Melton Residents furious after thirty-five thousand pound hole is dug in town centre to hold the towns Christmas tree.
Melton council’s spending for September revealed thirty-five thousand pounds was paid to Corby based contractors, Jeakins weir, to dig the seven foot hole in the town market square. Prompting backlash from “furious” locals after the information from bidstats.com was posted on a neighborhood watch Facebook group, by a local restauranteur.
Residents anger was due to the fact the cost appears massively excessive for the size of a job, which for reference took less than a day and the hole is around a foot deeper than the depth a telephone pole is buried. One resident Brett Dziura called it an; “absolute joke’ and said; “The council really don’t give a sh*t about Melton people.”
The large expense has however been defended by Melton councilor Leigh Higgins claiming; “context is needed’ to understand the need for the works which he says are; “ a long term solution to enable a tree to be put up safely “ and he mentions how it will be used for “years in the future.” He further justified it by saying the cost is small compared to the cost of being liable if it were to fall and injure someone.
However the councilors explanation gave no reasoning as to how such a high price was reached.
Whilst residents were pleased at having some sort of explanation, many felt it raised more questions than it answered, was the stand the tree was held in in previous years unsafe? And who decided it was less safe was it the council or was it the contractor.
I have contacted councilor Higgins for further information.
This comes at a time of high suspicion of government awarded contracts after in the the summer a £13 billion contract was awarded to serco for a track and trace app which the company was not experienced in developing, and cost hundreds of times more than paid by other countries for more effective apps.
Gabriele Serio 