How Much Did This Save?

And when I say save I mean in both meanings of the word.

Last weekend I had a walk around Hickman Park in Bilston. Yes, it’s a tiny park but like all open spaces in the middle of post-industrial Black Country towns it’s a welcome respite from the urban landscape. There’s a little children’s playground, some exercise equipment and a newish Ranger’s hut. It’s nice.

But there’s also this…

This is a small staging area in front of some amphitheatre type grass verges. As you can see it’s seen better days.

Now first things first. Parks in the UK tend to be funded by the local council so if you think I’m about to start slagging The City of Wolverhampton Council off you’d be wrong. I don’t blame the council for this. In 2010 the Conservative Government of Cameron / Osbourne got into power. This was 2 years after banks had pretty much bankrupted the entire Western World. To punish the banks for their misbehaviour Cameron and Osbourne decided to implement Austerity. Or as Alexei Sayle once said, “Austerity is the idea that the global financial crash of 2008 was caused by there being too many libraries in Wolverhampton¹.” Indeed, councils² saw the money they received from central government slashed³, while other cuts removed support services meaning the demand on what the council had to provide rose dramatically. Councils literally had to do lot more with a lot less. And make no mistake, austerity was never about fixing the problems caused by the financial crash. It was a money grab by the ultra wealthy. Under the Tories we had 14 years of austerity and pretty much every service in the country was decimated and made worse while the gap between rich and poor has grown substantially.

But what does any of this have to do with a battered stage in a municipal park in Bilston?

There is no way we can expect any council to maintain a small stage like this in a park in the current climate. It’s expensive, it’s prone to vandalism and if it’s used it would be used a few times a year maximum. But let’s say local authorities were properly funded. Let’s say they could maintain a structure like this. What would happen?

Many years ago, when councils could afford to maintain things like this I was at Hickman Park and saw a free music festival. Yes, a music festival. For free. I saw about 6 local bands of differing genres take turns to entertain people while a little fun fair went on in the corner and a couple of people in vans sold burgers and ice creams. I think there was a beer tent but I can’t remember. It was wonderful. Not just for the locals who got to see some live music for free but also for the bands. They get to play a gig to a couple of hundred people. Where else do they get that opportunity? A pub might fit 20 or 30 people. But then there’d be a cost on the door, an age restriction or the expectation to buy a drink. This was a fun, free day out.

Imagine what this opportunity did for those local bands. Imagine the self esteem boost. The confidence boost. But also imagine what it did for those people watching. Sure some will just watch and enjoy. But others will watch and go, “Hey, I can do that.” Yes, there is a cost to maintaining a stage in a park. But I also think we get something back which can’t be measured in money. We give the community a nice time, we give them a chance to be creative and we give them the message that they can follow their dreams and do something creative with their lives.

Even without that, I’ll tell you now… the chance to perform or see my work performed does wonders for my mental health. I guarantee you that little music festival all those years ago probably saved the NHS a fortune in mental health support. But it’s impossible to quantify that.

Okay, we’re going to get dark for a minute or two. Let’s do a trigger warning.

Trigger Warning: Suicide

I was once told that a suicide costs the State approximately a million quid. This sounded far fetched when I first heard it but then I thought about it. You have emergency services called. Then there has to be an autopsy and an inquest. The emergency services workers and coroner will end up giving evidence taking them from their day job. You’ll have court staff, judges and legal people. Police might be involved and if they are, they will produce reports and have to take time to attend hearings. So even if you look at a suicide from a purely Capitalist driven, money is everything mindset and ignore the personal impact such action has on friends and family it makes sense to ensure people do not commit suicide.

So let’s say every little stage in every little park costs £100,000 a year to maintain. But they stop 1 person a year from taking their own life.

Each of those stages is actually saving the state £900,000 a year.

End of Trigger Warning

That’s not even looking at the extra benefits like the people in the community who have improved mental health because they took part in or saw a show. Imagine if each one of these stages removed one person from mental health waiting lists. Imagine if every ten of these stages gave someone an opportunity and it meant they went from a dead end, minimum wage day job to doing a well paying job in a creative industry they love. Like I say just from a Capitalist, money is everything point of view it makes sense.

Now let’s go back and think about all those cuts over 14 years of Tory rule. Not just to the arts, but community projects, Sure Start Centres, libraries, leisure centres, parks, gardens and a whole host of other things.

How much has it actually saved?

How much has it actually cost?

Of course, the truth is the instigators of austerity are only interested in one thing, lining their own pockets. They said they were “saving public money” as an excuse for their own greed and corruption. And that’s the crux really, isn’t it? Voters were conned.

As I wandered around that little park and saw that derelict stage a simple question popped into my head.

“Why can’t we vote for nice people?”

Ask yourself that? Ask yourself if you’re voting for a “nice person”. Or are you voting for someone offering simple answers to complex questions? Are you voting for someone offering division and hatred of others? Are you voting for someone who says they are “protecting” you from some perceived threat? When all they’re doing is lining their own pockets. And stop thinking about the other team. Stop blaming the other team. Stop saying, “They’re all the same.” Look at your team.

Tell them to funnel money from the ultra rich to local communities. Tell them the money will ultimately save everyone. Tell them it’s important to you and tell them they won’t have their vote until they do. Tell them to do better.

Tell them to be nice.

That will save us all.

Dave Pitt
Setting Orange, The Aftermath 53, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3190

1. Yes Sayle mentioned Wolverhampton and now I’m talking about Wolverhampton. It’s like we planned it.

2. Not banks. Councils.

3. Banks didn’t see their money slashed. They got massive government hand outs and those banks which were ultimately “nationalised” were quickly sold back to the free market at a cut price.