Like manna from heaven for the campaign, but a pain in the neck for Thurrock’s taxpayers, Thurrock Council have decided to turn one job – costing taxpayers £30,000 a year – into 4. No, it doesn’t mean 4 bureaucrats earning £30,000 between them, it means a whopping £130,000 bill for the Council to employ 3 more health and safety officers at Thurrock Council.
Usually it’s time to turn the fire on councillors, but not in this instance. It appears this new recruitment of non-jobbers was entirely devised by the Town Hall officer corps. From the article in the Thurrock Gazette, you’ll see that it was unelected, completely unaccountable apparatchiks who have put together plans to fatten the Town Hall pen-pushing class.
First the ‘head of public protection’ presented a report by the ‘acting team leader for safety, nuisance and licensing’ requesting the need for these new health and safety officers. Then the Chief Executive Angie Ridgewell – earning a sig figure salary herself – defended the new taxpayer-funded employees, saying "my corporate management team feel that we really need this to meet the Council's responsibility. We want to make sure the health and safety of our own employees is maximised at all times." Look Angie – put signs up saying ‘no running in the halls’, don’t use taxpayer money to top up the public payroll.
The chilling thing is these bureaucrats can get things done even when the elected councillors oppose the plans. Not one councillor is mentioned in the article calling for or even supporting these new bureaucrats. Yet, they’re the ones elected to make these decisions…or so we’re led to believe.