26 September - The not listening, running away, falling flat on its face council
At last my Subject Access Request complaint to the Information Commissioner (ICO) has bubbled to the top of his pile and the ball has started rolling. My final plea to Bexley council to obey the law sent on 13th September…
Dear Mr. Grosvenor,
I am sorry to make your position even more difficult but I really need to know if Mr. Tuckley is going to allow you to answer completely in the immediate future or whether I should assume he prefers to continue going against the Data Protection Act.
As I said; are you asking for more time or should I give up on Tuckley now?
Yours sincerely,
…fell on deaf ears and is now overtaken by events.
Bexley council is keeping the ICO very busy; just one of my
colleagues now has six refusals by Bexley council to answer Freedom of
Information requests going through the ICO’s complaints procedure. Probably
another will not be far behind, Bexley council has refused to supply a copy of
its parking accounts for the last financial year, claiming it will be published
for general consumption. The council used to publish its parking accounts in
full but last year was forced to severely edit the published copy as it would
otherwise have exposed councillor Craske’s Residents’ Parking
Permit calculations for what they were. False. It will be surprising if they
don’t do the same this year.
The
resident with
the ‘derelict’ garden
found herself next to her councillor in the street last Saturday and asked if she could
speak to her. “No” came the reply. A “can you please make an appointment” might be acceptable
but a Listening Councillor shouldn’t say “No” should it? After a moment’s thought the
garden lady tried again. The councillor took to her heels, ran across the road,
tripped on the kerb and spread-eagled herself on the pavement.
Now that really is devotion to the cause of making life difficult for residents they are intent on persecuting.
The garden lady had to help the councillor to her feet.
None of the Sidcup councillors pictured hold ‘surgeries’ to discuss problems asking instead that
residents approach them directly “as they occur”. Something else about Bexley
council that isn’t true then.
I am advised that this website will not be available between
03:00 and 03:30 tomorrow. No,
nothing to do with Chief Superintendent Stringer,
something to do with a security issue on a Cisco switch.