Sink or swim for Civil Service in Llandudno
Llandudno, Queen of the Welsh Resorts, a title first implied as early as 1864 is awaiting the birth of a regional office of the Welsh Assembly Government. First Minister Rhodri Morgan recently [some might say, finally] announced the intended contractor for construction of the new office in Llandudno Junction [to pacify the good people of North Wales by bringing democracy closer to the people].
Construction activity will start as quickly as possible and aims to be completed by spring 2010. This will be followed by a period of internal fit out of furniture and ICT prior to the building being occupied summer 2010.
First Minister Rhodri Morgan said:
Everyone including myself will be genuinely excited by this announcement and know that this is the positive news that people have been waiting for. It is our intention at this stage, subject to the outcome of the standstill period, for the contract to commence on 20 October 2008.
The decision to re-procure the contract will be fully justified due to the improvements made and the demonstrable value for money achieved. I am unable to say more at this stage due to European Union procurement regulations but will make a further announcement at the end of the standstill period.
The new building will provide approximately 8,800 square metres of mainly open plan office space, and will accommodate up to 650 staff.
Some readers might remember my post on the first anniversary propaganda of the opening of the Merthyr Office. The situation is more or less the same, but over a greater distance for staff, and some of you will remember my post "Llandudno will be the Cardiff of the North" from 11 months ago.
Most of the staff are not keen to move from their various offices spread across North Wales, never mind those jobs that have been 'transferred' [uprooted] from Cardiff. When I say transfer, I mean the actual job transferring, and the person staying behind in Cardiff if they are not up to commuting or happy with the upheaval of their family across country. A kind of special Welsh job creation, only with one person left in desk limbo in Cardiff for as long as it takes, and the other [often newly recruited] having to step into the breach for the person in limbo.
On top of this, staff in Caernarfon are becoming fed up with management promises. Both Assembly Government management and politicians have consistently stated that the future of the Rural Payments Division is safe, without actually stating what this means. This brings back bad memories of promises made prior to the closure of the Ruthin Office, and of life prior to the bonfire of the quangos.
This has prompted Rural affairs Minister Elin Jones to meet with management and the union.
Back in the pool for some. Straight to the deep end for others.
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7 comments:
trouble is the place is being built in Llandudno Junction.
A sh*t hole if ever there was!
Need we say more??
This has been a working nightmare for us in junior grades. Some of us have been placed into jobs that we're not skilled to perform and one colleague has seen it as a demotion in responsibility.
whats the cost of all this. I fail to see the point,surely the crux is the jobs not the building
This is another example of WAG putting electoral desires over being practical. Open up a regional office here, there and everywhere and the whole of Wales will love you.
It's always been about location, location, location, instead of matching peoples skills to the job.
A disaster waiting to happen as we've seen with the WDA.
Have noticed that the Welsh media don't pay much attention to this type of news. It must be too much like hard work for them to research into and doesn't create a good headliner.
This type of reshuffling of jobs within Wales tends to affect lower grades rather than higher grades. The higher grades have time to position themselves in a location that is suitable, the lower grades have to make do with what's out there.
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