21 April (Part 2) - What a shambles!
In July last year
news broke that Bexley Council had handed a
Community Centre to the Rose Bruford college and it seemed that no one had
been consulted beforehand. Blackfen & Lamorbey Councillor James Hunt got a
load of ccomplaints and enquiries about it. I know because he told me so at the time.
Naturally
the Conservatives were unhappy to be faced with a probing James Hunt so they
put out a cover story. Click the image alongside to read it in full.
As the truth was hard to come by, Bonkers did not say much more about it. Just
a little follow up on 14th July.
Thanks to some FOI enquiries a little more has come to light.
It begins on 6th January 2025 when former Council Leader Baroness O’Neill
expressed surprise at the news that the Community Centre was going to Rose Bruford and then the trail goes into redacted mode.
One Cabinet Member said to another in March that he was not going to do
anything until the Finance Director had offered an opinion. Nothing more
happened until late in April when a meeting was arranged. Two weeks later a
lease had been drafted. Six weeks later the responsible Cabinet Member
admitted to not knowing to what use the Centre might be put. “Could you
please remind me what the usage of this site was and what is the deal with
Rose Bruford.”
The reply said it was known as Sidcup Youth Centre and managed by
Children’s Services. The five year rental deal is redacted.
On the 30th June 2025 the Cabinet Member begins to worry about the way the
transfer is being perceived publicly and whether
Sidcup Lions
are still using the Centre. The Chief Executive suggests that “Comms puts the record straight”. The Cabinet Member says “someone is stirring”.
On 1st July the draft response is ready to counter “the activity on Social
Media”. The Leader asks that it goes out on Facebook, X and Nextdoor as well
as the Council’s website. In the event it went out on Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Blackfen & Lamorbey Councillors said “Thank you for giving some clarity,
it has caused a lot of residents concern from reading the planning
application which had sparse but conflicting information. Residents in B&L
are wary now after the Old Farm Park sell off for housing. There are still
worries about noise but that has been sent to Planning for conditions of
closing windows etc. Maybe next time there should be consultation before
issues like this. Transparency is a good thing.”
There is then a press enquiry about a new roof recently fitted to the Centre
and the clubs using the sports fields. The response confirms the new roof
and that the Youth Centre has not been used - apart from the playing
fields - since December 2024. Baroness O’Neill asks for some paragraphs to be
changed for greater clarity and when they are for a few more changes.
The responsible Cabinet Member then queries whether the rent should go into
the Capital program. No one seems to know. Six weeks later a contractor went
on site to see what is needed to be done to the building. The answer is more
roof work, a gas boiler and removal of a dead tree. The Leader asks how much that will cost
but there is no answer.
Rose Bruford College asks for the Centre’s name to be changed.
What does the foregoing show? It shows that the Leader was initially kept in the dark; the responsible Cabinet
Member was not completely on top of his brief and that the Council Officers
are not as efficient as we are so often told they are. What you cannot
see here is that the FOI resonse is an absolute mess. It is 41 pages long with much
of it being repetitive and out of sequence. There is nothing of note omitted
from the above summary.
It proves that James Hunt and his colleagues were right to probe his
residents concerns. Nobody had bothered to tell them anything and it only
suggests the level of Council incompetence is as bad as most of us suspect. There is no
evidence that the College was in any way at fault nor that James Hunt was “stirring” anything at all.
Another Bexley Council omnishambles.