20 September - Feeling free to send actual propaganda sheet to a letter box near you
Party
political leaflets are always good for a giggle, they tend to show the populace
how politicians see themselves and allow the populace an insight into cloud
cuckoo land. The one recently distributed in Danson Park is a case in point.
Pride of place goes to the three Conservative ward councillors, John Waters,
Linda Bailey and Sharon Massey.
Waters is a business man and on the council because it provides business
opportunities. He has contrived that lots of public money is directed towards
his family business and there is nothing illegal about that, but don’t kid yourself that he is there for your benefit.
Bailey is a rather more sinister character, famed for her claim that as a
councillor she can “do what I like” and her ability to lash out physically at
residents while doing what she likes. Mrs. Massey is pretty much a non-entity, on the council to boost the family finances but
with a high opinion of herself. Her
husband Don is the man who decided the 2,219 signature petition calling for a curb on the
6th highest local authority salary package in the country should be
binned rather than debated. Now they have the cheek to remind
Danson Park residents that Bexley has a “Listening Council’. That is far from the only lie being
poked through more letter boxes
than councillor Melvin Seymour could ever imagine.
Always
ready to put the boot into the opposition the Danson Conservatives make
dubious claims throughout the leaflet.
I do believe the Labour Party put forward an alternative plan for cutting
costs before the 2011 budget vote and when the 52:11 voting statistics took
their toll went into an ill advised sulk and voted against the Conservative
alternative. As I recall they didn’t vote for increased council tax, the
government grant conditions effectively prevented that, but for a different set of
cuts. Inevitably the Conservatives will imply otherwise.
What Labour didn’t do is propose increasing car park charges, that honour went to
Peter Craske who pushed that through along with
tripling the price of a Residents’
Parking Permit. I have been to all the relevant meetings in the past two years and
only heard the Labour councillors pointing out the obvious. That the increased and 24/7
charging regime is hitting business in the borough and had reduced council revenues. Both
Labour leader Chris Ball and
councillor Munir Malik
have made their views on Craske’s madness very clear.
Neither did the Labour party oppose modernisation of the council - I am assuming
here that the Tory leaflet is referring to the new offices. The Labour line was
to modernise even more with purpose built premises rather than refurbishing the
derelict Woolwich Building Society HQ. Labour’s preference would have cost about
20% more but according to council officers would provide a 50% longer life. Those
officers also said the cheapest option was to rebuild on the existing site so if the
Tories were really keen on saving money they should have done that. But that would
have spoiled their secret deal with Tesco. So secret that the public was slung out
of the meeting when it was due to be discussed. Since then Bexley has become Tesco Town.
With those in the pipeline and the Express
rumoured for Sidcup, I think that makes ten.
More about that Danson Park leaflet another day.