Forum Topic

Maggie Tomlinson · 12/16/2010 10:23:00 PM

new.EalingToday.co.uk Communtity Forum Topic posting

Why are Council Tax Payers Subsidising Festival Goers?

My simple question is why in these tough times are Ealing's council tax payers subsidising Ealing festival goers by over £2 a day? With Ealing Council saying that it may have to put up an Ealing festival day ticket up from £2 to £4 next year because of the cuts my simple maths tells me that this means that council tax payers are subsidising the festival goer by over £2 a day each. Why are council tax payers having to do this when day centres looking after the ill, disabled and vulnerable are being closed to save some money?

Maggie Tomlinson ● 5590d15 Comments

I do not think that you realise how isolating being disabled and/or mentally ill can be. Services such as LINKS and the Albert Dane centre can be about the difference between wanting to live and not wanting to live. Clearly you have never experienced the care provided by Ealing Social Services or else you would be aware of how poor it already is.Being ill can happen to any of us unexpectedly and with devastating consequences.

Maggie Tomlinson ● 5573d

They're not dying are they? Your post said 'not at the expense of lives'. Isn't that being a bit dramatic? If you think there should be a policy of giving our taxes first and foremost to services that save lives I'd have to suggest you are opening a door onto a massive moral maze. Our taxes have artificially extended the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who wouldn't be alive if it weren't for the appliance of science funded by us and administered by the NHS. Physically disabled children who would have died pre-childbirth or in infancy are kept alive into child and adulthood because of the breakthroughs in care and medical understanding funded by the tax payer. But with every extended life comes increased medical costs. But where do we draw the line? Should we? And should healthcare always trump the less tangible things like art and leisure. My health is important to me and I consider going to the Ealing festival a positive contribution to it. It's a shame that services are being cut, but that's an inevitable consequence of the economic climate. This council wastes money on many things as does the government, but the festival is such a small part of the overall budget that generates a lot of happiness and good feeling I think it is fully justified. You could even go so far as to say that more people benefit from it than from the Albert Danes centre and the LINKS project. That might sound callous but there is some truth in the statement. I don't know what the answer is but I get the impression cutting council spending on the festival is not it.

Darren Halford ● 5573d

There is nothing wrong with having a festival for Ealing residents, it is just that I do not see why it should be subsidised by Ealing Council and Ealing concil tax payers when real hardship is being imposed on theose least able to express themselves the disabled and the mentally ill through the closure of the Albert Danes centre and the LINKS project. This reflects badly on us as human beings that we can continue to condone the employment of full time Events Department staff at Ealing Town Hall and the subsidy of an arts festival at the expense of other human beings.

Maggie Tomlinson ● 5573d

Isn't the festival shorter than it used to be anyway? I'm sure it is more evening focused during the weekdays now.I think the advertising at the entry and exit to tube stations is brilliant as too many people just automatically go to work and and come home and forget that there should and could be more to life than work. Rest and relaxation is important to reduce the stress that otherwise could lead to more expensive intervention. It is an easy way to meet up with friends and neighbours. People are often time poor as well as financially poor.The festival is an introduction to music for many and a showcase and opportunity for new performers. It is also sponsored by a beer company isn't it? Personally I'd like to see more exciting non-alcoholic drinks for sale - I remember a delicious smoothie bar one year - but alcohol seems to be sold so cheaply nowadays that this may not be a feasible option but it would be nice to have a really good choice.

Philippa Bond ● 5574d

I don't claim benefits or benefit from social housing; I am not disabled or an asylum seeker. I live in Ealing. I want my share of the council loot. I love the festival. It's good fun, it cheers me and my friends up and makes me begrudge paying council tax less. The council spend money on lots of things I don't agree with or will ever get to use because I am a single, middle-class Brit, so seeing a little bit of my cash spent on something I can enjoy doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Darren Halford ● 5577d

I'd be very happy with a monthly residual waste collection.I think that there are an awful lot of people who benefit from attending the Summer Festival who would never otherwise see and hear such interesting music.

Philippa Bond ● 5585d

It is not a cheap trick.you may have seen in the local press about the closure of the albert dane centre and the giving of personalised care packages. in effect people will be assessed then given money however that centre was specially equiped to deal with people who need hoisting or changing. they lead such isolated lives that this place was a lifeline. so my point is that the council have priorities which are totally wrong. I love culture but i would say my right to enjoy music can only be justified if others less fortunate than myself are looked after correctly. though if you read the spin from bell and anand then you would think that the severely disabled would be better off. As a good friend of mine is a user of the centre i hope that you will understand that my point was not a cheap debating trick

Peter Chadburn ● 5585d

Using "the severely handicapped" to argue against any use of tax you have no personal use for, is a cheap debating trick. How about we reduce refuse collection to once a month for anyone who is able-bodied and has a car? After all, you can drop it off yourself at the depot, and the money saved could go to helping the severely disabled too, right?The festival makes Ealing a better place to live. It's a legitimate use of Council funds, as the Council is there to support, sustain, and promote the town so that it thrives.

Gerald Cabb ● 5586d

I think the main thrust could be that while severely handicapped people lose their day centres and other front line services are slashed we can all sit and enjoy some music in walpole park. it is a question of the morally bankrupt vs the culturally bankrupt in our council.

Peter Chadburn ● 5586d

Agree with Ian and Helen, the festival is great. I'd like to see it stay and make a good margin for the council. The culturally bankrupt others can move to duller boroughs if they wish.

Dan Wilkinson ● 5586d

here here Helen!

Ian Boyle ● 5586d

I for one think the Ealing Summer Festival facilitated by Ealing Council is brilliant and well worth the cost. Many thousands of residents attend and enjoy it and it brings in people from a wide area who undoubtedly spend money and boost the local economy. What a miserable life it would be if Councils could only spend money on sweeping the streets etc. This is the one cultural activity that Ealing subsidises, unlike many other Councils which have arts centres, etc. Long may it continue!

Helen Johnson ● 5586d

It beggars the mind doesn't it! Apparently the council has an Events Services department or something like that that puts all this stuff together. Does anyone know how many people it employs and how much they spend? It really does sound as though they are fiddling (musically!) while Rome burns?

Jeff Belsen ● 5586d

More to the point, what on earth is any local government administration doing running/funding/sponsoring pop/music/festival 'concerts' of any sort?Such is today's 'society', that local councils have totally lost sight of their purpose in life - to fill pot-holes in the roads, maintain street lighting, empty the bins, organise the running of day centres for disabled and vulnerable members of society, keep the streets clean etc.But, hey, it's so easy for local clerks with a 'Harvey Goldsmith' complex to play 'ducks and drakes' with tax-payers' money.

Andy Horridge ● 5590d