WASTE OF MONEY
Written February 2025
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For many years I've been concious
of ever-increasing living costs
but being quite busy I've done nothing much about this but now
I've retired from my business and enjoying more free time I'm
looking into some of the reasons behind rising costs.
Lately there's been lots on
the news about council tax. For example, we were asked to vote
Labour on the promise that "council tax would not rise by
even a single penny". Currently I don't actually know what
my council tax bill for 2025-2026 will be, but I have checked
to see what it was last year. The general view is that there's
a maximum limit to the annual rise of "less than 5%"
which seems to be taken as 4.99%. This isn't too clear though
because there appears to be two figures involved viz. 2.99% and
2% which seem to add up to 4.99%. I checked to see what I paid
last year and compared that with the current year ie. 2024-2025
and it seems the increase was 6.5%. So what's going on??
I contacted our local authority
New Forest District Council which is part of Hampshire County
Council and was informed that both are adhering strictly to the
letter of the law, but wayward parish councils are not at all
constrained. In fact they can spend whatever they want. As an
example our Bransgore Parish Council, over the last two years,
increased spending by nearly 80%.
I'm taking this up with them
at the moment to see if they can justify this. |
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Now, turning to Hampshire
County Council who I understand are heading for bankruptcy according
to the news. Something untoward must be happening which is leading
to budget problems. "Looking after the pennies and the pounds
will look after themselves" is a good rule of thumb, and
it didn't take long to find a clear case of wasting money. We've
all heard of "Social Media" but what is this and how
did it materialise? It's a simple answer.. it's just a clever
way of making money. Numerous companies started up.. not for
the public good but purely to make money. Forget about helping
society and benefits to the population at large.. it's merely
a fantastic way of making money.
So how does this link to Hampshire
County Council? I was searching for anything relating to Bransgore
Parish Council and discovered they run two websites. Fair enough
I'll allow the government sponsored website, but not one of their
own creation because it can likely waste pots of money. In looking
further though.. I spotted that Hampshire County Council has
their own Youtube account. If you didn't know.... Youtube is
a massive money-making enterprise run by Google. Not only that
but HCC runs other social media accounts as well. I noticed Facebook,
X and Tik Tok for starters. They might say that these presences
are essential.. but to whom exactly? Well, the answer is partly
provided by the viewing figures. One of their huge number of
videos was watched by 46 people.. and no doubt this figure will
include HCC employees.
I'm taking all this up with
them at the moment to see if they can justify this. |
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Next, I'll look into the
affairs of New Forest District Council who issue my council tax
bill. |
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For example.. What precisely
is "council tax" and does it include things not contrained
to a maximum of 4.99% yearly increase. I understood the entire
figure was constrained to a 4.99% increase? |
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