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MIND NUMBING £18MILLION PFI COSTS PER YEAR FOR SALFORD CITY COUNCIL
 

Star date: 25th June 2018

COUNCIL SCREWED FOR £18.7MILLION PER YEAR PFI SCHOOLS AND HOUSING COSTS

Schools and Pendleton Together Housing schemes set up under the Private Finance Initiative, or PFI, are costing Salford Council £18.7million per year – after Government grants.

Over the life of the schemes, interest payments alone will be over £242million, with a total PFI liability of £804,931,000. Much of this money will end up in offshore companies.

Full details here...


According to the new draft Salford City Council accounts, the city is getting absolutely screwed by Private Finance Initiative, or PFI, schemes it has set up to finance new schools across Salford and refurbished housing in Pendleton.

Over various times during the last two decades, Salford Council has entered into PFI agreements for three special needs high schools and six new high schools, plus the refurbishment of housing under the Pendleton Together company, with contracts running for up to 26 years at interest rates up to 12%. And the figures are absolutely mind numbing...

The Council's total PFI liability for the life of these projects is £186,656,000, plus interest of £242,487,000 plus charges for services, maintenance and stuff of £375,788,000 – bringing the total cost to £804,931,000.

The Government chips in with grants to part finance these schemes but, for the 2018 financial year Salford Council itself will be forking out £18,725,000. The Council accounts break it down as follows...

For the three special high schools, the Eccles Special High School Company Ltd (ESHSCO) will be coining in an average payment per year of £1.159million from the Council (£2.568million including Government contribution) over the remaining twelve years of the contract.

For two PFI high schools, Salford School Solutions Ltd will be trousering £2.574million per year from the Council (£6.611million including Government contribution) until 2034.

For two other high schools, S&W TLP (Project Co One) Ltd will be paid an average of £3.459million per year from the Council (£9.318million including Government contribution) until 2037.

The same company with a different name, S&W TLP (Project Co Two) Ltd will also be paid an average of £4million per year from the Council (£10.913 including Government contribution) until 2039 for two high schools and one co-located primary and high school.

Meanwhile, the Pendleton Together PFI, which has a thirty year contract to refurbish and manage 1,251 Salford Council properties with 26 years remaining, will be paid an average of £7.533million a year from the Council (£15.055million including Government grant).

That's a total drain of £18.725million a year on Salford Council resources. There's also the city's three Gateway buildings that have similar finance deals by a company called MAST Lift Project Company (Number 2). The Council will be paying £25.254million to lease space in these over the next twenty years.

The financing of these projects has come in for massive criticism with campaigns like PFI v The People calling for their immediate nationalisation, backed by Labour Party Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell.

Not only are the costs crippling local authorities and public bodies, but these PFI companies are being sold on to offshore investors. Hochtief and Lang O'Rourke, which held an 80% stake in four Salford high schools via S & W TLP (Project Co One and Two), sold out to HICL Infrastructure, an offshore company based in the tax haven of Guernsey recently.

PFI is a national scandal. Full stop.


For a full background see previous Salford Star articles...

Salford Council's £835million PFI debt as Labour Calls For Nationalisation – click here

For more details on school PFIs – click here

For Pendleton PFI – click here

For Salford Royal Hospital PFI – click here

wrote
at 06:33:31 on 29 June 2018
"OH, AND I'M NOT TAKING THE PISS. OUR PEOPLE ARE SOCIALISTS, AND THEY DO SPEND TIME THINKING ABOUT THE BEST THINGS FOR OUR BETTERMENT AND THE BETTERMENT OF OTHERS." £804.932.000 in debt over 20 years from successive Council leaders. That isn't in our best interests nor is it Socialism, it's stupidity, incompetence and greed. If you believe these people are Socialists then you really have zero understanding of what Socialism is. Then again, maybe Salford Labour don't have a clue what Socialism is either, which is why they owe £800+ million to private business and also why the Labour government finished the banking deregulation in the late 90s that Thatcher started, which ultimately helped to bring about the financial crash of 2008.
?
Mary ferrer wrote
at 06:30:47 on 29 June 2018
The council must have known what they were signing into. Or don't they read the small print. It's like the BBC orchestra £4M over 4 years. But they must have known they would be paying for years to come. If they didn't know what they were entering into they shouldn't be running the city.It's no wonder we have no money. Yes we have the best council in the land. And we should petition to get our saviour the mayor Paul Dennett at least an MBE.
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Philip Giuseppe Rossi, The Broadwalk ... wrote
at 05:18:01 on 28 June 2018
WROTE, YOU WROTE THE WORD "FUCKING" SEVERAL TIMES. THERE REALLY IS NO NEED FOR THAT. STOP IT. THERE MAY BE CHILDREN OR OLD PEOPLE READING. OH, AND I'M NOT TAKING THE PISS. OUR PEOPLE ARE SOCIALISTS, AND THEY DO SPEND TIME THINKING ABOUT THE BEST THINGS FOR OUR BETTERMENT AND THE BETTERMENT OF OTHERS. ANYWAY, NO MORE EFFING AND JEFFING FROM YOU. TRUST ME, NOBODY IS IMPRESSED.
?
Bob the regular wrote
at 07:43:50 on 27 June 2018
Well apart from the usual arse licking of the great leader,Phil seems to have got this one right.
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wrote
at 07:42:22 on 27 June 2018
This really fucking angers me! In what world were these a good idea? How fucking stupid can they be? Over the course of 20 years, it's not a one off thing that they'd learn from, like Rossi says, it's repeated stupidity. By the way Rossi, they're Socialists? Bullshit! Either you know fuck all about Socialism or you're taking the piss. Getting a Council (and tax payers) into excessive generational debt so private companies can make huge profits is in no way Socialism. We shouldn't "apportion blame" and "our people are incredibly naive and out of their depth"? They weren't just conned once it's happened several times over 20 years, so if they're so stupid for that to happen they're not fit for Government!
?
Bob the regular wrote
at 18:47:28 on 25 June 2018
It's all pure bullshit, pure high grade 100% bullshit. Star bullshiters who win these contracts are good at their work, and are more than a match for the simple minds that spend our money on the services we need. They are experts at flattery and deceit. They are up against other star bullshiters out to do the same. The best bullshiter wins the day, but will demand good payment from the ones that the contract has been won for. The people on the work side of things then have little money to fullfil the project and corners are often cut. It is a waste of time going on about this system. Get rid of it, and someone will think up something just as daft to replace it. As long as gullable stupid idiots are responsable for spending public money, there will always be clever people there to take the piss out of them
?
Rossi speaks wrote
at 18:46:46 on 25 June 2018
What I will say is this. Salford Labour Council are true believers in Socialism. Especially our beloved leader, Mayor Paul. But the thing is, in the shark like world of corporate chicanery and bizniss, Our People are incredibly naive and out of their depth. Sadly, there is nothing that can be done to rectify their naivety. With hindsight we can all say that they should have known better, but these sharks in suits are just too slick for our people. What we have to do is just get on with it. Get on with it and learn from the mistakes of the past, but we shouldn't apportion blame. We just have to accept that well meaning socialists who spend many hours of their lives selflessly thinking about what is best for us, wer simply conned by glib and slick smooth talking "experts" on whatever they are expert in. But see, with Paul in charge I doubt if there will be many more cock ups like this on the horizon. Okay Guys. Over and out.
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