26 February (Part 2) - Craske’s cash cow was all bull
In November 2009 I added a short piece
to the News section of this website criticising councillor Craske for
reducing the parking facilities at Sidcup Place and introducing a charge for
what was left. I called him an obnoxious dictator and a little runt and got a
few complaints for a spelling mistake. Now the subject has been regurgitated and
updated in the Bexleyheath Chronicle entitled “Councillors kill off outdoor
leisure centre” and quotes our esteemed Leader saying “the car parking (charges
presumably) was started at the behest of councillors”. Wrong! The press at the
time made it absolutely clear that it was Craske’s idea. The Chronicle’s
reporter (Jean Gee) says the council spent £90,000 on refurbishing the
playground and fenced it in for another £12,800. Then in typical Craske fashion
£8,850 was spent on three parking ticket machines and charging commenced in
October 2009. There were requests to make the parking free for the first two
hours to allow parents to easily take their offspring there for a bit of fun but
Craske refused.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request soon afterwards revealed that the parking
meters were taking £114 a day but observations showed that didn’t look very
likely. A year later another FOI came up with a figure of £180. The reporter was
not one to give up. She kept a photo record of the car park and sent it to our
incompetent lying council. This time they were forced to admit the true income
was less than £40 a day. As The Chronicle says, a total waste of money
installing the playground and driving potential users away with parking charges.
It will take eight years for Craske to earn the expenditure back by which time the
ticket machines will be worn out and the playground will be broken by the
teenagers who use it on their way back from school. Well done Craske.
If you want to see Craske and the rest of Bexley’s largely useless shower at
work there is a cabinet meeting at The Crook Lodge
Civic Centre next Monday at 19:30.