade II listed park, and in a
Conservation area. The other is to be sited on a playing field
protected by the Council's Unitary Development Plan!
...read more...