Vocal Voices

£369m in total. That is how much it is estimated to cost to refurbish the place, but the final bill could be anything upwards of that.

Apparently little or nothing has been done for over 60 years! How has that been allowed to happen, and who was responsible?

An old chum used to work for something called the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works. That then became the Property Services Agency (PSA), but was scrapped in the 90s. Teams were always out and about checking buildings, authorising repairs and planning upgrades. Someone or some department must have been doing the palaces as they are public buildings, so how did things get to be left in this state?

Westminster: The Commons and HoL are also in similar disrepair with refurbishment expected to cost £7bn.

Workingman wrote:Apparently little or nothing has been done for over 60 years!
How has that been allowed to happen, and who was responsible?

That's a very good question Frank. The same thought has occurred to me.
Surely regular maintenance is a far more sensible policy then doing nothing
for all those years.

Ah but did you read how they are going to pay for it???

They're going to up the sum they take from the income on the royal estate from 15% to 25%. So where does the rest go? Because it certainly doesn't go to the civil list....

It's going to cost us nothing. What I want to know is why they have not used this money before to keep these national heritage sites up to a good standard???

For reference, the income on the royal estates is £200m per year.

Suff wrote:What I want to know is why they have not used this money before to keep these national heritage sites up to a good standard???

It is what many people are now asking and, as Aggers points out, most home owners keep on top of things. They do not wait till the place is falling down, they do repairs as and when required.

Somebody took their eye of the ball with this one, or it was a money saving exercise gone wrong. Either way, questions need to be asked.

It is only certain sections of the media jumping on the £369m price tag to stir things up, but people seem to have seen through all their faux outrage.

Absolutely disgusting.IF there was any consideration of her"subjects" she would refuse it ,saying there are far more deserving cases out there.

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Well if I were her I'd say.

We'll break the deal and I'll have the estate revenues back thanks. Then I'll pay the £55m civil list, sort the renovations out in 3 years and use aggressive tax avoidance for the next 7 years....

Totally and completely beyond the pale they way the press are presenting this.

I agree with you Suff, they are whipping this up into a row when in fact it won't cost you or me a penny!