“I Could Have Told You, Vincent!”

On 6th March 2016, the Enquirer published a Letter to the Editor from Allan ROBERTS of Scarborough concerning the abysmal management of the Vincent Pier Crane under the purview of Councillor Mike COCKERILL [Ind.], Portfolio Holder for Project Leadership, Harbours, Coast and Flood Protection – a man whose fitness for public office has been questioned by the Enquirer since as long ago as 2011.

Allan ROBERTS’ Letter can be reviewed here. It is a brief Letter and well worth revisiting.

On 25th June 2017, the Enquirer published a Guest Author article by the same Allan ROBERTS, covering in detail the on-going Vincent Pier Crane losses and offering a cost effective alternative, under the title “COCKERILL’s West Pier Davits: The Facts”. Again, well worth revisiting.

The Enquirer is now pleased to publish Allan ROBERTS’ Up-Date on the Vincent Pier Crane issue, detailing the scale of Councillor COCKERILL’s mismanagement, reliant upon presumably accurate facts and figures provided by SBC under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

“I Could Have Told You, Vincent!”

The Harbourmaster has stated that in the year ending March 2017, the crane on the Vincent Pier has cost £2,927 in repairs and maintenance, and has generated an income of £2,085, in the same period.

However, further data provided by the Harbourmaster show the Vincent Pier Crane bottom line:-

It is apparent, even after disregarding the initial installation costs in 2005, that the crane has never since that time generated enough income to cover even half of its maintenance costs.

It is interesting also that the SBC Financial Strategy document dated March 2017 contains this paragraph:

“Value for money should be at the heart of everything the Council does, and the pursuit of improved efficiency and performance needs to be established as an ongoing underlying principle”.

I wonder, how does the Vincent Pier Crane figures over the last 11 years represent ‘Value for Money’?

Based on information provided by SBC via responses to the following Freedom of Information Requests:

FOIA 1386,

FOIA 3283,

FOIA 4098,

FOIA 4640

and

FOIA 5116.