It appears the Oliver Letwin's mind has boggled upon discovering that the cost of a Zebra-crossing is £114,000. Personally it doesn't surprise me one bit, but then I read Hansard so much these days that insane figures for things that should not cost as much as they do is par for the course. Apparently the Zebra-crossing cost is "made up of £11,000 for designing each crossing, despite their apparent similarity, £16,000 for the equipment and £87,000 for the labour". The breakdown of figures certainly reinforces a truism. It's always labour that stings you!
5 comments:
I happen to know that the equipment does not actually cost anything like £16,000. You can buy what you need for about £1000.
And labour? well, I recently had a 500 sq m building renovated for less than this.
But then, it's a one buyer state - you can charge them what you like, especially if it is your very own inhouse builders. Edinburgh had some of these, but the whole thing had to be privatised under the last government - two thirds of the workers lost their jobs, but the same amount of work continued to be done for less money and they were evne able to take on outside contracts. I am perennially astonished that Broon keeps saying you can't make cuts without affecting services. I actually beieve we could have a state about 60% of the present size,and make no difference to services delivered - except they might be better.
It is not as simple as just the construction costs.
As with all traffic problems, a transport consultant has to be employed to assess the effect that the crossing will have on the traffic flow.
There is a terrible shortage of transport consultants in this country which is pushing up salaries - they have to be very numerate so they are recruited from the same limited pool as mathematicians, physicists and engineers.
I shall be contacting my local Chamber of Commerce to see if there's any funding available for me to take Zebra Crossing Design 101.
Dear Dizzy
Dr Pangloss, the Calvinist in Voltaire's Candide constantly observed - don't we live in the best of all possible Worlds
1. Surely much of this £114,000 comes back to the Government in taxation - eg PAYE/National Insurance on the installation-workers wages - eg Corporation tax on the profits "earned" by Installation companies - eg VAT on materials
2. Shouldn't we be adding extra to cover the attendance/expense allowances of Councillors who have any input on deciding to instal zebra crossings
3. Just think of all the jobs this is creating, with the consequent savings on welfare benefits
4. Shouldn't we avoid paying for these Crossings for at least 25 years by borrowing their costs using PFI (Private Finance Initiatives)
... 5. Surely these Zebra Crossing also contribute to the UK reducing its carbon emission, thereby leading a Green Example for the World and thus saving the Planet
I remain your obedient servant etc
G Eagle
RIP Off Britain
114,000 UK pounds for Zebra crossing is a total p+ss take.
Could easily be done for 5000.
How about putting childrens safety first.
What are we hoing to do about it???
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