The Allerton Rail Station Debacle, you remember, the one that was costed and accepted
by Merseytravel (M/T) at £5.5m and is now £18m + remember it now? Well it NOW STANDS Knowsley
Council, that's you and me £2.4m that is our contribution to the extra cost. This White Elephant,
because that's what it will be (read the previous article on Allerton) is another pipe dream of
the General and Chairman Marx Dowd of Merseytravel Fame.
Knowsley taxpayers stump up Millions!
Previous to this we discovered that the M/T. Misguided Bus - lost £12.5m. The M/T.
Tram Project Line 1 cost £12.5m, in total, £25m, equal to a £5m loss to us, the Knowsley Tax
Payer; and now Line 2 similar cost (£12m over two years) £2.4m loss to us in TOTAL £10m! For
propaganda and mass publicity and bad management!
Why no Audit? Why no control? Why cannot someone, anyone stop the madcap schemes? Why do
we the taxpayer, have to pay up with no redress? That's right £10m to be ordered to
be precept to be paid from us, you and me the idiot taxpayer.
Knowsley Labour councillors
Hang on 'we're not idiots!' we hear you shout. O.K. lets examine the situation.
Do we elect these Councillors that sit on these M/T. organisations? Do we elect the
Councillors who make up the Knowles Council? Does the Council provide councillors to
the likes of Mersey travel Passenger Transport Authority which Governs General Scales,
CEO Mersey travel, and has as its Chairman Dowd who is elected by none other than our
Councillors? It's the Knowsley Labour Councillors who have the majority of seats on
Merseyside, they have the power and by the way it was them who elected Marx Dowd as
Chairman of M/T.
We ask this because like you we have only recently decided to take a closer at the
whole stinking mess, of abuse of Public Money. Why Merseytravel? It is because they recently
have lost us the taxpayer more than most others. Not only that it's Scales 5th Birthday in
September as a General. (Do not worry General we have something very special for your birthday.)
Anyway let's get back to the mess.
We have been informed that it is no good us calling for an Audit, because an
Audit is completed AFTER the year-end, and not during the year. The National Audit
Office again reviews at the end of a Project to assess the Value for Money.
Merseytravel having lost Millions on the Guided Bus have the right the
Statutory Power to make a demand for the Loss to be paid equally between the
Merseyside Councils-Liverpool- Sefton- Wirral- Knowsley and St. Helens. There
is nothing that can be done, it is Their Right.
Guided Bus
So lets try to follow this. Merseytravel decide to go for Trams having lost
£12m on The Guided Bus, no public Accountability, no Decision at Local Level, just
put it through the Labour Party as Policy that all Public Transport should be under
Public Organisations like Merseytravel. The Labour Party Dominate M/T. with Knowsley
Labour Party, the majority. Their decision was to go for Legal Powers only, called
The Transport and Works Act, which enable Streets to be dug up or closed to car
traffic, Compulsory Purchase Powers, Rights of Way for the Tram. You get the
picture, what ever they want really. Note the only mention of cost will be
after the true cost is billed, and in the case of the Guided Bus it was £12m,
shown in the Accounts some 3 years later.
To sum up The Labour Party Policy was used to force through the
Desire of General Scales and Chairman Marx Dowd and the cost to be an
ongoing calculation, any losses to be charged to Knowsley and the other
Robots. No questions No pack drill. (Those too young to know what that
means ask your Granddad).
The M/T. Tram Project Line one
The M/T Tram Project Line one has just cost £12.5m to get to an Inquiry, the Result
is still awaited. In the mean time The Sec. for State Darling has told All waiting for Public
Money to build Tramways, Manchester, Leeds, Portsmouth and Liverpool
"There is no Money,
the cost is too high, the Private Sector must provide the money" The National Audit
Office has reviewed value for money from the above Tram Projects and recommended
"No money"
The Labour Party dominated M/T. has apparently gone deaf and blind, they hear nothing
and see nothing they are still spending our money hand over fist on Consultants, public
meetings and press announcements in The Echo (no criticism from them. We wonder why we
get no advertising handouts). Chairman Marx and General Scales have been endorsed by
the Labour Party to carry on regardless. The idiot taxpayers will pay up.
So again lets recap. The Labour Party Policy is to have Trams never mind the cost.
The Policy gets through the P.T.A. (Passenger Transport Authority dominated by Labour)
with Chairman Marx Dowd and General Scales as his side kick.
The Merseytravel Executive carries out the Policy of the Labour Party with no cap on spending
on the Trams. General Scales decides with Marx that Outside Consultants (from the failed
Leeds Scheme) will complete every thing from start to finish. Only Ms Rowlands (increase
the tolls!) is the sole M/T employee. The cost for line 1, a staggering £12.5m. Not
a spade in the ground just propaganda and fees.
Remember this disgusting amount has been paid by Knowsley with no right
to complain. The Budget demanded by Merseytravel always goes through unchallenged it
is the Law.
We the taxpayer must have someone we can blame. We have. The only reckoning
we have is with the Labour Party Councillors who were appointed to the M/T. PTA.
BUT THE TRAMS WERE MANDATED BY THE LABOUR PARTY AS POLICY IRREGARDLESS OF COST.
Now we return to us being Idiots. We voted the Labour Party in, they are supposed
to represent our interest and when they are manipulated by Scales and Marx it is us the
taxpayer who pays the Millions of Wasted Pounds. However General Scales and Chairman
Marx Dowd are the front men the real culprits are the Labour Party and their drive
for Ideological Policy for it is in there that they see power, and are willing to
pay £65000 for the Chair Power Mega Bucks for the General to carry out their policy.
It makes you sick does it not?
The only thing we can do now is to give the Labour Party a Roasting, Hound them,
force them at least to sack the Consultants stop the propaganda and save us the next
£12m for line 2 and a further £12m for line 3 (already advertised on the BBC by the
General.
Name and Shame them
This has certainly opened our eyes. Our pledge is to stop being Idiots
and to hound the real CULPRITS. Their names will be known that is the Labour M/T members.
If you know them, hound them for our money, our hard earned money. Let Kirby times know
your story of how we moved from unopposing to Lobbying Lions. Name and Shame them, it
is our democratic right to oppose when our elected members are against our interests.
