9 August (Part 2) - Bexley council leads the way
Maybe
the Telegraph had Bexley in mind when it wrote that some councils were deceiving voters into backing parking charge increases.
In 2010 Bexley council asked if residents wanted to see council tax go up or for various
service charges to be paid by those who used the services. They held Road Shows and put a questionnaire on line. Then
the Road Shows were cancelled without notice and the questionnaire was
described in council
as “not user friendly”. Despite that, Bexley council saw it as a mandate and set about
cutting services for the disabled
and increasing charges all round.
Their consultation
had provided 160 different comments from 829 sources most of which were public
bodies rather than individuals. Only one suggestion was taken on board.
This was interpreted as support for across the board price increases. In the foreword to
Budget Strategy 2014, the document which listed the price changes and noted that the parking
charges were to “maximise revenue”,
council leader Teresa O’Neill said “The information included in this document has been widely consulted with our local residents”. Something of
an exaggeration. Local residents had said almost nothing.
Click image for Telegraph article.