Letters
Taxpayers are not footing bill for Ashburton Court refurb
SIR - In your article entitled Taxpayers Foot £1million bill for HCC furniture' (Chronicle, July 3), various comments were made.
We have made it clear all through this process that taxpayers are not footing the bill for Ashburton Court refurbishment.
Every penny is being achieved through sales of assets, ie land and property, and there is no implication for the council taxpayer whatsoever.
Your reporter talks about some hydro taps which cost nearly £2,000 each.
What she omitted to tell your readers is that the £2,000 each includes the installation cost, the venting system, the wiring system and the boiler to the taps which will now be able to produce boiling water for coffee and tea.
So the £2,000 is not the cost of the taps, it is the cost of the total system of which they are part.
You will also be interested to know that with these hot and cold taps, our staff will be able to drink tap water, hence a reduction in our reported bottled water bill.
The furniture that is being purchased is saving space so that we can accommodate double the number of staff that we do at the moment.
That would enable us to withdraw from buildings which we are presently renting, and that is a saving to the council taxpayer of Hampshire.
What should also have been said, is that the new building will reduce our carbon footprint by 50 per cent, our energy costs by the same amount and that the heat from the IT system will be used in winter for the central heating system.
Cllr Ken Thornber,
Leader, Hampshire County Council,
Winchester.
3:48pm Wednesday 9th July 2008
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CommentPosted by: Rex Duffy, Winchester on 4:35pm Wed 16 Jul 08
Can Ken Thornber explain how the assets ie.land and property sold to pay for the HCC
million pound facelift came to be available.I expect the taxpayer may have helped in some little way??
Can Ken Thornber explain how the assets ie.land and property sold to pay for the HCC
million pound facelift came to be available.I expect the taxpayer may have helped in some little way??
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