26 April (Part 2) - Tesco deal approved
There
have been two meetings this evening at the Civic Centre, the cabinet and
the full council. Why two I am not quite sure as both had only a single topic, the
site of the new council offices. Three proposals were on the table; rebuild on the
present site, build new on a triangular plot immediately north of Erith’s fish
roundabout, or refurbish the old Woolwich building. Under each scheme either part or
all of the existing site would be sold and Tesco is the favoured buyer. The deal
isn’t signed yet but Tesco is definitely front runner. There were others but the
public is not allowed to know who nor how much was on offer. Bexley council is not
renowned for transparency and tonight was no exception, when the subject of money
cropped up the public was excluded. The council has its aura of secrecy to maintain
encouraging thoughts of corruption. The presentation included the slightly worrying
phrase “transparency must be traded for speed”. To prove transparency
was the order of the day the public was excluded for ten minutes while financial
questions were asked, no answers were forthcoming according to several
councillors.
The Labour group clearly preferred the Erith option but it probably wasn’t the
cheapest, in fact councillor Gareth Bacon may have strayed a little from the
official script by confirming that Erith would cost more and in the present financial
circumstances that is what counts.
A group of residents from near the Woolwich building were very concerned about the
lack of parking spaces on that site; only 65 against a requirement the council
estimated to be in the region of 300. It was suggested that public car parking space
might be taken. e.g. the cinema multi-storey.
The council meeting was familiar in some respects, we got the usual diatribes
which served no purpose other than to score points against the opposition party.
Councillor Don Massey (Cray Meadows, £18,301) and Mike Slaughter (Longlands,
£18,255) were the worst offenders and councillor Linda Bailey (Danson Park,
£22,141) took a different tack by repeatedly describing Labour party opinion as
“rubbish”. It wasn’t picked up by the chairman mayor but as she is
happy for Labour councillors to be called
tossers
that comes as no great surprise.
Councillor Campbell said refurbishing the Woolwich building would cost nothing
once the old buildings were sold and so the vote inevitably went totally along
party lines. Probably the correct decision; money is in short supply but maintaining
an old building not designed for modern technology and its high power requirement
eventually becomes far too expensive if not impossible; and council staff are as
entitled to enjoy modern facilities, such as air conditioning, just as much as any
other office staff. If it wasn’t for the fact that it has been agreed that contract
procedure rules and financial regulations can be waived and already every financial
question is deemed to be secret I might be tempted to say I was persuaded the best
compromise was achieved this evening, but the secrecy and stated intention of
“trading transparency” contrives to makes things look underhand as things
usually are in Bexley.