Spotted recently:
£210,000 to rehouse 18 newts - "Town hall bosses will spend £210,000 of taxpayers' money on two new ponds for just 18 newts. Cheshire East Council agreed the plans yesterday after being told it must create new habitats for a colony of great crested newts that are protected by European law before construction on a £30 million bypass can begin. An environmental survey of the affected area counted just 18 of the rare amphibians spread over a 500m area - putting the cost of the project at £11,666.66p per newt." (Daily Mail 6-3-13)
£1m on golden goodbyes - "Britain's former chief fraud buster Richard Alderman was branded "dilatory, sloppy and slovenly" by MPs yesterday over the way big payoffs to former senior staff were handled... MPs listened aghast as he sought to justify golden goodbyes of around £1m for the Serious Fraud Office's former chief executive Phillippa Williamson, chief capability officer Chris Bailes and head of IT Ian McCall, as well as "exotic" employment packages. These included the £27,600 spent by the agency in one year paying Ms Williamson to travel down from the Lake District, where she worked two days a week, and for hotel stays during the remaining three days in which she worked in London." (Independent 8-3-13)
£6.5bn defence overspend - "The Ministry of Defence has overspent its equipment budget by £6.5bn and some of its major orders are likely to be delivered 39 years late. The 16 most costly projects should have taken 159 years to deliver between them and cost a total of £56.5bn. But the National Audit Office (NAO), in its latest report into the MoD's spending, reveals they are now set to take a total of 195 years and cost £61.1bn." (Sky News 10-1-13)
£16,000 to phone speaking clock - "There was once a saying: 'If you want to know the time, ask a policeman'. But not in Manchester, apparently. New figures have revealed Greater Manchester Police has spent £16,000 of public money on calls to the speaking clock and directory enquiries. The force has notched up the substantial bill since April 2010, which included more than 35,000 calls to either high cost 118 or 123 numbers up to October last year... Last year it was revealed the Metropolitan Police had spent more than £35,000 on 110,000 calls to the Speaking Clock in the previous two years. The force also spent £200,000 calling directory enquiries." (Daily Mail 26-2-13)
£320,306 annual carpark subsidy - "Cardiff council has come under fire for subsidising a loss-making park and ride that loses nearly £30,000 every month. The Pentwyn park and ride off the A48(M) has not made a profit since it was set up in 2009 and now costs taxpayers an effective subsidy of £3.31 for every car that uses it... Between April 2011 and March 2012 the council made a loss of £302,306." (Wales Online 15-2-13)
Total for week: £6,001,546,306
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