Laptop cost sparks fury
Council refuse residents request despite 10K spend on new laptops for their staff
Residents at a sheltered housing unit whose requests to Stirling Council for a communal computer were turned down have hit out at the authority’s decision to spent £10,000 on new laptops.
Those living in Kelly Court at the Top of the Town met with council officials last week to discuss a number of issues.
Residents at a sheltered housing unit whose requests to Stirling Council for a communal computer were turned down this week hit out at the authority’s decision to spend £10,000 on new laptops.
Those living in Kelly Court at the Top of the Town met with officials from the council last week to discuss a number of matters relating to life at the accommodation.
And one of the requests made was for the council to provide a new secondhand computer for the communal use of those living in the 28 flats at the complex.
However this was refused – with the council saying that there was no budget for this equipment.
A 63-year-old woman who lives at Kelly Court, and asked not to be named, was present at the meeting last week and she spoke of her anger after reading in last Friday’s Observer, just hours later, that the authority had spent more than £10,000 on 33 new Lenovo devices for councillors and some officials.
She said: “It’s absurd that they would spend this money on upgraded laptops while telling us they had no budget for one second-hand computer. I was raging when I read that in the paper.
“All we want is for the council to give us one of their old computers. These new laptops are replacing older iPads – so what do they do with all the old iPads. They must have a lot of computers they don’t use just sitting in their IT department.
“You can also get a cheap one for around £150, so how can they possibly say they don’t have the budget for this.
“We currently have one computer for use between 29 residents, and it’s so slow.
“We’ve also asked for a software upgrade for this machine and have been told this isn’t possible either.”
The resident, who has lived at the unit for two years, says those living at the unit would benefit from use of a new computer.
She added: “As some of us living there are still in our 60s we could use a new computer to work on our CVs or apply for jobs, while others might want to keep in touch with friends and family.”
The Observer reported that the new Lenovo devices were purchased to replace older iPad 2 devices that were bought at a cost of £9000 by the local authority five years ago.
They say that as Apple recently stopped supporting these devices by providing updates, they were not secure enough for councillors to use.
The newer devices will enable councillors and staff to connect to their corporate network and access files and emails on the move.
A Stirling Council spokesperson last week said: “All councillors and some staff were using iPad 2 devices that were purchased in 2012. Apple recently stopped supporting these older devices, which posed a security threat for the council.
“Replacing all 33 of these devices with newer iPad models and the necessary security tokens to access the network would have cost in the region of £16,000.
“A number of products were evaluated, with the Lenovo devices being selected as the preferred replacement option.
“The Lenovo devices enable users to securely connect to the corporate network through DirectAccess, a technology which allows users to access their files and emails wherever they are.
“The total cost of purchasing these 33 devices was £10,560, which was £5,440 cheaper than purchasing replacement iPads.”
The Observer put the points made by the resident at Kelly Court to Stirling Council but they said they had no further comment to make.