With the Daily Telegraph publishing details this week showing that Roger Parkin, the interim Chief Executive of Slough Borough Council in 2017, was the highest paid town-hall official in the country with his package of nearly £600,000, it highlights yet again how wasteful Labour have been over the years in control of our council.
The fact is that this story – as damning as it is, is just part of the story. Over the last three years, Labour have been through four different Chief Executives, and in the process spending a total of £1.27m on them.
A staggering half a million was spent just on their pensions, and even more concerning was the quarter of a million spent on pay-outs, as Labour cycled through their CEOs at such a rate it puts their actual household waste recycling rate to shame. Put in to context, the amount spent over these two years on Chief Executives could have reduced council tax bills for residents by £25.
And if we thought their waste on Chief Executives was bad enough, overall Slough Borough Council has spent £7.5m in total on staff pay-outs alone in the last 10 years – an eye-watering number that equates to around £160 for each household.
Add all this waste to the millions Labour continue to spend on vanity projects and new council offices over just the last few years, and the fact is that Labour are failing to deliver value for money to council tax payers in Slough. There is no running away from it, and Slough deserves better.
Lee Pettman - Chairman, Slough Conservative Association
Cllr. Wayne Strutton - Group Leader, Slough Conservatives
All numbers quoted can be found in statements of accounts for SBC on their website here.