council competing against us! disgusting!

[Pete Tattam]

Are the councils that are tendering all large municipal authorities? My local District Councils (as far as I'm aware) all use sub contractors for this sort of work. Yes they have parks depts/ street wardens and the like but they only seem to do very minor tidying etc. There is no slack for them to start tendering for outside work. In my town the volunteer tree wardens do all the small tree work (stuff that can be done with a Silky). Anything bigger the town council get in a contractor. I would have thought its only the big city/town councils that have the logistics to do this sort of thing.

[Pete Tattam]

The grass is not always greener!! never a truer saying. ( Is TRUER a word?)

 

Of course! True, Truer, Truest like Blue, Bluer, pornographic!!!

[High Scale]

Matt made a good point, blame the government, blame the banks, don't blame the ordinary working man.

[likeitorlumpit]

alls fair in love and war

[Pete Mctree]

I am curious. How many of you complaining are compliant enough across the board with regards to legislation & in practice to get LA work?

[Paul Barton]

I am curious. How many of you complaining are compliant enough across the board with regards to legislation & in practice to get LA work?

 

Good question but what are you trying to prove? LA tree teams are compliant (mostly on paper) and their route to compliance is funded by the taxpayer. Being fully compliant is alot about knowledge but also takes some cash!

[High Scale]

Good question but what are you trying to prove? LA tree teams are compliant (mostly on paper) and their route to compliance is funded by the taxpayer. Being fully compliant is alot about knowledge but also takes some cash!

 

Mostly cash.

[APC]

I am absolutely appalled by all of this. It's been happening down here in Somerset for a while now. When you consider that the Local Authority used to sub out jobs that they couldn't be bothered to do and now they're competing for everything using subsidised machinery, fuel, insurance and everything else you can think of that it costs to run a business. I think shame on the councils and I hope it all fails for them in due course.

 

It works both ways. Councils have been held to ransom by inflated costs from private sector contractors. That is partly due to poor negociation from the councils, but councils have been seen as a soft touch by anyone who can get their claws in them, since forever. Wanting them to fail is wanting them to lose their jobs, which is crass beyond belief. The people who I know within the council are the first generation that are actually trying to become cost neutral so that all our shiny tools, spilled fuel and all your other presumptions are costing you jack. My country park costs the county's taxpayers something like 30p a year. We are bang onto finding additional incomes from grant funding, which anyone else is entitled to apply for, and through running ourselves more like the private sector. It's early days at the moment. If you don't like the competition, be more competitive. We have to be.

 

Yours,

 

Council Scum.

Edited February 24, 2012 by APC

[APC]

It works both ways. Councils have been held to ransom by inflated costs from private sector contractors. That is partly due to poor negociation from the councils, but councils have been seen as a soft touch by anyone who can get their claws in them, since forever. Wanting them to fail is wanting them to lose their jobs, which is crass beyond belief. The people who I know within the council are the first generation that are actually trying to become cost neutral so that all our shiny tools, spilled fuel and all your other presumptions are costing you jack. My country park costs the county's taxpayers something like 30p a year. We are bang onto finding additional incomes from grant funding, which anyone else is entitled to apply for, and through running ourselves more like the private sector. It's early days at the moment. If you don't like the competition, be more competitive. We have to be.

 

Yours,

 

Council Scum.

 

ps: that was more referring to the notion that we should all be out of jobs, rather than the whole competition thing, which I have no opinion on as I don't do private jobs publiclly funded so haven't thought about it before!

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

Some interesting comments on this posting. (I have worked on both sides of the fence).

 

Large Council as a chargehand and then became own boss and all training I paid) The reason I packed up after 12 months on the council is we as a good team of 6 worked so hard the Boss and his 8 office people could not keep up with planning/finding more to do so we ended up sitting in a shed in front of a portable gas stove all work hours instead of going out on site. (We had mended all saws/serviced vehicles/washed the office women vehicles and still came in on time but became brain dead)

 

So am I correct that I can now turn up at a local council works depot and book hire of a woodchipping machine on a set time/date to use on private works? Wish I had know that a long time ago!!

 

Please confirm so I can print this and go on Monday morning.