22 February - Can Bexley be Reformed and given new hope?
According to today’s Torygraph, Reform UK is set to take Bexley Council on
7th May and I don’t think that is too hard to believe might come true.
I have asked the question several times before and never got an answer but can anyone think of
a single thing that is better in Bexley now than it was in 2006; the year Labour
was swept from office after only one term? The Tories would say it is due to Conservative governments which is not much of an excuse.
It is not so much that Council Tax only went up 72% against an inflation rate of
66% but more how everything has been cut to the bone while fees and charges have
rocketed. Yellow Money Boxes on major junctions as well as insignificant ones.
Recycling schedules slashed and waste charges introduced and tripling in only eight years. Library hours and days
reduced. Roads, even newish ones, in a poor state. Not a single road layout improved
for drivers. Dim street lights that are extinguished long before sunrise.
Council Tax Relief close to being abolished. Parking charges of
80 pence an hour in 2011
(free out of peak hours) and £2·20 (charges all day and all night) in the same car park
now. Cash payments gone! Green spaces sold off. Millions wasted on BexleyCo.
But enough of that, if you have reached the end of your tether with Conservative
rule in Bexley what can you do? Is Reform UK the answer?
I admire Nigel Farage in some ways but he drifts ever leftwards. I’ve no time for his Deputy
Richard Tice who would have had me jobless during Covid, but what about locally? Are the candidates any good?
How would I know? Five have contacted me electronically and three I have met in
Wetherspoons (for coffee!) more than once each and I would be happy to vote for any of them if
they stood in my ward. Of the fifth the least said the better. He threatened me
if I stepped over his mark on Bonkers. I didn’t think that was very bright. I
showed his written threats to one of the others (I forget if it might have been
more than one) who agreed it constituted an unwarranted threat but was told I should forget about him; “he is a narcissist”.
When you think about it, four good ’uns out of five is an extremely good score.
If rating Conservative Councillors there is no way one could get much over 25%.
May 8th will be an interesting day. Don’t forget to vote.
