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Originally Posted by scastle
That's true. One council I know of spent thousands sending councillors to Germany to look at a Road system, when a similar system was in use in the next borough in England. That sort of wastage is disgusting and should be stopped.
Actually, local councils are now required to put most of the services they offer out to tender. In a lot of cases, overstaffing is not the problem. Inadequate controls on contractors is. Having dealt with contractors in the NHS, I can categorically state that a lot of contractors overcharge for their services. This is also a problem in Central Government
Not all local councils are that bad. My local council had a new Civic Centre built complete with various meeting halls etc, & a multi storey car park. It's rumoured it was built for free in return for them giving land and planning permission to a developer so he could build a housing estate. Of course, that is only a rumour and I don't know if it is true.
As I understand it, the main cost for most people is simply having a roof over their heads. Maybe if (and I know I will get flamed for this) house prices weren't rising so fast, the main reason for pay & price rises would disappear..
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I think you make a number of fair points in particular about not all councils being the same and your comment about contractors.
I also agree that the cost of housing does fuel demands for higher wages and it's something that the government should address. Abolishing mortgage relief was a great saving to the government but simply put a great burden back onto homeowners. Unfortunately, I don't see the government bringing it back nor do I see them introducing some form of rent relief for people who have to rent because they can't buy a home.