The headline here is annoyingly sensationalist, because the article is a perfect illustration by a very smart guy of everything which is wrong with how projects are managed in English-law countries www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024... - ThreadSky

johnb78.bsky.social • 223 days ago

The headline here is annoyingly sensationalist, because the article is a perfect illustration by a very smart guy of everything which is wrong with how projects are managed in English-law countries
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/07/cost-of-shed-to-protect-bat-colony-near-hs2-has-topped-100m-chair-says

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rhtebooks.bsky.social•223 days ago

I mean, if you were going to go sensationalist with the headline just go for "Bat Shed Crazy"

blackbeardsghost.bsky.social•222 days ago

Is there a big problem with trains splattering bats currently then?

patrickstokes.com•223 days ago

I dunno, this sounds more like a corporate guy who doesn’t get that government is not business and can’t operate the same way:

johnb78.bsky.social•223 days ago

The main reason non-Anglo democracies deliver projects at 1/3 the cost of Anglo democracies is that once the democratically elected government has passed the bill saying that they can build the project, the people building it can in fact do that

patrickstokes.com•223 days ago

Do these same democracies not also have environmental legislation the project builders have to work within, other democratically-elected local authorities they have to work with etc? Or is it just “Build us une ligne de train and fuck les bats vulneráble”?

patrickstokes.com•223 days ago

His complaint literally boils down to “I have to find the cheapest way to do this consistent with the bats being legally protected.” This isn’t ’bureaucracy gone mad’ or whatever, it’s just competing requirements like any project will have.

johnb78.bsky.social•223 days ago

No, that's not the point at all - it's that one branch of government says "the bats must be protected and there is no compromise", another branch of government says "the bat-safe structure breaks conservation rules and there is no compromise" (1/2)

johnb78.bsky.social•223 days ago

and the only way to resolve this is for the three government orgs to instruct three troupes of high court barristers to determine the compromise (2/2)

patrickstokes.com•223 days ago

Is that really *that* much worse than one level of government doing it by A Bill For An Act To Fuck Them Bats And For Related Purposes, overriding bits of other acts and local authorities? In the meantime this chap seems to be blaming these bodies for doing what they’re *legally obliged* to do.

johnb78.bsky.social•223 days ago

That isn't the way public infrastructure projects are currently done in the English law world though! I think it would be good if the HS2 bill included "and fuck the bats" at all points, but the current, bad, process is to leave them open to the same review as some bloke's mansion

patrickstokes.com•223 days ago

And he’s complaining that government can’t move as quickly as a boardroom! Like yeah, when your stakeholder list is “Basically Everyone” it might be a little bit more time-consuming than what one company has to decide.

awelder.bsky.social•223 days ago

Also, other people have different priorities to you. What might be the subject of idle Friday chat for some is detailed work for others. I have spent my life listening to Red Tape Busters whinge, then quietly automating bits of the processes that vex them so

johnb78.bsky.social•223 days ago

How does that in any way relate to the problem cited in the article of having to get the High Court to adjudicate between different departments' irreconcilable rules?

awelder.bsky.social•223 days ago

It doesn't, it refers to the adolescent eyeroll of: we can solve problems quickly so long as we don't have a stake and aren't held accountable, but those who are both take *forreverrrr*

johnb78.bsky.social•223 days ago

But that's exactly why - for any project - you should always minimise the number of stakeholders and tell as many people as possible who incorrectly believe themselves to be stakeholders that their opinions are worthless and they should fuck off

alang64.bsky.social•222 days ago

I would contest the view that Bechstein's Bat is common. In the whole of Europe it may be true but it's one of the UKs rarest. HS2 has been extraordinarily poorly managed so much of what he says otherwise is valid.

willjager.bsky.social•223 days ago

Missed a perfect opportunity to call it the bat cave

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