:cry: 100 %
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#15034
Malcolm Armsteen wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:20 pm
And no, social disadvantage in Cheltenham is not equivalent to that in Tower Hamlets.
3/4 of my life have been spent in Cheltenham and Tower Hamlets combined. Of course, deprivation in Cheltenham isn't equivalent to Tower Hamlets in deprivation. But equally it's not the opposite of Tower Hamlets either.
User avatar
By Nigredo
#15043
Admirable Chrichton wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 7:45 pm
Malcolm Armsteen wrote:
Tubby Isaacs wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:13 pm Cheltenham has its share of economic and educational deprivation, as it goes. It dumps most of its social tenants in a couple of areas (Hester's Way, St Paul's), and anyone who can avoids the two schools that the kids from there go to.
I knew someone would post that (well, I knew Tubbz would)

You understand my point, though?

And no, social disadvantage in Cheltenham is not equivalent to that in Tower Hamlets.
The Conservatives on Bolton council pull this "fair distribution" shtick when they try to justify each ward in the town getting an equal share of funds. In purely numerical terms every ward is "equal". In reality though, the more affluent wards benefit more (who often vote Tory. Who'd think!) as their infrastructure (like roads) are in much better shape already.

What a conservative politician thinks is "fair" doesn't always match up with what a lot of people think is fair!!
It's also why the flat taxes that are fetishized by disingenuous libertarians and other right-wing cranks are a nonsense.

I went to Bath for university and it became apparent that the worst school in Bath was still leagues ahead of the worst school in neighboring Bristol for finances, resources etc.
User avatar
By Malcolm Armsteen
#15044
That was at the basis of the Blair government's Foundation Schools - funding was let loose from Local Authority control, and later (starting in the Excellence in Cities programme) the mantra was coined of 'funding follows disadvantage' - instantly cancelled by Osborne in 2010 and the funds 'redistributed fairly'. A lot of EiC money went to pay for public school bursaries...

Our own version of the Jim Crow laws...
User avatar
By Malcolm Armsteen
#15057
It is as unfair to treat unequals equally as it is to treat equals unequally.
Aristotle.
By satnav
#15085
There is a good article on Warkwick Mansell's website where he shows that with one academy chain claims to spend £6000 per pupil in its secondary schools but in reality over £1000 per pupils ends up going back to the trusts main offices. When LEA's ran schools the amount of money retained by educational authorities was around 10% to cover things like payroll services, the advisory service and other shared services.

If academy trusts are creaming off so much extra money where is that money going? These trusts are meant to be non-profit making yet senior directors pocket extremely large pay cheques with big bonuses on top. It is hard to see how the government will level up education if it continues to push more and more schools into the arms of academy trusts.
Watchman liked this
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#15548
One policy mentioned is creating a load more unitary councils, I presume by taking away district councils under county councils. I live in one of those, Herefordshire, and it works because it's not a large county and the nearest thing to inner city is Hereford (which doesn't even fill one constituency by itself). So I'm generally in favour. But will that work with other counties? Do you split those into mini-counties?

And what the heck has this got to do with the levelling up anyway?



User avatar
By Andy McDandy
#15549
Conversion from the district to unitary model was specifically banned by Cameron between 2010 and 2015, despite it being perhaps the best way to cut costs while preserving services and jobs. The thought of lots of newly unemployed district councillors running to their friends in the local press maybe worried him.

Meanwhile Cumbria is due to split into 2. Barrow, Eden and South Lakes will become Westmoreland again, while Carlisle, Allerdale and Copeland revert to being Cumberland. Or at least that's what we're calling them. Most likely shared services and two masters. I worked in a similar system in Cheshire, and it's awkward.
User avatar
By Tubby Isaacs
#15553
London had a 3 borough arrangement once, with a funny name that suggests the people involved thought they were NYC heavyweights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-borou ... d_services

Lasted until one of the boroughs swung to Labour, at which point I presume the Labour councillors thought it was a bit harsh to have won an election and still have to worry what Tories (in other boroughs) thought about their services.

As you say, Cameron put the kibosh on money-saving consolidations of councils, so quite amusing to see him talking about the savings in the tri-borough case. What a guy. Labour's Hammersmith and Fulham councillors pulled out of the Tri-borough and for a further swing of 6.5% in the next election.

I'm wondering about these unitaries in terms of levelling up within regions. In Gloucestershire, the county city is the poorest part of the county and can use more jobs. Coleford will miss the district council jobs, but Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester and Tewkesbury won't too much. So that works OK.

But take eg Devon. Close down N Devon council and consolidate the county council, and you're moving jobs from Barnstaple to Exeter. That's not good.
User avatar
By Andy McDandy
#15569
Similar worries here. While places like Penrith and the Kirbys get along just fine on farming and retired pop stars, and Kendal and Ambleside have the seasonal trade and plenty of home-based professionals, elsewhere in the south of the county you've Barrow with its one big employer (BAE Systems), and everyone goes shopping in Lancaster because everything in Barrow's shut.

In the north, a similar thing. Farming and tourism aside, there's Sellafield and not much else. And everything gravitates to Carlisle.
User avatar
By Andy McDandy
#15576
Yes, Barrow's already been offered some cash from the levelling up fund. Not much - we're talking in the single figure millions but that's peanuts when it comes to major projects. Probably see the shopping centre get a makeover, but what it really needs is actual shops.
long long title how many chars? lets see 123 ok more? yes 60

We have created lots of YouTube videos just so you can achieve [...]

Another post test yes yes yes or no, maybe ni? :-/

The best flat phpBB theme around. Period. Fine craftmanship and [...]

Do you need a super MOD? Well here it is. chew on this

All you need is right here. Content tag, SEO, listing, Pizza and spaghetti [...]

Lasagna on me this time ok? I got plenty of cash

this should be fantastic. but what about links,images, bbcodes etc etc? [...]