Latest news with #JuliaMcShane
Telegraph
27-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Is this Britain's most wasteful council?
Every failure is a lesson learnt, unless a local council is involved. In which case, a failure is more likely than not to be seen by its leadership as an opportunity to rehearse unconvincing excuses as they navigate the council towards its next failure, secure in the knowledge that taxpayers will continue to pick up the bill for their salaries and expenses, no matter what. Take Guildford Borough Council, for example. It is a local authority with which campaigners are familiar, as it keeps appearing on our radars for all the wrong reasons. This week, a report revealed that the Council overspent £1.6 million on a fire door replacement scheme for its stock of housing. Originally estimated to cost £2.5 million, the Borough Council had already spent £4.1 million on the fire safety project. According to local media, a further £1.6 million is required to complete the scheme, which would bring the total cost up to £6.5 million. The Leader of the Liberal Democrat-controlled local authority – Cllr Julia McShane – has 'labelled the unexpected cost as a 'slight overspend' but reassured the executive how important fire safety is.' According to local media, '[t]he overspend seems to have stemmed from a failure to properly assess the scale of the work needed before signing the contract in 2022'. Referencing the report investigating the matter, it is also reported that, '[o]fficers relied on incomplete data and so were not fully aware of the sheer number of doors which were non-compliant.' A failure to carry out a proper assessment and relying on incomplete data before embarking on a capital project is a devastating charge for any council to address, but it is particularly so for Guildford. In January, an independent report based on investigations carried out by a law firm into alleged defrauding of multi-million pounds at the Council pointed at a crisis of management, 'known poor governance'. It condemned the senior executives' 'failure to act on red flags' which 'may have given Guildford officers the opportunity to spend significant amounts of money with contractors' to address compliance issues around housing. '[T]his was without having governance and oversight over the issues to ensure good value, or even to confirm what the money and budget were actually being spent on.' The report, as quoted in the local media, is excruciating. 'Officers became aware of a £6.6m overspend on an electrical safety contract (worth £2.4m) in December 2022, yet the contractors were still given a new contract in June 2023. This was not raised as an issue.' And then comes the sucker punch of a revelation: '[o]f the 8,000 transactions of work carried out by the contractor, the council does not know how many were necessary, unnecessary, completed, incomplete or not to a good enough standard. That is for the police to find out in its investigations and report back. It still leaves a huge question mark over how much of the £24.5m budget was spent appropriately.' Did this result in any disciplinary action being taken? No, we are told. Because '[n]one of the people named in the report are still employed at the council'. At the time, the Chief Executive Pedro Wrobel (whose role was reported to be worth £165,000 in 2023) had declared, '[a]ll senior leaders have to be vigilant every day, all the time. That's the accountability that we sign up for and we carry every day.' So what did Mr Wrobel – a career civil servant, with not a day's experience of working in the private sector in his entire career, judging by Mr Wrobel's LinkedIn profile – have to say about the fire safety debacle exposed in July? 'Whilst it is frustrating we did not catch this before breaching the budget, at the very least we caught it very shortly afterwards.' The waste itself is abhorrent, particularly as taxpayers are hit by higher council taxes and crumbling services at the same time. But what is truly chilling is how casually the wider, unholy alliance of career civil servants and career politicians seems to dismiss dismal failures with apparently no regard for the nation at their mercy.
BBC News
21-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Paddling pool in Guildford's Stoke Park reopens after long delays
A paddling pool in Guildford has reopened for the summer holidays, almost two months behind schedule. The pool in Stoke Park was expected to open for the May half-term before it was delayed due to the water being contaminated. Julia McShane, leader of Guildford Borough Council, has now confirmed that the facility reopened on water has proven the latest in a series of issues with the pool, which also opened a month late last year because of staff sickness. Three years ago the pool was forced to shut just days after a £141,000 refurbishment because parents said its floor was too slippery for McShane says that a team of engineers have worked "absolutely flat out" since learning of the problem with water quality."We're absolutely delighted to welcome people back to the paddling pool for the summer holidays... I know how much the pool means to the community," she told BBC Radio Surrey."We're not sure exactly what has caused the problem, but obviously I'm really delighted that we've been able to resolve it at the moment," she added.
