Quote ="Donkey OTay"I'm sorry but that difference is a little too subtle for me. As far as I'm concerned, all council wealth belongs to the rate payers of the borough. Doesn't matter where it sits. '"
It matters massively where it sits. The capital budget does not come from local taxpayers. It comes from a variety of sources such as investments, central government funding, commercial enterprises. But I do agree that the council monies do belong to the local taxpayer in that the purpose of them is to provide services to the local taxpayer. One such service involves ensuring that the local economy is thriving, wherever possible, and that includes supporting productive and effective regeneration projects. The majority of the decisions made for this particular regeneration project were made under the hung council, not the Labour council, and there IS a difference - it's firstly in ideology but also, as a result of ideology, in policy.