April 20th 2009

Dear Sir

The Council's £676 million project to improve roads and pavements using a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is one huge rip-off for tax payers.

Under PFI, private companies build public infrastructure - roads, bridges,
schools, hospitals, and prisons then lease them back to the state for 25 or
30 years. Nationally over 800 deals have been signed, including all the new
secondary schools built in Sheffield, since the scheme was launched in 1992. They commit the taxpayer to future spending of around £215bn.

The government argues that because private companies are more efficient than the state, PFI is cheaper than paying for the improvements directly out of the public purse. There is an audited measure to prove it. But most times
the government distorts the figures to get the PFI contract signed. It is
all about the cost of risks that the private company now carries rather than
the tax payer. These are weighted in such away to always advantage the
private financer.

This has led to many tax payer rip-offs. The companies which built the first
eight PFI road schemes in the UK have made average annual operating profits of 68%.

The cost of the new scheme for Sheffield's roads may seem like a good deal but it will cost us all a lot more through our taxes in the long run.

Your sincerely

Steve Barnard

Green Party European Parliament candidate Yorkshire & the Humber