Frankly, Binley can wobble on about his statistics until he is blue in the face, but I don't believe him. The Kier contract includes more or less the entire back office Highways function, and that includes collecting and massaging figures on Kier's performance. His numbers are, therefore, Kier's numbers, not the council's, because the council has no remaining capability to produce it's own. To imagine that these figures aren't produced to "accentuate the positive", in terms of Kier's performance, is on a par with believing in fairies at the bottom of the garden. Binley either knows this, but is too dishonest to mention it, or he doesn't, in which case he is very stupid. Whichever way, he is unfit to be a steward of what is, after all, our money (£200 per household, per year, on this contract alone).
By contrast, Gen Kitchen's so-called "hearsay" (which I understand is documented and photographed) corresponds very fairly with my own, here in Kettering - as a cyclist, I keep a very close look at the surfaces my wheels are running on. So, I am inclined to believe Ms Kitchen's position, and to disbelieve Binley's. I hope very much, therefore, that she isn't going to leave it there, because she is doing a community good in pursuing the issue of the appalling state of our roads.
As a final note, I would point out that the fundamental question that Ms Kitchen is asking in her letter is, are you going to extend the Kier contract and, if so, why? It impresses me not one tiny bit that neither Smithers or Binley have had the good manners to provide an answer.
Whenever anything good happens in Northants it will be because the last government promised it, anything bad will be Labour's fault of course. Isn't politics the best thing about loc al government?
Gen Kitchen makes a fair point about the state of the counties roads.
There is no point in making repairs if the work is ineffective and does not last.
Kiers are also the contractor for West Northamptonshire. They recently spent days with a road closure resurfacing the junction of Little Billing Way and Wellingborough Road. However not all the work in that location was completed that could have been so in a few years this will have to be revisited. The closure could have enabled everything for up to 100 metres in all directions to be done.
Frankly, Binley can wobble on about his statistics until he is blue in the face, but I don't believe him. The Kier contract includes more or less the entire back office Highways function, and that includes collecting and massaging figures on Kier's performance. His numbers are, therefore, Kier's numbers, not the council's, because the council has no remaining capability to produce it's own. To imagine that these figures aren't produced to "accentuate the positive", in terms of Kier's performance, is on a par with believing in fairies at the bottom of the garden. Binley either knows this, but is too dishonest to mention it, or he doesn't, in which case he is very stupid. Whichever way, he is unfit to be a steward of what is, after all, our money (£200 per household, per year, on this contract alone).
By contrast, Gen Kitchen's so-called "hearsay" (which I understand is documented and photographed) corresponds very fairly with my own, here in Kettering - as a cyclist, I keep a very close look at the surfaces my wheels are running on. So, I am inclined to believe Ms Kitchen's position, and to disbelieve Binley's. I hope very much, therefore, that she isn't going to leave it there, because she is doing a community good in pursuing the issue of the appalling state of our roads.
As a final note, I would point out that the fundamental question that Ms Kitchen is asking in her letter is, are you going to extend the Kier contract and, if so, why? It impresses me not one tiny bit that neither Smithers or Binley have had the good manners to provide an answer.
Whenever anything good happens in Northants it will be because the last government promised it, anything bad will be Labour's fault of course. Isn't politics the best thing about loc al government?
Gen Kitchen makes a fair point about the state of the counties roads.
There is no point in making repairs if the work is ineffective and does not last.
Kiers are also the contractor for West Northamptonshire. They recently spent days with a road closure resurfacing the junction of Little Billing Way and Wellingborough Road. However not all the work in that location was completed that could have been so in a few years this will have to be revisited. The closure could have enabled everything for up to 100 metres in all directions to be done.
All Kier care about is their shareholder return.
And so the process of blaming the other political party begins.