7/29/2019 bham post 07032013 (2)

1/3

lVUY WHUWill loseweekends,":11s now carrying\anls, aller being11Ion to operate asocialfund.

Angry:Bob Beauchamp, centre, chairman of the Wheels Charity Trust, with, left to right, PhillpBond;JohnKeattch; Paul Gerrard; John Fry;Graham Jones; MlckItoberts. T,hey,ar~ campaigning to keep the park as ItIs

Leisure firms being'bullied' offtrack incouncil lease 'row

NEILELKESLocalGovernmentCorrespondent

profit.CounBeauchampsaidhehas ment tothe city.boarded up to hidebeenasked toresignbytheLabour-' It frompassengers on the railway.run council,but has refuseduntil he . intothe citycentre.Is given assurances over the long- "Whenwe came here the councilterm future for the businesses and! couldn'twait to get rid ofthis land.

,,1'

.,

I.,i~~/~'i

7/29/2019 bham post 07032013 (2)

2/3

~!Ir26 lit~;.::;:...J'l:omment

..

Value for whose l11oney?"

l1 e ph rase ' va lue for money' i sone which keeps cropping up inthe public sector Jatelyas coun-c il s and o ther agenc ies t ry toprove tha t they are spend ingtaxpayers' money w:isely.~~t it is becoming all too clear thatwhat isvalue for money for the local au-thor ity auditor or accountant is notnecessarily good news for the resident.citizen ortenant:Ageneration ago the image was ofthebureaucratic town halls . described asI Stalinist strongholds by .critics. where

. taxpayers moneywaswasted onpoliti~cal ly correct ini ti at ives. t rade un ionsti tch-ups and the expense accounts ofgreedy councillors.That has been swept away as Europe-':I'M h:.T"I.rI~,-;."t1' T "' I ,l pc T Pd nl -; ar ' :I 1 1r Ht c: : ' : In n

7/29/2019 bham post 07032013 (2)

3/3

II

~iut it Is becoming all too clear thatwhat is value formoney for the local au-thority auditor or accountant is notnecessarily good news for the resident,citizen or tenant:Ageneration ago the image was ofthebureaucratic town halls , described asI Stalinist strongholds by critics, where

. taxpayers money was wasted on politi-:.cal ly correct ini tiat ives , trade unionsti tch-ups and the expense accounts ofgreedy councillors.That has been swept away-as Europe-an tendering rules , regular audits andGovernment inspections took over de-manding the civilservants justify everypenny spent and place a cash Value onevery area ofactivity.This was illustrated most clearly withthe clist:rictauditor saying the bins serv-(~pciorvalue formoney and would, impiove ifthe Council charges for some. services-like grass cutUngcollections. or bulky items. For the citizen using. thoseservicesthis cannot be describedas bettervalue.formoney,butthatis how.i twil l appear onthe next inspection re-port. ..Asimllar accounting Sleight-of-hand isnow happening tothe council's property'assets' -land and buildings tous whichIs leading to worthwhile-communityprojects being kicked out1Woyears agothe Aston ManorTrans-port Museum was evicted fromthe his-toric tram deDot next to Villa Park. Not- 'because it was a d ra in on counc il .re-sources, it didn't cost the taxpayer apenny. while the staff ensured the buil~-ing was kept in goodrepair.But the council 's property servicesdepartment decided that they should bechaIging 40.000-plus a year rent andevicted the museum - replacing it withan indoor market.Itwas a similar s tory for Rectory box-ing,club in Sutton Coldfield who Were700 a year to use the pavil ion inRec-tory Park - until property services dealt

. them a potentialknockoutblowwith a

~ demandfor6.800ayearrent.Suchhasbeenthe outcrythat the couIicilrelentedand struck a 2,000 a yekr compro-/. ~o~ the sameis )1app~ningatBir-minghamWheelsPark-where a47 acrelandfill site wWchhad fora generationblighted inner city Birmingham wasIL.

Last stop: TwOyears ago Blnningham city Council's property services departmentdedded itshould be getting40,OOo-plusa year rent and evicted Aston Transport Museum museum, replacing itwith an indoor market"0It is becoming all tooclear that what is valuefor money for t~elocalauthority auditor oraccoun..tant.isnot.necessarily good newsfor the citizen ortenanttransformed into something good- aseries oftracks and c1rcu1tsforbangerracers, gokarters,BMXbikersand skat-ers.Thecouncilwasso keento getrid ofthe siteit offered125year leases.The infamous property services de-partment has now decided that theyshould be 400 per cent moreincomefromthesiteand alsowants thetenants.many ofwho haveinvested in the siteand developedtheir own facilities,onshorter term leasein case a better offercomes along. Council officersare also

-. ::..~=:.--":: :_~.c':'"';-:: '~-'':'''~:':'= --., ---.-

putting about a myth that the WheelsTrust, thecharitywWchruns the park.is losing money - i twas more than twoyears ago.but a check ofpublished ac-. counts with the Charity Commissionreveals that itis in profit.And with heavy.metals and gases anda 'challenging topography' one wonderswho could possibly waqt the land. Busi-nesses genera lly wan t the taxpayer topick up decontamination costs ahead ofdevelopment.On the property services balance sheetitlooks like a giveaway-letting so muchland go for so little :md at a..timeofshrinking budgets i t is not surpris ingthe council is pushing for a better deal.But the site has 14 active occupantsproviding jobs- and activities for localpeople - i nc lu ding sc hoo l c hi ld re n andteenagers. The in-line skate park isusedby the Br it ish na tiona l t eat Jt and na-tional meetings are held atthe stock cartrack.But this rigid balance sheet thinkingrisks throwing all that away and couldverywellleadthe citybackto square one-left with agiant t ip and ahuge clean upbill. Who then is getting value formoney?

...

The Cityand The City,an award win-ning book by the weirdly imaginativeChinaMieville,depicts the cities ofBe-szeland ill Qomawhichshare thesame

space but are very,very different Like :the dividedBerlinthe citiesare cu1tur- :ally and politicallydistinct. Citizens of :one side have to ignore buildings, popu- ~lat ion orsides-ofthe street belonging to :theother-and learn todoso. :Itappears that ina case lifevery much :imi ta ting art tha t the Ho lte School in :Aston. which shares a site buildings ~with Lozells Primary and MayfieldSpe- :c1alSchooL will have to make a similar :arrangement. :Notleast because Holte and Lozells are :takingacademystatus,whileMayfield~remains vcrymuch in the local educa- :.tion authority fold. : .Aplan ofthebuilding. presented tothe :council's cabinet, shows cfifferentrooms :and corridors highlighted in different:colours tomark the terri tories ofthe dif- :ferentschools.Corridorsaremarked as ~shared.WhilethebUildingaswholeis :alsooverseenbyitsPFIdeveloper. :It appears there has been somediffi- ~culty reaching agreement overthe man- :agementofallthis. :There are similar difficultiesbetween :WIlkes Green Junior and Infant Schools :in Handsworthwhohave had problems ~agreeing overuse and access to the :shared boiler room, heating systems, :kitchens and intruder alarm. :Labour cabinet member Stewart Stacey :may not befarwrongwithhis sugges- ~t ion that the United Nations blue beret:peacekeepers would be needed topatrol'the corridors. .

~ - :