17 January (Part 1) - The inevitable result of false economies
It was councillor Gareth Bacon who came up with the silly idea to leave all Bexley’s parks open at night when he was cabinet member for Public Realm. He said that cancelling Ward Security’s contract to patrol and lock parks would save £200,000 a year. The Labour opposition told him that his decision was bound to result in increased vandalism and waste police time but for a man trousering the best part of £100,000 of public money each year, Bacon can be remarkably blinkered and stupid. Some of the parks include children’s playground equipment costing many tens of thousands of pounds.
In
recent weeks I’ve received reports of
extensive damage to the
Lesnes Abbey ruins and of a car driven into Danson Park and set ablaze not far from the historic Danson House.
A BiB reader who walks his dog around Danson Park each day spotted more vandalism
this morning. It wasn’t like it yesterday.
It is not part of the lake plumbing as I at first assumed. It's a set of tunnels
installed for the amusement of small children who like to crawl through it. Now it
is full of broken concrete and sharp edges.
When your child is confronted by barriers around a favourite play area or you
find a site of historic importance irretrievably damaged, console yourself with
the thought that every Bexley citizen is about seventy pence a year better off than
before Gareth Bacon took leave of his senses. Apart from Gareth Bacon himself of
course. His councillor allowance was raised by nearly £4,500 this year.
Note: The repair cost £10,500.