Trees that cost Derby City Council £50,000 will no longer be installed outside the Council House

“Well done for exposing that cuts are being made only in some areas.
Speaking of trees why have so many been chopped by the riverside? We;ve been told that it might be discussed by the Conservation Area Advisory Committee at their Thursday 7 March 5.15 pm meeting
http://tinyurl.com/aw3zy25

Is the loss of CO2 storage devices (ie trees) not to be discussed by the environment or climate chnage committees ?

Derby and South Derbyshire Friends of the Earth”

“MPs will court anyone to get their votes!”

“You can buy cultivated oak trees of a suitable size from the Forestry Commission from £15 each for a suitable sized oak which has been grown to a size where it can be planted in a container, and that includes a wrapped root ball which drops straight into a container. Many years of growing and grafting have taken place to obtain these trees so its a snip at that price, and I'm sure the Forestry Commission would love the income to help maintain the woodlands and areas they maintain which most of us enjoy.”

“Breaking News - "All those left to sleep on the streets thanks to the councils cuts, can shelter under these trees"
nope - the trees will not be there so no-one can sleep under them ...

£50,000 would come in handy to support the homeless, to improve adoption services to get children out of care quicker, to support carers without whose efforts the cost of caring for many older people or those with disabilities would have to be come out of council tax ...

Yes, trees are lovely - but councillors should maintain a reasonable perspective. Could they not be sold off to recoup the money ...”

“They really should have got better advice - I take it that the council's own Trees Dept rightly told them that oaks are just not suitable for planting in urban pavements.

I don't know if council checked out how suitable the planters were - either with the suppliers or with the Trees dept - but it is obvious that trees need a lot of water (especially when just planted) so this should have been taken into account with proper drainage for the oaks
OR
just spend the money on something else ...”

“I really don't care who originally agreed the costings or what party they represented. Local Government councillors are elected to serve their communities irrespective of their political leanings. They all wish to impose their views on others and always know better than the electorate what is good for them. Take Bhanwat and his parking meter proposal to cure Littleover's parking problems. He does not represent Littleover and I'm sure would not dare propose such measures for his own patch of Alvaston, which itself has dreadful parking issues. Like Chris Williamson before him, happy to jump on a bandwagon when it suits

I still think that Bayliss's slip of the tongue sums them up, whatever their political colour. They say they are having to take painful decisions to cut spending, the trees and their planters should have gone first.”

“"""The city council originally refused to reveal the cost of the trees, which was included in the £24 million, so the Derby Telegraph requested the information via the Freedom of Information Act.""""
This seems to indicate that the decision was part of the whole package and as such costed and agreed by the previous administration. Would it not be a more reasonable stance to ask Mr Hickson and his poddle chums about this scandal inherited by Mr Baylis's administration?
At a time when the council is forced to throw the homeless out of their modest refuges how can this cost be justified? If the planters were not fit for purpose then the deal should be cancelled and the cost recouped.”

“Mr Bayliss said: "My objective would be to get some (grant) money that we've bid for rather than spending more council money."

Significant that Mr Bayliss sees these funds as council money. It is NOT council money Mr Bayliss, it is our (council tasx payers) money and you would do well to remember that.

Whoever was responsible for procuring these 'bargains' should be sacked for gross incompetence as I would be if I acted similarly by spending my bosses money in such a profligate manner.

With all the cuts, an additional brown bin tax and redundancies (though I am not convinced these are all genuine) this shameful waste of taxpayers money is obscene.”

“You know something Appraiser, he hasn't half put some weight on since he took over Derby as CEO, must all the nice meals we are paying for in his penthouse suite at the hotel we also pay for. He gives a whole new meaning to the term fat cat.
Think you need to start skipping some meals Mr Wilkinson or you won't through the office door even sideways.”

“Our city is run by idiots.

That's all that I can think to say to be honest.

Every other day seems to be a new scheme to 'put Derby on the map!', or wastage or giving us all cancer instead of letting the city go bankrupt. You name, we'll give it a go!

It's like a constant, awful episode of The Simpsons, Mayor Quimby would be proud.”