NPR

The council said it faced the “extremely serious” financial shortfall owing to its “historic investment strategy” that had resulted in unaffordable levels of borrowing racked up during 14 years of Conservative control.

The programme of investments designed to transform the home counties town included a complex of sky-high towers, standing as the tallest buildings outside a major city in England, including a new four-star Hilton hotel, public plazas, parking facilities and shops.

Woking Borough Council has £1.9 billion of borrowing and a further capital financing requirement to 2025/26 which extends the debt to £2.4 billion. The associated capital financing costs are £62m per year. It is the most indebted council relative to its size in the UK. The two largest commercial schemes in the council’s portfolio are the regeneration of Victoria Place through the company Victoria Square Woking Limited (VSWL) in the town centre, and the regeneration of Sheerwater housing stock and public realm facilities, through the Thameswey Group. These two schemes alone have accounted for the majority of the current debt level.

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 3:15 pm https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... bn-deficit

14 years of Con, 1.2 Bn debt

The council said it faced the “extremely serious” financial shortfall owing to its “historic investment strategy” that had resulted in unaffordable levels of borrowing racked up during 14 years of Conservative control.

The programme of investments designed to transform the home counties town included a complex of sky-high towers, standing as the tallest buildings outside a major city in England, including a new four-star Hilton hotel, public plazas, parking facilities and shops.

Woking Borough Council has £1.9 billion of borrowing and a further capital financing requirement to 2025/26 which extends the debt to £2.4 billion. The associated capital financing costs are £62m per year. It is the most indebted council relative to its size in the UK. The two largest commercial schemes in the council’s portfolio are the regeneration of Victoria Place through the company Victoria Square Woking Limited (VSWL) in the town centre, and the regeneration of Sheerwater housing stock and public realm facilities, through the Thameswey Group. These two schemes alone have accounted for the majority of the current debt level.

My council.

People need to jail for this!

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 3:15 pm https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... bn-deficit

14 years of Con, 1.2 Bn debt

The council said it faced the “extremely serious” financial shortfall owing to its “historic investment strategy” that had resulted in unaffordable levels of borrowing racked up during 14 years of Conservative control.

The programme of investments designed to transform the home counties town included a complex of sky-high towers, standing as the tallest buildings outside a major city in England, including a new four-star Hilton hotel, public plazas, parking facilities and shops.

Woking Borough Council has £1.9 billion of borrowing and a further capital financing requirement to 2025/26 which extends the debt to £2.4 billion. The associated capital financing costs are £62m per year. It is the most indebted council relative to its size in the UK. The two largest commercial schemes in the council’s portfolio are the regeneration of Victoria Place through the company Victoria Square Woking Limited (VSWL) in the town centre, and the regeneration of Sheerwater housing stock and public realm facilities, through the Thameswey Group. These two schemes alone have accounted for the majority of the current debt level.

My council.

People need to jail for this!

With the benefit of hindsight perhaps it wasn't such a good idea for the former Conservative council to commit up to £750m of borrowed money to Victoria Square Woking Limited (VSWL) for the building of the new high-rise development Victoria Square in Woking. Especially now that the assets of the company are thought to be only £200 million.

I'm sure it's entirely coincidental that the board of directors for VSWL includes former chief executive of the council, Ray Morgan, and former leader of the council, John Kingsbury. After all, there was a [through investigation and they found themselves to be completely blameless](https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey ... o-14802308).

'Councillor Kingsbury and Mr Morgan did everything that could reasonably be expected of them in dealing with the loan facility, both as directors of Victoria Square Woking Limited and as a councillor and council Officer respectively. [...] and no further action would be taken in respect of them.'

The rigorous investigation was undertaken by Peter Bryant, Director of Legal and Democratic Services at Woking Borough Council and, coincidentally, also a director of Kingfield Community Sports Centre Limited (formerly Woking Football Club) who received a [£250 million unsecured loan from WBC](https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey ... m-19394539), despite allegedly only having assets amounting to £100.

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 5:15 pm

With the benefit of hindsight perhaps it wasn't such a good idea for the former Conservative council to commit up to £750m of borrowed money to Victoria Square Woking Limited (VSWL) for the building of the new high-rise development Victoria Square in Woking. Especially now that the assets of the company are thought to be only £200 million.

I'm sure it's entirely coincidental that the board of directors for VSWL includes former chief executive of the council, Ray Morgan, and former leader of the council, John Kingsbury. After all, there was a [through investigation and they found themselves to be completely blameless](https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey ... o-14802308).

'Councillor Kingsbury and Mr Morgan did everything that could reasonably be expected of them in dealing with the loan facility, both as directors of Victoria Square Woking Limited and as a councillor and council Officer respectively. [...] and no further action would be taken in respect of them.'

