Scott McPherson's Web Presence

You gotta love the story coming out of Suffolk, England.  As we all know, Suffolk was the epicenter of Britain's worst bird flu outbreak of the last few years.  High-path H5N1 was found in free-range poultry, and this threatened to put a huge dent in Britain's holiday fowl season.

Anyway, the tab was just presented to the government.  And what a tab it is!  Some 160 persons stayed at luxury hotels, running up a hotel and meal/entertainment tab of £121,000!  That is about a quarter of a million dollars, or about $1,600 a person for a month.

This, understandably, has MPs (Members of Parliament) and local officials fuming.  Local economies were already reeling from the state of Britain's economy (not good) and then, to have a massive bird flu die-off and cull on top of that -- well, the ripple effect can be well-imagined.  So did Her Majesty's government choose to slip some of that quid back into the pockets of local Bed and Breakfast owners and restaurateurs (pictured), to help them recover economically?  No, of course not!  they stayed at the luxury hotels and the locals failed to benefit economically.

Notice to FEMA workers, emergency managers and well-meaning bureaucrats everywhere:  Government produces no revenue.  It TAKES revenue from others.  It produces no widgets. The least government can do (and except for pandemic preparedness and homeland security, as a general rule the less government can do the better), please inject those taxpayer dollars back into the local economies. 

Here is the story, from the Suffolk Evening Star,  http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=News&tBrand=estonline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED12%20Dec%202007%2014%3A41%3A14%3A653

TAXPAYERS have forked out £121,000 in less than a month on accommodation for officials dealing with the second bird flu outbreak in Suffolk.

There were 160 people put up in accommodation for a combined total of 1,295 nights by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) between November 12 and December 2.

This works out at an average of £94 per night or £758 for each individual.

The figures emerged after MP for Bury and Stowmarket, David Ruffley, questioned Jonathan Shaw MP, parliamentary under-secretary at the Home Office.

Mr Ruffley said: “I am quite simply staggered by the size of the hotel bill DEFRA seem to have racked up while staying in Suffolk.

“On average they have spent £94 per night putting up their officials. This is incredibly frivolous when one considers that bed & breakfasts in the area charge in the region of £30 to £35 per night.

“This wasteful attitude will make farmers in the region sick - they are struggling to make ends meet, following bluetongue and avian influenza outbreaks, while the government is sending their officials to some of the finest hotels our area offers.

“By my calculations, if these officials had been found bed & breakfast accommodation the bill would have been in the region of £40,000. Not only would this have saved nearly £80,000 but it would have supported the very communities that have been shattered by these outbreaks.

“The government should be ashamed of this colossal waste of tax payers' money and Suffolk's farmers, who are receiving very little in the way of support or compensation, have every right to be livid.”

In answering Mr Ruffley's question, Mr Shaw said: “In an emergency, a large number of staff need to be found hotel rooms near to the local disease control centre at very short notice.

“DEFRA employs the services of an external provider to ensure that the most appropriate accommodation is secured and provides the best value for money.”

Do you think too much money was spent on accommodation? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk