It is now common knowledge Nottingham City Council is the only council in England not to publish spending above £500 online. It also paid for posters to be printed like the one in the photograph, which in itself was a complete waste of money. Now its business acumen is under question again.
The one thing this council does not understand is the free market. If it did, it would not have made this schoolboy error. In an attempt to increase taxes by the back door, it has decided to increase charges for private hire licences in the city.
Many private hire companies are now thinking about voting with their feet, and registering their cars with other authorities, where the fees are cheaper and the service is better. As the owner of one firm said:
"Fees have gone up and they have gone up quite a lot. We objected to that but it fell on deaf ears. We do not think we are getting value for money, as there's been no increase in the service"
So once again Nottingham City Council has shot itself in the foot. Not only does it waste taxpayers' money, and refuses to publish spending above £500 to see what we get for our cash, it also manages to lose more money by increasing fees by an unreasonable amount.
If there are any supporters in Nottingham who would like to campaign for us, please contact me. This is one council we need to look at carefully. Taxpayers are not getting a fair deal, and this needs to change.