The rigorous investigation was undertaken by Peter Bryant, Director of Legal and Democratic Services at Woking Borough Council and, coincidentally, also a director of Kingfield Community Sports Centre Limited (formerly Woking Football Club) who received a [£250 million unsecured loan from WBC](https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey ... m-19394539), despite allegedly only having assets amounting to £100.

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 8:23 pm It's the latter days of the dictatorship, where everyone loots as much as they can before fleeing the country.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 10:08 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 8:23 pm It's the latter days of the dictatorship, where everyone loots as much as they can before fleeing the country.

Hardly necessary. The Met are utterly corrupt, the Russians own most of London, the Judiciary are fucking useless, the opposition are incompetent, where's the threat to them ?

Much better to spend the rest of their lives snorting lines of coke off hookers in Belgravia, rather than moving to some hot & unpleasant place run by unreliable foreigners.

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 7:50 am Nothing to do with the Tories, but it doesn't warrant a thread of its own.

Caroline Lucas, the first, and iirc, only UK Green MP is to stand down at the next election. She won a 20K majority in 2019 and in my view she has been a very good constituency MP, she is very visible - I saw her knocking on doors with local council candidates a couple of months ago and she has a very high profile in the constituency.

The Greens took a bit of a doing at those local elections here, I don't know if that forms part of her reasoning for stepping down, she has said it is so she can focus on environmental and climate change issues as being an MP she has to spend so much time on other things, which is kind of ironic I suppose.

I voted for her but I get the feeling the constituency will revert back to Labour, they've had some decent candidates here in the last dozen or so years, but Lucas proved popular with voters.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 9:10 am

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 7:50 am Nothing to do with the Tories, but it doesn't warrant a thread of its own.

Caroline Lucas, the first, and iirc, only UK Green MP is to stand down at the next election. She won a 20K majority in 2019 and in my view she has been a very good constituency MP, she is very visible - I saw her knocking on doors with local council candidates a couple of months ago and she has a very high profile in the constituency.

The Greens took a bit of a doing at those local elections here, I don't know if that forms part of her reasoning for stepping down, she has said it is so she can focus on environmental and climate change issues as being an MP she has to spend so much time on other things, which is kind of ironic I suppose.

I voted for her but I get the feeling the constituency will revert back to Labour, they've had some decent candidates here in the last dozen or so years, but Lucas proved popular with voters.

Seems like a real mistake at this moment in time to risk your Parties only seat ?

There's a decent chance of a hung Parliament next time out, & having that seat, or a couple of them, could give the Party real leverage.

Biffer wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 3:31 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 9:10 am

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 7:50 am Nothing to do with the Tories, but it doesn't warrant a thread of its own.

Caroline Lucas, the first, and iirc, only UK Green MP is to stand down at the next election. She won a 20K majority in 2019 and in my view she has been a very good constituency MP, she is very visible - I saw her knocking on doors with local council candidates a couple of months ago and she has a very high profile in the constituency.

The Greens took a bit of a doing at those local elections here, I don't know if that forms part of her reasoning for stepping down, she has said it is so she can focus on environmental and climate change issues as being an MP she has to spend so much time on other things, which is kind of ironic I suppose.

I voted for her but I get the feeling the constituency will revert back to Labour, they've had some decent candidates here in the last dozen or so years, but Lucas proved popular with voters.

Seems like a real mistake at this moment in time to risk your Parties only seat ?

There's a decent chance of a hung Parliament next time out, & having that seat, or a couple of them, could give the Party real leverage.

Well find out how much of the Brighton vote is a Caroline Lucas vote. Big electoral implications - if the greens were to hold it, however narrowly, it'd be massive and give the green party more credibility. They can survive a 17% swing to labour.

Also, the Greens might do well in Bristol West. Last two elections labour won by 30k+. So first sight is probably not. But Bristol West had a massive Corbyn effect - they only beat the Greens by 5000 in 2015, and won something like 14/19 council seats just recently. If anywhere is going to lose votes because of Starmer, Bristol West will, because they think they have a genuine alternative.

Cancer patients face life-threatening hospital delays and the prospect of more gruelling treatment as a result of NHS staff shortages, senior radiologists have warned.
A poll of all 60 directors of the UK’s cancer centres by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) found staff shortages at 97% of the centres were leading to longer waiting times and delays in treatment.

Health leaders have blamed staff shortages for waiting lists reaching another record high, with 7.4 million people in England waiting to start treatment as of the end of April.
One NHS leader said the figures showed that unsustainable “pressure continues to pile on an overstretched NHS”, and urged the government to speed up publication of its long-awaited workforce plan, which has been repeatedly postponed.