BBC News
28-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Update on Guildford paddling pool plagued by problems
The public paddling pool in Guildford's Stoke Park is no stranger to opened a month late last year because of staff sickness and in 2022 was forced to shut just days after a £141,000 refurbishment because parents said its floor was too slippery for the pool is once again more than a month late to open as engineers try to balance the chlorine levels, and are yet to determine what is causing the asked how much the ongoing work is costing the taxpayer, the leader of Guildford Borough Council was unable to answer. So what exactly is going on at Stoke Park and what needs to happen for the pool to reopen? Respiratory problems Council leader Julia McShane told BBC Radio Surrey that the current high levels of chlorine in the water could be a public health said it would particularly affect vulnerable people and might lead to skin or eye irritation as well as stomach and breathing problems."We don't want to be causing people those issues to their health," she said. "I can reassure people that the teams are working incredibly hard with experts to try to find out what the problem is and to resolve this as quickly as possible so we can get this pool open again."But with temperatures in Guildford set to hit 32C on Monday, many families have been left feeling frustrated."It doesn't seem like they can get it right on anything really, it's a real shame that it's like that again, we had a lovely summer here last year once it was sorted," one parent told us: "We're all sad because we used it last year and it was lovely, a lot of people enjoyed being there, but unfortunately it's not open." What happens now? Ms McShane said it would not be fair to give a reopening date to the public as a timeframe for repairs is not yet clear, but she did say work would continue from next week."The team are going to empty the pool again, flush it through, fill it back up again, probably try a different chemical treatment and then test it again," she said."When we're absolutely certain that the pool is safe to use, then we'll reopen."And how much is this all costing?Ms McShane was unable to give a figure and the council did not provide us with one either when we followed it for now, families will just have to keep their fingers crossed and hope the sun is still around when the pool eventually reopens.
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Surrey university and councils launch lab to tackle local issues
A university and two councils in Surrey have joined forces to launch a new lab to help tackle local University of Surrey and Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils have created a lab at the university's Institute for Sustainability in new lab will link university researchers with council policymakers and teams to identify and tackle issues affecting local McShane, Guildford Borough Council's leader, said: "This partnership gives us the opportunity to bring world-class research into our policymaking process – helping us address complex challenges in areas like infrastructure, sustainability and economic development." The partnership will also look at opportunities to give students studying at the university real-world training and experience by undertaking a paid placement training session at one of the Amelia Hadfield, co-director of the Institute for Sustainability, said: "While our focus is local, those solutions will have potential for regional or national application, and we'll look forward to working together to unleash solutions made in Surrey for the benefit of wider society."Paul Follows, Waverley Borough Council's leader, added: "Whether it's improving services, preparing for future infrastructure needs, or navigating the transition to a greener economy, this partnership allows us to do more, and do it better."
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Stoke Park paddling pool reopening delayed over unsafe water
Contaminated water has delayed the reopening of a paddling pool in Stoke Park paddling pool was expected to open on Saturday ahead of the half term school final water testing after resurfacing works revealed it was not yet safe to open the facility, according to Guildford Borough McShane, leader of the local authority, apologised to families, adding: "Your safety and your children's safety is our utmost priority." In a video posted on Facebook, McShane explained: "In the last phases of the water testing, we discovered the water has been contaminated..."So we have taken the decision that it isn't safe to open the paddling pool."I'm really sorry, we are all devastated."McShane said the council had "worked so hard" to get the pool resurfaced and the staffing in place for the scheduled opening but said it would look into what had happened and "put things right". Maksim Fedosov, who has a two-year-old child, told BBC Radio Surrey his family used the pool last said: "It's quite disappointing, especially in the hot weather. It's quite useful."Adrian Fuller, 71, said: "When you start getting the good weather it gets very, very busy down there with the kids. It's a very popular thing."It's absolutely choc-a-block in the good weather." The paddling pool, which typically opens annually from May until September, also suffered opening delays in 2024 due to staffing last underwent a refurbishment in 2022.
