11 March (Part 2) - The police state of Bexley
Dear Mr Neill,
I refer to your letter dated 23 Feb to all council leaders about transparency at meetings.
Until last week I was always free to go into open council meetings with a
camera. I don’t use it there, I simply carry one with me most of the time.
However in response to your letter Bexley council went to the expense of
printing a new leaflet banning all cameras and other recording devices from
their public meetings. This is typical of their perverse disregard for both
guidance and the law.
I have been informed by Bexley police (the council rarely responds to any
communication from me) that if I attempt to enter next Tuesday’s public meeting
with a camera, to use or not, and a council official asks me not to I will be arrested.
This two fingered salute in your direction needs to be tackled vigorously and I
trust you will be the man to do it.
This is necessarily a very abbreviated account of recent events but it is an
accurate one. Full details are available on my blog www.bexley-is-bonkers.co.uk
Thank you for attempting to introduce transparency to local government but
clearly you have a way to go yet.
yours sincerely,
Malcolm Knight
Mr. Neill is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at
the Department of Communities and Local Government and MP for Bromley and Chislehurst.