Following on from the good work our litter pickers are doing, my investigations uncovered a few other things, including the totally ridiculous levels of management above the guys on the ground.

Here is the story I sent to the press today:

Durham County Council which has had to make big cut backs still has EIGHT layers of management between the Council Leader and the guys on the ground litter picking.

Liberal Democrats have worked out that the North East Authority which says it has cut back on management is still massively top heavy. Worried about the quality of frontline services Lib Dem councillors are continuing their campaign to investigate where all the council tax is going.

The council is currently having to find hundreds of millions of pounds of savings and has already completed several reviews in its neighbourhood services department.

The top layer of management Simon Henig, Labour leader of the council costs around £60k with tax national insurance etc, the Chief Exec costs £240k (Not a misprint) the Director costs £168,000, the Head of Service £132,000, County Streetscene managers up to, £61k, Area managers up to £50,000, then there are sub-area managers, team leaders and finally the litter pickers. Total cost of just one person from each of the eight management layers is around £774,000. There are numerous managers at numerous levels.

Councillor Mark Wilkes who has worked with colleagues on the figures says “For years we have been asking for a cut in management levels and more money for frontline services. Labour says they have done this, but what exactly are all these people doing. I know what the team leaders and litter pickers are doing because I have been out there with them on the streets. The new team in my area are working hard in all weathers.”

“I haven’t a clue why we need so many of the other layers of management though. Something stinks here worse than the litter. This is just one small bit of the jigsaw though.”

Lib Dem activist Richard Ormerod who is working in the Elvet and Gilesgate Division for the coming elections was staggered at the cost of all the layers saying “We have calculated that we could take out just a couple of layers of management and save over half a million pounds in this department alone. And that doesn’t include scrapping the Chief Exec’s position. How can we justify a cost of a quarter of a million pounds for one person? That’s TWENTY times the lowest paid staff.”

Leader of the Lib Dem group Nigel Martin, confirmed that after five years of continual pressure from opposition councillors Labour still just didn’t understand how furious Durham residents were over wasteful over-management. “We have been trying to make Labour councillors see sense for five years. Clearly they are blinded either by power or ineptitude. These management changes would allow hundreds of thousands of pounds of savings as well as dozens more additional frontline staff to help keep our City and the rest of the County clean and tidy.”

The North-East’s largest authority has come under sustained attack in recent weeks for its wasteful actions by the press, councillors and local residents.

It has been attacked for a £12860 clothing allowance for Labour councillors. It also had to try and explain why it had sold a stately home for £241,000 after being offered over £1.5m for it.

Opposition councillors have also called for subsidies to trade unions to be shelved. And just a few days ago they agreed to pay out £2.8m to Durham Cricket club using taxpayers money. All this when having to make massive savings.