4 November (Part 2) - Questions, questions but not so many answers
There’s a council meeting tomorrow evening; I had forgotten but Mick
Barnbrook asked me if I could dream up a supplementary to his scheduled
question. It’s not easy, Bexley council imposes so many restrictions. Mick
pointed out that my first draft was looking for two answers which is enough to
guarantee instant rejection. He has come up with a suitable revision.
I noted from the Agenda that councillors have asked a total of 69 questions which I
think must be a record. In the few minutes allowed for answers the public is not going
to learn a lot because Bexley doesn’t believe that providing a set of answers with the
following meeting’s Agenda Pack would be a good idea.
Unlike the public, councillors are not troubled by the restrictions on question marks because
they may ask as many separate questions as they wish. Councillor Daniel Francis, a name I picked
almost at random, has asked eight questions. Councillor Peter Craske has only
asked one question that has no purpose apart from pushing his vendetta against
the opposition party. That’s another thing that may be a record.
Unsurprisingly only three members of the public have managed to get a question
through the many barriers imposed. Two of them are revised questions following their rejection from
the July council meeting. Bexley council will count that as a
success. It’s halved the
Bexley Action Group’s opportunity to probe their secrets.