True but they are invariably motivated by profit which means the decisions are not necessarily in the best interests of the people.
If you made local authority decisions on those lines you'd close the Pomegranate. The Winding Wheel, both sports centres, The Museum and probably Hasland Village Hall.
Is that how Sainsburys runs its business, lets screw the customers for all we can so the shareholders will get more profit?
A good business knows that not only to survive, but to grow and develop in the long term, it needs to look after its customers.
The idea that public bodies should not worry about profit is nonsense, you are implying that its OK to run at a loss, and that is exactly why this country, (much of the world) is in the mess its in, because its been living beyond it means, hoping that some mug, (taxpayer) will always pick up the tab, or they can turn to debt.
If the facilities you mention are NOT making a profit, then why would you expect the taxpayer to fund something that they don't want to use.
Except that maybe they do want to use them if better ran.
The theater business is booming at the moment, I know lots of people who often, at high cost, jump on a coach to London for a theatre break. We went to Manchester a couple of months back to see Oliver and spent about £200 for the day. So how come a theater around the corner can't make money?
Last year we went to the Natural History Museum in London. Free to get in and the place was rammed, with massive queues to get inside. Once inside there was all sorts of ways the place were making money: kids packed lunches / explorer packs / one off exhibitions, sponsorships / kids parties / over night stays / expensive coffee place, etc. When did Chesterfield Museum last have a queue waiting to get in.
And as for the pools, I live just round the corner from Staveley's Healthy Living Center, a perfect example of a swimming pool designed by committee, rather than asking the public what they want. When we go swimming we go to Queens Park because its much better suited to small kids.....except last year we went to Ponds Forge and again massive queue, took us an hour to get in and cost £12.00, at the same time there was a special offer on at the HLC, a pound to get in the pool....clearly being under used.
So maybe the problem isn't that the facilities aren't wanted, maybe they just aren't wanted in their current form, which suggests being badly managed, and not caring because they know Mr Taxpayer will be along to pick up the tab.
Then there are countless other ways councils can make money, many are now fitting Pvs on roofs to claim back FIT payments, I've heard about councils becoming utility providers, wrap around care at primary schools, sponsored gardens, lots and lots of different things if the attitude is right, and profit not disregarded.
And by doing all this sort of stuff, it then means the council can afford to spend money on things that they can't profit from such as social care, the elderly, etc. I've never felt that any public body should spend money on an attraction that no-one uses at the expense of the sick and infirm, but if you think that's a good idea, well that's your choice, but I know where I want my taxes spent. And if loss making facilities can become profit making facilities to help fund the needy I would see it as a good thing, not bad....but then my views are based on sound economics and not any political dogma.
Topic: Council to spend £2.5m on Queen’s Park Sports Centre (Read 12529 times)