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IMPORTANT PLEASE READ This website and forum has been living on borrowed web server time for years. At the end of this month silsden.net in it's present form will cease to exist, BUT there is a new silsden.net in the making, and a new forum, and lots of exciting new things coming to this space. Peter |
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Replies in this thread : 12
Author |
Topic : where does our money go? |
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| ealteacher |
I have read recent comments about the state of the Town Hall and the state of the public toilets. Both in their present state need upgrading. So where will the money for that come from? Golden Oldie mentions the rates and questions how much of what we pay is spent actually in our area. Did anyone else read the letter in the latest Herald and the Keighley News calling for transparency in how our money is spent? It seems to me that the letter made undeniable sense and that this information should be readily available. How can we find out about how the money we pay in rates and taxes and whatever is spent? Am I the only one who is uninformed about this - I sort of know that Inland Revenue, Bradford council and Silsden council collect and spend our money on our behalf but I don't how this works out in practice. Life is hard! |
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| JeanD |
why is there a big HUSHHHHHHHHHHHH nobody seems to come up with an answer. Surely those who work at the town hall can see the condition of the building or are they walking around Silsden with their eyes closed |
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| ginjo |
I have just read the town council statement regarding town hall refurbishment (link from home page of silsden.net) There is no date on it so not sure when it was written but it has been there for a good few weeks, so maybe an update would be useful.And before anybody says "you should come to the council meetings" not everyone can get there , the room is too small to accomodate anyone, people are not made to feel all that welcome. Maybe the town clerk should post a regular update on here, the minutes are a waste of time if you have not been at the meeting as they do not go into enough detail and you have to wait a month (at least) for them to appear.There has always been a problem with lack of communication in silsden, a prime example was the silsden survey. People took the trouble to fill those in and it has all gone very quiet, like a lot of people said to me when I was collecting them(yes I do get involved in things!)"it will be a waste of time because nothing ever happens" |
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| Peter |
JeanD, The money to do anything about the Town Hall comes (or in our case doesn't) from Bradford. The Town Hall does not have any employees, the caretaker was made redundant some time ago. It seems the only way Bradford can refurbish the Town Hall is sell off our assets (the library and Wesley Place).... so where does the money we pay in rates go to? ginjo, The statement by STC re the Town Hall was post on 24 July 2012 Although Silsden Town Council (STC) has asked for information about Bradford's plans for refurbishing the Town Hall not much has been forthcoming from Bradford. Item 6 on the January STC agenda: To note Cllr Thornton’s response to our questions regarding make up of the steering group. (For the Town Hall refurbishment) www.silsden.net/town_council/docs_13/13_meetings/STC_meeting_agenda_Jan2013.pdf The minutes of the January STC meeting www.silsden.net/town_council/docs_13/13_meetings/STC_meeting_mins_Jan2013.pdf NOTE: Bradford were asked to carry out a fire escape assessment of the Town Hall at a meeting in Oct? and also how they proposed to implement a lift (where it could be put), but as far as I know no report on these matters have been produced .... yet here they are proposing a steering group. The Town Clerk cannot publish any minutes until they have been sign off by STC, this does not happen until the next meeting, so it takes a month. I cannot agree with you about there not being enough room for the public at council meetings, at all the meeting I have attended there have been chairs to spare. The Town Survey The initial, raw, results of the survey can be seen here (and have been available online for some time). 2012survey.silsden.net/results/ There were a lot of open questions which have to be put into a digestible form and the report needs a lot of work - this all takes time and we are a small group of volunteers. The results of the survey have already been used for Silsden specific problems. |
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| GAMEKEEPER |
That is all very well. But under the Disability Access Law, any building used by the general public must have adequate access for the disabled. The town hall clearly does not. How can BMDC continue to allow it to be used as such? One rule or one does not compute! I still have not seen anything definitive on the meeting back in November regarding the sale of Wesley Place, the library etc. All I have seen is the STC minutes (not BMDC notes) regarding a steering group? Who regulates this steering group? What powers do they have? How are they financed? |
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| countryman |
Last year both major parties Labour and Conservative voted to get ride of the caretaker by cutting the budget at the same time they took £20,000 from the dog wardens service. Looks like little of our council tax will be spent in Silsden. In November Bradford could only propose selling off things in Silsden not reinvesting. |
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| old_miner |
Silsden votes Tory so obviously Silsden does not want any money spending on the town hall. The people have spoken. In a democracy we must accept this. If Silsden town council takes on the costs of running and maintaining the town hall then it would need to come off the 'rates' currently called the council tax. Silsden Town council could ask for a bigger bit for Silsden. How much I do not know. There is no such thing as a free lunch. |
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| gazzer |
quoteSilsden votes Tory so obviously Silsden does not want any money spending on the town hall. . Wish I could work that statement out. "Bradford" voted Labour who control the purse strings |
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| old_miner |
Makes more sense now - why should labour spend money in a Tory supporting area. Now if we had a couple of marginal labour Councillors then things might be different. Actually thing about the town hall I realised it really needs to be disposed of. For a start it is in a hopeless place. No access to speak of so not really suitable for hiring out. Best thing would be to sell it to a developer, tell them to keep the facade and pull the rest down. Money could then go towards a modern Town Hall/Community Centre in a more practical location. Re-development into flats would mean providing parking for residents around the back. There is access. The more I think about it the more it makes sense. |
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| gazzer |
quoteMakes more sense now - why should labour spend money in a Tory supporting area. Now if we had a couple of marginal labour Councillors then things might be different. So why does Ilkley get money spent then? |
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| Peter |
Here's a few documents to wrap your teeth round     silsden.net/forum/docs/Conservative_budget2012to13_version1.pdf silsden.net/forum/docs/Bradford_budget_agenda_2012-13.pdf silsden.net/forum/docs/Bradford_Budget_2012-13.pdf |
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| gazzer |
See theres a million quid for Keighley www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/10243946.Opportunity_to____improve_lives____in_Keighley/ |
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| GAMEKEEPER |
I have just looked through the BMDC budget, through the link that Peter provided. Several things do not add up! A figure of $7,800 can be saved in staff efficiency at Silsden Town Hall? Note the $ instead of the £ sign. This was used throughout the document. A figure was given for not adopting unadopted roads? |
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| Replies in this thread : 12 |
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events sale / wanted general have your say looking for.. skippy greengrass |
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DON'T FORGET THE SUBJECT IS >>>>>>>> Forums Home > General Forum > where does our money go? |
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22/02/2013 : 13:23:02 
23/02/2013 : 11:04:41