Thursday 26 September 2013

£100m spent on the Civic Centre and the phones don't work

Town Hall car park still full
I spoke to one of Brent's Labour councillors recently about the problems at the new Civic Centre. The councillor had been frustrated by unanswered telephone calls and inaudibility when they were answered. Now told that things may not be working properly for another 6 months the councillor was outraged, 'Why couldn't they wait until everything was checked and working properly before rushing to move us in?'

The Council's corporate risk assessment had recorded a risk with the telecommunications system before the move and the danger this posed both to the effective running of the Council and to its reputation.

The councillor added, 'No one is talking about it publicly but we all know how bad it is.'

Meanwhile residents puzzled as to why the now empty Brent Town Hall has a full car park need look no further than the Civic Centre.  The Centre was designed to discourage car use by council staff and encourage a shift to public transport. Instead it seems that staff are driving to the Town Hall and parking there, thus avoiding parking charges, and walking round the corner to Bridge Road and accessing the Civic Centre via Olympic Way.  That option will soon disappear when the French School starts work on adapting the Town Hall.

2 comments:

trevor said...

well,
that is a lot of money spent only to find that the phones won't work.
think also about the money that was spent building the original chalk hill estate which eventually had to be demolished.
yet it was hailed as something special @ first but that illusion was shattered decades later.
Consider as well the amount of people that "Brought" the New labour promise about things getting better
under it's direction.
that illusion was also shattered a few years later.
for example the promise to be tough on crime on crime and the causes of crime
only for many that were elected in 1997 to bow out in shame after being found guilty of cheating with regards to the MP'S expenses system.
isn't it curious how they promised to be tough on crime( isn't cheating a crime?) and the causes of Crime( can any of those caught cheating really justify their crimes?) after all the wages they received wasn't what one could class as peanuts which could then be used as justification for misusing the expenses system.
it just proves that talk is cheap...we can promise to do this and that but will we keep our promise?
in that case they didn't but they didn't forget to take more than they were entitled to once they got elected.
and yet MP'S are meant to serve the public not themselves.
if we decide to cheat and we get caught we have to face the consequences of our actions.
how is it none of the MP'S that cheated did not end up behind bars?
is that an example of being tough on crimes and the causes of crime?
and one last thing, the public pay loads of money in terms of council tax every month to brent council and the pavements remain covered in the contents of dustbins
is that value for money?
isn't that similar to the spending of £100m only to find that the phones don't work?
we pay for a public service and what we get in return is not acceptable to me and I hope many people feel the same.

Trevor said...

Martin,
I wrote about the following often and I will do it again.
Look at the decision humans made regarding tobacco.
from very early on, it became clear that to consume tobacco isn't beneficial to humans because it leaves us damaged and so damaged that 6,000,000 people die every year as a result of smoking tobacco.
now who could stand up and say that the decision to use tobacco as a means of making a living was a wise and loving idea?
if we naturally cry when we read about the 6,000,000 humans that were killed by fellow humans during World War 2 and consider it as offensive to hear a person say that was a justified thing to do to those people, why do we continue to put the gaining of money first in our lives even when that results in the death of the same amount of people that were murdered during the holocaust?
humans fought to defeat those responsible for the holocaust, and now they are gone, we by putting profit before principle cause a similar holocaust on a yearly basis and yet the difference is we except it because the selling of cigarettes has been excepted and yet it is clearly a terrible idea just as the plan to deliberately cause 6,000,000 humans to die from 1939-1945 was unquestionably wrong!
I will be surprised if this is printed because it is like Looking into a mirror and seeing your face as it truly is, covered in warts and spots etc.
so to pretend that our collective face is really flawless and beautiful seems better...but is it?
is six million coffins a nice sight
along with cigarette stub covered pavements?
remember those those two horrible sights are the norm now simply cause humans have decided that to put profit before principle is better.