31 December - An end of year round-up
Just a few things need to be updated before the year ends…
It seems that one of our three MPs has seen
the false accounting that councillor Craske
uses to justify a near tripling of the charge for residents’ parking
permits and was sufficiently concerned by it that he too is seeking an
explanation from the purple pygmy.
You are probably aware that Bexley council is trying to convince us that it is
doing a proper consultation on its proposed programme of cuts and you may
remember their planned
‘meet the public’ exercise
which was cancelled without notice and followed by excuses that made no
sense. All that has since become clear. Apparently the leader got wind of the
fact that the audience assembled at the Central Library included someone known
to ask awkward questions and since the whole thing was intended to be a sham
consultation, the Leader and C.E.O. waited until the audience had gone and
turned up a couple of hours later the same day to an audience of no one at all.
You think I’m making this up? Think again, the news came in an unguarded moment
from Leader Teresa O’Neill herself.
Almost inevitably I must now return to the arch-villain Craske who made
irrelevant personal comments about a member of the public in contravention of
the standards for councillors. He was absolved of all wrong doing by the Mayor
who prejudged the formal hearing and by two Conservative partners-in-crime
given the job of judging his behaviour. You didn’t think it would be a
democratic process did you?
I was in two minds whether or not to appeal against this abuse of power because the reason given for
finding the tyrant innocent was that there was “a correlation” between his unwarranted outburst and the
question asked and without the benefit of a photographic memory it was impossible to be sure that there
wasn’t a correlation I had failed to pick up on. However within the last few days
a summary of the verbal exchanges
has appeared on the council’s website (only paragraph 1 is relevant) which shows conclusively there was no
correlation whatever between the question and the response. Craske blatantly
lied (contrary to his claim, there most definitely is a contract) and I have a letter from the
Mayor supporting his lies.
Now that the council’s own website confirms Craske’s
ill-mannered jibes I have requested
a review of the Standards Board’s decision.
Finally it is time to wish readers a Happy New Year and that those of you
nursing bruises and broken limbs because of the council’s failure to grit even
major cross borough routes, let alone residential streets, will soon recover.
Thank you for your support and encouragement, see you next year.