MAYORAL GRAVY TRAIN ON MOVE

BACK in March, as our impressionable local snoozepapers could only gobble-up glowing Press Releases about Devolution and a Cumbria Mayor, the Chronic issued a warning.

We said that anyone dazzled by the coordinated PR pitch by our two unitary Councils to sway the public should first consider: “The vulgar annual costs required to keep these vast Mayoral Gravy Trains on the rails”.

We wrote at the time:

Mayors and Devolution means high pay and generous expenses; plush offices stuffed with bloated teams of over-paid Directors; legal wonks; HR droids; pen-pushers; cushion plumpers; facilitators; administrators; note-takers and non-jobbers.

The new Mayor’s office will also require endless glossy reports; feverish news releases; expensive meaningless logos; slick websites; content-churning social media accounts; costly vanity photography; bland newsletters; and devoted PR hustlers.

The public consultation on Cumbria getting a “Mayoral Combined Authority” only just closed a week ago with no decisions having supposedly been made.

Yet that hasn’t stopped Wokemoreland & Farcical Council, and Crumberland Council from jumping the gun and getting out the Taxpayer chequebook with a flourish.

Before the public has spoken, the two Clowncils are suddenly advertising for a “Devolution Programme Director” on the not inconsiderable sum of up to £88,000-a-year.

In fact, the job specification was drawn up LONG BEFORE the public consultation had closed.

It was published on 18th March, when the Public Consultation didn’t close until 13th April.

You can see the advert here.

It’s clear evidence, if ever any was needed, of the breathtaking arrogance and disregard for the public that goes on at the top of our two Councils at a Director and leading Councillor level.

Despite being elected by the public and paid for by the public, our Council leaders have clearly decided that Cumbria IS getting a Mayor before the public has even said it wants one or NOT.

Why else would they be already spending money on creating the foundations for a Mayor without any regard for the results of the public consultation?

And if previous form is anything to go by, our Councils are also likely to have thrown circa £30,000 at an out-of-county recruitment firm in order to scour the country and find the “right” executive for the job.

This means that BEFORE we even get a Devolution decision we’re already circa £100,000 down.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that among the first tasks of any new Director will be complaining to a committee that they don’t have enough “support” and therefore require a wide supporting cast themselves.

That’s so that they can hire ever more highly paid hangers-on to join them in their new Ivory Tower and help spread the burden of accountability – all paid for by you, naturally!

Remember, getting a Mayor and Devolution to Cumbria will only increase your Council Tax Bill and increase the number of unaccountable Directors and Managers.

In other words, another nest of greedy Public Sector beaks to feed when Cumbria’s got quite enough of them to pay for as it is!

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READ more: Cumbria’s Gravy Train Mayor