The storm overflows taskforce set up by the government to tackle raw sewage discharges by water companies in England has only met once in the last year, a freedom of information request has revealed.
The group, which was promoted by ministers as evidence that they were taking the issue of raw sewage discharges by water companies seriously, is supposed to meet fortnightly, according to its mission statement.

SaintK wrote: ↑Thu Jun 08, 2023 4:05 pm Government getting a grip and on top of things

Cancer patients face life-threatening hospital delays and the prospect of more gruelling treatment as a result of NHS staff shortages, senior radiologists have warned.
A poll of all 60 directors of the UK’s cancer centres by the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) found staff shortages at 97% of the centres were leading to longer waiting times and delays in treatment.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/20 ... logists

Health leaders have blamed staff shortages for waiting lists reaching another record high, with 7.4 million people in England waiting to start treatment as of the end of April.
One NHS leader said the figures showed that unsustainable “pressure continues to pile on an overstretched NHS”, and urged the government to speed up publication of its long-awaited workforce plan, which has been repeatedly postponed.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/20 ... england

The storm overflows taskforce set up by the government to tackle raw sewage discharges by water companies in England has only met once in the last year, a freedom of information request has revealed.
The group, which was promoted by ministers as evidence that they were taking the issue of raw sewage discharges by water companies seriously, is supposed to meet fortnightly, according to its mission statement.

https://www.theguardian.com/environmen ... verflows

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:41 am Retention is going to be a massive issue over the next couple of years.
Massive amounts of staff can retire under the old pension scheme.
I am looking to partially retire next year but mgt have done feck all regarding succession planning.

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:56 am Is that something to do with the tv series?
Coz I don't get it.

Slick wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 9:37 am

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:56 am Is that something to do with the tv series?
Coz I don't get it.

I think he's suggesting our big shot NHS Manager is in fact the tea lady

sefton wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 6:25 am

C69 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:41 am Retention is going to be a massive issue over the next couple of years.
Massive amounts of staff can retire under the old pension scheme.
I am looking to partially retire next year but mgt have done feck all regarding succession planning.

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 12:55 pm Starmer is shit scared of the Tory press and losing any ground in the Red Wall so the silly cunt just steers ever closer to the ground the Tories used to occupy. He's seen the usual grifters pivot from Brexit boosting to Anti Net Zero shitcuntery, and has bent over backwards to avoid being labelled an eco zealot hater of capitalism, bent on impoverishment of the taxpayers with his green mania - see the torrent of shite when it was revealed Dale Vince gave Labour a donation.

Unlike Blair, he lacks the charisma to charm his way out of tricky issues, and lacks the balls to face down the criticism, too.

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 1:13 pm

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 12:55 pm Starmer is shit scared of the Tory press and losing any ground in the Red Wall so the silly cunt just steers ever closer to the ground the Tories used to occupy. He's seen the usual grifters pivot from Brexit boosting to Anti Net Zero shitcuntery, and has bent over backwards to avoid being labelled an eco zealot hater of capitalism, bent on impoverishment of the taxpayers with his green mania - see the torrent of shite when it was revealed Dale Vince gave Labour a donation.

Unlike Blair, he lacks the charisma to charm his way out of tricky issues, and lacks the balls to face down the criticism, too.

I think you're spot on there on both counts and the real story is the influence these tax dodgers who own the media have on policy in the UK

Line6 HXFX wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 4:38 pm Jacob Rees Mogg Knighted, Pritti Patel gets a Damehood.


No, you didn't just wake up in Sandshark and Opensides wet dream, this is actually happenning.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 4:50 pm
FFS look at these simpering assholes getting honours - or at least nominated. Hopefully some way to stop this abuse of the system

Biffer wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:18 pm I'm OK with a substantially nominated house but it should be fixed term and there should be a range of people doing the nominating.

Former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries has announced she is standing down as an MP.

The former culture secretary and close ally of Boris Johnson said she was standing down "with immediate effect" after "something significant" happened to change her mind.

It means there will be a by-election in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency, where she has a majority of 24,664.

Ms Dorries had already said she would not stand at the next general election.

It came ahead of the publication of Mr Johnson's resignation honours list.

Ms Dorries had been expected to be nominated for an honour, but she was not included on the list.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:31 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:18 pm I'm OK with a substantially nominated house but it should be fixed term and there should be a range of people doing the nominating.

Yeah, I think the combination of nominated, & elected works well, because it allows you to have people in the House for their knowledge & experience, & some people who hopefully bring different viewpoints. I think you can also make terms, say 8 years, so they're decoupled from the regular cycle, & not beholden to the Government of the day.

I'd also have minimum attendance requirements too.