People are paying price for financial shambles

IF YOUR boss agreed it was OK to purchase a £2k laptop for use at conferences and you subsequently spent £5k, what sort of reaction would you expect?

Certainly, you would never be trusted again and could find yourself looking for a new job.

If you were on benefits and failed to inform Cheshire East of a change in your circumstances resulting in you receiving £6K more than your circumstances justified you could end up in court.

We are constantly reminded by CEC that their finances are sufficiently desperate to be leaving the street lights off in winter.

Some residents must risk driving on untreated roads because CEC do not have the money to buy enough grit.

Money, in Cheshire East, is too tight to mention. Well… that depends who needs it and who spends it.

If you are one of the needy well it’s tough luck you will have to accept whatever help your council say they can afford.

If, however, you are on the spending side the world is your lobster. You can be as inept and profligate as your incompetence requires.

Back in 2016 Cheshire East and Cheshire West launched a project to update their IT systems at a cost of £13.8m.

The initial plan had been for it to go online in September 2018 which was subsequently pushed back to November 2021 at an inflated cost of £30m.

Following the project’s completion councillors asked for a review to be conducted.

Coun Neil Sullivan, finance spokesman for Cheshire West Conservative group, said: “From start to finish, and it isn’t over yet, this has been a complete financial shambles which will have a massive impact on local taxpayers.”

Coun Carol Gahan, cabinet member for legal and finance at Cheshire West said the system would ‘save money’ through greater efficiency (like claiming the Titanic paid for itself by films of it sinking).

Jane Burns, executive director for corporate services at Cheshire East added: “This has been a significant joint endeavour across both councils.”

So that’s OK then? Claim a couple of grand of benefits more than you should and you could end up with a criminal record.

Blunder along losing £17m of taxpayer’s money and it’s a job well done.

Clearly, the bar for competence within Cheshire East and West is sufficiently low that blowing £17m is considered something of an achievement.

So, my friends, when you hear your council bleating about underfunded roads and social care I want you to recall the words of Coun Neil Sullivan: “From start to finish, this has been a complete financial shambles.”

Once again, it is the residents who must pay the bill.