Quoted from Greenham Common

Yes, but you are doing your best, it seems, to make it sound like that he's a shyster that is out to rip us off or waste our money.

You've always said we should be able to question our local politicians online, now you've got your chance with Richard.

Quoted from user23.3

You've always said we should be able to question our local politicians online, now you've got your chance with Richard.

Question; yes, but seeking to seemingly undermine by any means is another matter.  I see little objectivity in your line of questions, although they are not without some merit.

Come on Greenham - you know as well as the rest of us that User is jst trying to cover his and his colleagues incompetence.


Richard - Why not offer to resign for the overspend if User23 does likewise for any overspend in his department!!

The fact is, a govermnet inspector would advise on how much a study would be expected to cost. I don't believe any deliberate wrongdoing has taken place, but as I've spent a lot of time working away since 2004, I'm probably not in the loop as much as the people I speak to. Therefore I'm not 100% certain nothing would be found, and as a result, further investigations would cost more money on the basis of something being found. So is it fair that if elected, and should the council vote for a review, that I should resign if wrongdoing is uncovered? That's the bit I don't get. Why, if it happened, should I be punished for the mistakes of the past???

If I was ever leader of the council, and any of my departments had a huge overspend each year like the care budget, I would have resigned. The fact is, nobody has tackled it head on. I'd be happy to look at the budget for that department (along with all of the data on people living within this area) and predict how much we would need to spend over future years. My big concern is that the council are simply guessing at a much lower figure of "likely" service users. With the economy the way itis, you'll find most who are eligible will use the services that they are entitled to. So lets be relistic, and plan for heavy useage over future years. Much better to have an underspend than an overspend.

How about this User 23, if I ever have a portfolio or lead the council, and throughout a four year term my portfolio or the council lurches from crisis to crisis like the present administration, I would resign out of humiliation. I'd be mortified if I was responsible for the state of the current administration, or if I was in the shoes of Keith Chopping, Hilary Cole or Pamela Bale, I would of gone too. No matter how much these people claim to be responsible for their portfolio's, and no matter how much Graham Jones claims to lead the council, we all know that the officers run the show.

I just don't know how you can defend them User23, unless you are either one of them or senior a officer.

Still no anwsers on whether the serving of alcohol in the members suite is legal??? You made such a big deal of the alcohol point in my initial posting, yet as soon as I answered you, you have refused to answer my questions about the legality???

For the record, I appreciate that however much we spend on a review will be funded by the taxpayer. That being said, you offer no alternative on how we can stop dead the issue of whisper campaigns and slurs on the reputation of the local authority. How else can we know one way or another if wrongdoing has happened, or if the working practices at West Berkshire need to be changed???