Trapped by Raac: Have your say at Aberdeen 'Question Time' event
As part of The Press and Journal's Trapped by Raac campaign we are staging a Question Time-style event in Aberdeen.
Bringing together those impacted by the concrete crisis and the leaders charged with finding a way through it, we'd like to hear from you.
Aberdeen city councillors, MSPs, MPs and ministers have been invited to join members of the Torry Community Raac Campaign group for the evening.
Whether you are a homeowner or tenant affected by Raac, a concerned Torry resident wondering what life will be like living next to a building site, or just an Aberdeen taxpayer who has an opinion on who should foot the bill, send us your thoughts and questions.
During our campaign, amidst heartrending stories of suffering and anguish, we've identified several questions to be resolved, including:
More issues were raised during last week's live P&J Raac debate.
If you would like to share your opinion or ask a question, use the form below.
We'll be sharing footage and content from the event afterwards.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ITV News
3 hours ago
- ITV News
Reform UK to send first ‘Doge' team to look at council spending in Kent
Reform UK is set to send in its first Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) unit to look at 'wasteful spending' in councils. A team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors will 'visit and analyse' local authorities, starting with Kent County Council on Monday, the party said. It follows the US Doge, which was launched during Donald Trump's presidency to cut federal spending. Billionaire Musk was involved but has since left his position spearheading the unit. Reform says its UK version will be led by a yet-unnamed man described as one of the country's 'leading tech entrepreneurs with a specialism in data analytics who has also been a turnaround CEO'. The party said that the unit will use artificial intelligence, advanced data analysis tools and forensic auditing techniques to 'identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions'. A letter sent to Kent County Council, which Reform now controls after the May local elections, read: 'The scope of the review includes but is not limited to: Contractual arrangements with suppliers and consultants, all capital expenditure, use of framework agreements and direct awards, any off-book or contingent liabilities, use of reserves and financial resilience, any audit flags raised by internal or external auditors in the last three years. 'We request that all relevant council officers provide the Doge team with full and prompt access to: Council-held documents, reports and records (electronic and paper), relevant finance, procurement, audit and contract data, meeting minutes and correspondence concerning major procurements, any internal investigations or whistleblowing reports relevant to financial matters, any additional documents that might be of assistance.' It added: 'Should you resist this request, we are ready to pass a council motion to compel the same and will consider any obstruction of our councillors' duties to be gross misconduct. We trust this will not be required.' It is signed by council leader Linden Kemkaran, party chairman Zia Yusuf and party leader Nigel Farage. Mr Yusuf said: "For too long British people have been British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole. "Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut. Reform won a historic victory on a mandate to change this. "As promised, we have created a UK Doge to identify and cut wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our team will use cutting-edge technology and deliver real value for voters." A Kent County Council spokesman declined to comment. The Liberal Democrats, who are the second-biggest party in Kent, say that when so much of the budget is mandatory, Reform have very little room to make savings. Liberal Democrat Cllr Richard Streatfield, Kent County Council, said: "Cuts are not part of the equation. "We have a growing population of over 65s who are using demand-led services and only 0.6% of our budget is on discretionary services. "We are using 99.4% of the county council's taxpayer's money for services that we are legally obliged to provide." Sarah Barwick, Branch Secretary of Unison said: "There's fears of job cuts. KCC's really reduced its number of staff in the number of years I've been employed. "We're right at almost the lowest point of staff that you can get without serious problems that could compromise the services." During a local election campaign launch in March, Mr Farage told supporters: "Frankly folks, what we need in this country to pay for the cuts that people deserve and need, we need a British form of Doge, as Elon Musk has got in America. Let's have a British Doge."
ITV News
3 hours ago
- ITV News
Reform UK chair quits but work to cut 'waste and inefficiency' at Kent County Council will go on
ITV News Meridian's Sarah Saunders has more on what's happened to Kent County Council after the departure of Zia Yusuf. The new leader of Kent County Council says work to rid KCC of "waste and inefficiency", will go on. That is despite the team she brought into carry out a US-style economy drive standing down just days after arriving in the Chairman of Reform UK, Zia Yusuf, and a tech entrepreneur had been tasked with heading up a DOGE style team last Monday. Kent County Council leader, Linden Kemkaran, said: "They have started work already and on Monday when Zia Yusuf came here to County Hall to give us that political impetus to really get going. "We were able to present to Zia our report on what we had found already and do you know what, he was very, very impressed. "He was amazed that we were able to do so much work in such a short space of time. So really for us, the work carries on, nothing has changed."Reform UK took over Kent County Council last month with an overwhelming majority. On Monday 2nd June the Chairman of Reform UK arrived in Kent to great fanfare to launch the party's first DOGE team looking for possibly millions of pounds worth of efficiencies. Four days later and he has resigned from the party and his tech volunteer Nathaniel Fried has opted to go with him. Nathaniel Fried said: "Yes, of course they will be able to make savings without me. There's a great team that I put in place there and there's very committed councillors which have invested a lot of time and effort into this stuff. "There's definitely inefficiency in these local councils, not much of it is because of the councils, a lot of it is because of central government funding but I still think there are major saving that they can definitely make."Zia Yusuf stood down after an internal spat in the Reform Party over whether the burhka should be banned. He was the driving force behind the Reform DOGE style missions but the new leader of KCC says their plans to reduce waste remain on KCC minimised the loss of these two figures, Labour MP for East Thanet, Polly Billington, said: "I think it's completely reasonable that anybody incoming would want to make sure that money was being spent properly, that's exactly what an incoming administration should do. "But bringing in private people who don't have the qualifications in order to be able to do this properly, is actually quite irresponsible. "Unsurprisingly, they've ended up with chaos, incompetence and resignations, that doesn't serve the people of Kent very well, and doesn't show that Reform is serious about being a proper party of government."
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Telford school given £1.9m for new roof after RAAC found
A school has been given £1.9m for repairs, following the discovery of potentially unstable concrete in its Aerated Autoclave Concrete (RAAC) was found at Donnington Wood Infant and Nursery is one of more than 200 schools in England with the material used between the 1950s and 1900s, which has now been deemed a safety school will stay open while the roof is replaced and children will be taught in temporary classrooms, Telford and Wrekin Council said. RAAC is a lightweight material that was used as a cheaper alternative to standard concrete and was quicker to produce and easier to it is less durable and has a lifespan of around 30 years and it is susceptible to structural failure when exposed to moisture. The council said Donnington Wood Infant and Nursery School was the only school in its area where RAAC had been said it would take the opportunity to add insulation to the roof at the same time as the replacement councillor responsible for education, Shirley Reynolds, said she expected "some low-level disruption to nearby residents as construction traffic attends the site" and asked nearby residents to "bear with us while we carry out this essential safety work". Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
