I haven’t had a good rant for a while…so here’s one for you.
Local councils................I’ve already hooked you in haven’t I!
On January 26th I received an email with the subject header ‘Dear XXXXXX borough business owner’, all good so far.
A click and a scroll later, I was left flabbergasted, as I read:
XXXXXX Borough Council offers annual pest control contracts
And, hey, click on the attached flyer and get yourself a FREE site survey.
WHAT?!
Let me get this straight, I am a XXXXXX business paying XXXXXX business rates and the organisation to whom I am paying those rates is now my competitor? Oh, and not only am I paying my own dues, I’m also now funding that competitor?
I get that with the cuts in local funding councils are having to find new ways of generating income, but at the expense of local businesses, employing local people who actually pay the taxes that fund the council in the first place? Really?!
I have no issues with them offering ad hoc pest control services for domestic properties, but commercially, "get lost" comes to mind, and for pest control services at food businesses, "doubly get lost".
Because as much as it galls me that they are effectively biting the hand that feeds them by entering our space, they are also posing potential conflicts of interest here.
The council employs Environmental Health officers and part of their remit is to enforce food safety law. So, are we saying that the council can deliver pest control AND food hygiene checks completely independently to these businesses? I would say, no, absolutely not. This surely has to be a huge conflict of interest?
You won’t be surprised to know that I have raised my concerns to the council and I won’t be letting this matter drop until I have proper answers to my questions…
I’ll be sure to report back when I get a response.
I'd love to know if anyone has had any similar experiences, pest control or otherwise?
