13 April (Part 1) - The Splash Park is back
Well not exactly but the
Save the Belvedere Splash Park campaign website has come back to life with
a lot of new posts but perhaps not an awful lot of new information.
It is reiterated that cabinet member Alex Sawyer admits that he will take
no notice of a petition, Bexley council never has so I suppose it is better that
he speaks the truth than arouse false hopes. Nevertheless there is comment that
a petition has been allowed for the
Old Manor Way playground closure - on the
council’s own website no less - where Conservative councillors are feigning support.
There is some adverse comment on the closure campaign being
dragged into the political arena
by parliamentary candidate Anna Firth but it is hard to see how that can do any harm. Alex Sawyer
was on the committee of the Erith & Thamesmead Conservative Association - chairman if I remember correctly -
when Anna Firth was selected as their candidate and his wife is still President. Anyone
prepared to kick sand in the face of Bexley’s Conservative council can’t be all bad.
The situation remains much the same as it was three months ago. Unless someone
can find funds from elsewhere to rebuild the Splash Park, it will close, because
Bexley council is not going to dig deep. Its budget is finely balanced and any
change of direction will tip them into the abyss. The Conservative cycle is
clear. Cut everything possible in the first year of office and hope the pain
will be forgotten when the next election comes around three years later. Lying
about Bexley having a low council tax rate always helps.
It cannot be said too often that Bexley council is relying on “all the Cabinet’s
proposals particularly in respect of savings” to go ahead if the budget is to get anywhere near to
making sense, and it has already set the council tax level so there is no realistic alternative to
the cuts and extra charges. All this consultation business is the usual sham unless money can be
conjured up from external sources.
