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News and Comment October 2013

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2 October (Part 1) - Bexley council’s website. Uniquely tacky

I heard councillor Colin Campbell say not long ago, I think it was at the Constitutional Review Panel meeting, that visitors to the council’s web site had risen to one and a half million a year and the News Shopper yesterday reported a figure of 150,000 a month. More than Bonkers but the time spent here is longer suggesting that people visit Bexley’s site because they have to and they come to Bonkers voluntarily and are less keen to get away as soon as possible.

Only a few days ago while engaged in a little research I visited every London borough’s website and whilst I accept that beauty is in the eye of the beholder I would put Bexley’s site near the bottom for attractiveness and accessibility. I think one of the reasons for it looking so tacky is that it is the only council website to carry advertisements. Whose bright idea was that? Campbell’s I think.

According to the very latest accounts from Bexley council, whilst the claim is that web advertising generated a saving of £6,000 - saving on what? - the actual revenue was only £2,376 and 39 pence. Bexley council’s use of the word savings in its accounts is always very strange to say the least. This time it would seem Bexley has the tackiest website in London to raise just enough money to cover what councillor Cheryl Bacon gets for chairing one Public Realm meeting - and making an ass of herself.

I don’t know how widespread my view of Bexley’s website is, but I had to go back less than two weeks to find this in my postbag…


Jeezuz wept, have you ever tried to setup an online account with the council? It’s, for want of better language, "a f**king clusterf**k" and I can’t see where to logout. Never seen anything like it and I’ve signed into much more important websites than the council’s.

I have never seen anything like it. I really haven’t. I’m still not sure whether I’ve registered or not. I tried logging in. It’s not recognising any of my details.


Perhaps this is an opportune moment to say I am sinking under the weight of emails. I usually spend Saturday morning wading through the week’s mail but last Saturday was taken up with a photo sortie. I’m finding that if I don’t answer mail immediately, and that is not always possible, it can get lost, especially if it is sent via the Contact Form because every single one has the same senders name (Contact Form) and subject (Contact form at Bexley is Bonkers).

 

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