Financial Freeze

Its good news that representatives of the Assembly Government and the WLGA are going to the UK Treasury to discuss the recovery of public funds frozen in Iceland. Its still not clear from many Authorities whether they were following appropriate guidelines and until the full facts are known the jury will be out on liability. It is even more worrying that the return on the frozen accounts could be as low as 30%. This will put in peril some current projects but also restrict or even cancel future capital schemes. Local authorities constantly need to invest and reinvest in the infrastructure that serves society and much of this will now be on a prioritised statutory/mandatory basis, however much will remain undone.

One such scheme is the the UK Government and Assembly intention to bring private sewers into public ownership. There are so many badly constructed sewers in poor condition - developers making a fast buck and burying the evidence quickly - that the eventual bill will land on the doorstep of private individuals, this is likely to be substantial. Sooner or later this kind of hardship will fall upon us, lets hope the Minister gets some luck in London.