Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#21
Sue and Ross
So for every town in the country that has problems it is the fault of the ruling party of that council, while the paid officials who are supposed to provide good advice are blameless.
I think both are at fault, one far to keen to follow party lines rather than what might be best for their whole area, the other with ineffectual individuals who know they are virtually unsackable.
It is people like Ross who care about Dover and actually do something while some councillors and officials only visit or help when they feel they really have to.
Brian Dixon, Reginald Barrington and Captain Haddock like this
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,709
#22
Jan there are of course poor to useless council officers, as there are poor or worse workers in many walks of life and yes part of the role of the more senior officers is to provide advice and guidance to the politicians, however there is nothing to prevent our elected officials deciding they know best and ignoring the advice they are provided with - see the Supreme Court judgement on the DDC/China Gateway case.
As has been discussed on many threads councils are way behind change in consumer preferences and simple economics as the reason for the decline of traditional high streets. They even sit behind landlords/developers desire to secure a reasonable, or otherwise, return on their investments.
Have parties of all persuasions helped? - sadly not a lot in most cases
Could Councils do more? Of course they could through things like tiered business rates for small/independent businesses, improvements to the public realm, planning support to facilitate changes of use, promotion of their town centre USPs, integrated parking strategies etc. etc. etc.
Guest 2547 and Reginald Barrington like this
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
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While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#23
At the end of the day the officers are the professionals and councillors just lay people. Should a councillor have experience of planning regulations or any other local authority function all good and well but I suspect most don't and just go along with what officers tell them.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
#24
Our Ross does make me smile
Anyway let's get back to the subject in hand Sue you can't hide behind the fact that your party controls until May DDC
So can and does outvote other parties
Nice try though sue
With regard to cllrs I have always been of the opinion that cllrs should run cllrs and officers carry out the policies cllrs set
Unfortunately officers fill the vacuum and I would do the same if I were an officer
The fact remains on senior officer s pay and I would think if some of lowest paid knew the amounts some of these officers were earning I'm sure a lot more would be vocal
And of course across the country should they earn this much?
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,397
#25
FWIW DDC Officer Salaries 2017/18 here:-
https://www.dover.gov.uk/Corporate-Information/Transparency-Open-Data/Salaries-Benefits-and-Union/Salaries-Benefits-Union.aspx
in THOUSANDS below
1 at £130 - £134
1 at £110 - £114
3 at £95 -£100
1 at £85 - £90
5 at £75 - £80
1 at £70 - £75
1 at £65 - £70
7 at £60 - £65
5 at £55 - £60
10 at £50 - £55
35 persons in total above £50,000
Now what was it Yosser said?
Chief Executive £120,000
Dir of Finance, Housing & Comm (S.151 Officer) £85,000
Dir of Governance (Monitoring Officer) £85,000
Dir of Environment & Corp Assets £85,000
Head of Inward Investment £67,000
Head of Regeneration and Development £57,000
Head of Electoral Services £56,000
"The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it".
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#26
Worth every penny of course, I wouldn't get out of bed for less than £12,000 pa plus 20 days annual leave.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#27
Those figures above do not include employers pension contributions which can add quite a bit to the totals.
Guest 1292- Registered: 23 Jun 2014
- Posts: 23
#28
"Those figures above do not include employers pension contributions which can add quite a bit to the totals."
Not to mention the cost of private health insurance and the cost of car allowances.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
#29
Can anyone confirm that they get the perks mentioned above?
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
#30
I'm sure Bob will confirm much of this is correct
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,397
#31
Keith Sansum1 wrote:I'm sure Bob will confirm much of this is correct
No idea. I expect our council officers to get exactly the same 'benefits', pension or otherwise, of any local government employees.
I've merely cut and pasted above from information in the public domain rather than giving people the opportunity to gossip about things when the true facts are available for all.
e.g. The is no truth in the rumour that the Chief Executive has a large gazebo in his garden constructed entirely of paper clips stolen from DDC stationary store and purple refuse bags.
"The world is still a weird place, despite my efforts to make clear and perfect sense of it".
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
#32
Captain Haddock wrote:
e.g. The is no truth in the rumour that the Chief Executive has a large gazebo in his garden constructed entirely of paper clips stolen from DDC stationary store and purple refuse bags.
I heard it was nicked black wheelie bins sprayed gold, fake news yet again.
Pablo likes this
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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