Thu, 23 Jun 2011
Council to spend 17k on Lord Mayor robes
Like all Canterbury residents with an interest in politics, this evening I attended the "General Purposes Committee" meeting of Canterbury City Council in the guildhall (okay, there were two members of the public there...). I had originally decided to go because I had been told that the subject of allotment price rises was going to be discussed; alas, this was not the case. However, as the agenda progressed, something came up which left me rather shocked — Canterbury City Council are planning to spend £16,995 (+VAT) of taxpayers' money on replacing the Lord Mayors Robe.
Apparently, the current robe — which has served the City of Canterbury for 20 years — is starting to show signs of wear, and has a hole forming on the left side of the chest. Costings were provided from the supplier Ede and Ravenscroft for a number of options, ranging from £3,575 (+VAT) to simply repair what we have, to £11,795 (+VAT) for a replacement which would utilise what can be salvaged of the existing robe, up to the headline-grabbing £16,995 (+VAT) for a full-on replacement. So, at a time when budgets everywhere are squeezed, where council employees are losing their jobs, and the price of allotments is planned to go up by 100% (the real reason I was at the meeting), they want to spend over £17k on a fancy dress costume!
In all fairness, I should make it clear that — at this point — they have not explicitly commited to buy the garment in question. There was a vote amoungst the councillors present, which resulted in a decision to fully replace the current robe — but deferring it to give the opportunity for "officers to explore alternative suppliers and options for sponsorship". Before the purchase can be completed it will need approval from a full council meeting — but the ball has been put in motion to spend £17k of public money on a robe only worn by the Lord Mayor about 30 times a year (the number quoted during the meeting).
Makes you wonder how many other, perhaps more useful ways we could find to spend that £17k, given the current climate.
posted at: 21:57 | path: / | permanent link to this entry | 2 comments
Posted by Ross Mills at Thu Jun 23 22:08:41 2011
Disgraceful! Just get the guy a suit! Maybe a sash if he really wants something special. But a robe? Unnecessary!
Posted by Mypetoyster at Fri Aug 5 00:53:08 2011
I think the robes should be put on eBay for auction with a reserve that matches the cost of some new robes. It could generate a lot of media interest and the winning bidder (individual or company), would benefit from a lot of publicity, not to mention great PR for the Mayor.