29 October - Crazy changes to Abbey Road are still a load of bollards
Long term readers will know that this website began as a reaction to the changes
imposed on the B213 in Belvedere and
the incompetence, deceit and lies of the
responsible officer; the duplicity of councillor Davey and the gullibility, or as seems
more likely in retrospect, the sheer bloody-mindedness of the council’s transport
villain, self-publicist, expenses king and crass councillor, one Peter Craske.
The failure to complete the job more than 18 months after work began has been regularly
documented here, most recently on 31 August and more
extensively a few days earlier.
Last Monday a little bit more work was done towards final completion; why it has to be
done in dribs and drabs can probably only be answered by the tortured minds to be found
in Bexley’s planning departments - the very people who install
roundabouts that cannot be driven around.
To avoid any possible misinterpretation of the accompanying photos
I should state that the first is a previously unused one from the blog of 31 August, the middle
pair is from Tuesday of this week, and the fourth was taken at 6.30 yesterday morning. The reason
for the differing dates is explained below. The latest work was carried
out last Monday, the day I had traded in my camera for another that arrived the
next day. Hence no picture of Conway’s latest little earner in progress.
Further explanation
The keep left bollards and pedestrian refuges nearest my home were left in a dangerous and unlit
state for more than a year after the crass stupidity (not my words but those of the chairman of
an E.U. committee dealing with such things) of narrowing Abbey Road. However that was not the whole
of the story, there is a worse example further away.
The first photograph above was taken on 31st August at the junction with Florence Road. Notice the
then new patch in the road below which lies a conduit, installed the previous day, to the unlit bollard.
Contrast that photo with the second taken two months later. There is a new patch running to a nearby lamp post.
The work was done last Monday, 25th October.
The next two photos show how the refuge is now illuminated, eradicating one of the road’s many dangers,
but is still unfinished and a trip hazard to pedestrians who might go flying into the path of a bus.
Abbey Road has suffered this situation for well over a year now with no sign of the neglect coming to an early end.
When questioned, Rupert Cheeseman who is supposed to be master-minding this project says it hasn’t been forgotten.
The local councillor John Davey lives not far away and you would think that if he had any regard for his constituents’
wellbeing he would have leaned on someone long ago - but no, he does what he always does. Walks on by.
So just what is the problem? Why is it that the refuge has to undergo three separate visits by F. M. Conway the contractor,
taking up to two days each, with a fourth visit due eventually to fill in the missing concrete top surface.
One can only conclude that Bexley council has become home to all the civil engineering failures who cannot get themselves
a proper job. At least when they all have their jobs cut the local population is not going to notice the difference.