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News and Comment March 2022

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1 March - How did things get to be this bad?

Bexley’s Cabinet met last night to agree to recommend the maximum possible (1·99% + 1% Social Care) Council Tax rise for the next financial year. The Government grant has been increased by a paltry £742,000 which will do little to redress the balance with neighbouring Greenwich and failed to prevent the maximum allowable increase.

It’s not unlike the national situation where years of mismanagement by both parties has led to there being no realistic alternative to more taxes. Nationally the Net Stupid policies, trying to rely on green energy, ridiculous subsidies on solar panels and the like, banning fracking, closing gas storage facilities, stalling on nuclear energy have all led us to a very bad and expensive place.

Then there are the lamentable blinkered policies which result in an under-equipped defence force that wouldn’t fill a big football stadium and running down the health service so that it operates close to 100% of capacity for most of the time. We have been governed by brainless ninnies for far too long.

By comparison Bexley Council has not done too badly. It held back on growth for far too many years and totally messed up the housing requirements while raising taxes by more than 20% in the past four years and is nothing to be proud of but better than the London Mayor’s record which has been catastrophic. His failure to recognise that London was the money generating powerhouse of the UK and trying to close it down by attacking commuters and vehicle movements on all fronts will stifle enterprise. Maybe it is part of his Socialist Dream

An 8·8% tax precept at a time when most people are about to suffer a 54% increase in energy costs, 10% higher National Insurance Contributions, reduced pensions and the price of my favourite jam going up by a factor of 2·08 over a month or two.

In April most people will be in for a rude awakening and, Covid apart, any damn fool could have seen the problems coming 15 years ago.

The Cabinet meeting last night was about one thing only; money, and how to extract as much as possible from those who suffer the 25th worst Council Tax rates in London.

There wasn’t a lot new by way of statistics. The Council underspent on housing by £1·5 million this year and the Leader said that “was good”. Whether those sleeping in shop doorways agree was not recorded. The forecast is that the underspend will get bigger.

The Capital Budget is even more adrift from the forecast of £69·5 million. It is underspent by £25·7 million. The cut backs have been very severe.

73,669 households will benefit from the £150 reduction in Council Tax mandated by the Government.

Cabinet Member David Leaf went into one of his lengthy (33 minutes and 48 seconds) political speeches and among the few highlights is that Bexley provides “a high quality waste and recycling collection service which continues to be the best in London”.

Street Services, parks, open spaces are all improved and “keep our borough looking beautiful”. He did not believe that lower parking charges would attract more users as had been suggested at the Budget Scrutiny meeting.

Cabinet Member Read spoke for only eight minutes but he too failed to come up with anything new. It was not really relevant to budget setting but Cabinet Member Craske revealed that Bexley lost 160 trees in the recent storms.

Labour Leader Stefano Borella said the election in May will be a verdict on Bexley Council not the Mayor of London. His main point was that the figures set out on the Finance Director’s report did not add up properly. (Look at the year 2024/25 where £1,688·76 plus £213 09 is said to total £1,620·11.)
Bad!
Further down the same page Council Tax was said to be going up by 21%. (Compare 2023/24 with 2024/25.)
21%
How can it be that the man with verbal diarrhea doesn’t notice the “Bombshell” tax increase but the Council’s train spotter can?

The Finance Director was asked to comment but he had failed to find the offending table. The Leader said that only Labour administrations have 21% Council Tax rises. Ironically 21% is pretty much the increase the Conservatives have introduced, albeit over four years.

The Finance Director was unable to answer Councillor Borella’s mathematical queries during the course of the meeting.

Councillor Leaf restarted his political diatribe but fortunately gave up after a minute or so.

 

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