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News and Comment January 2012

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7 January - Wild or derelict?

Last week I went back to look at the wild life garden that Bexley council deemed to be derelict. The last I heard the owners had been given a stay of execution pending an inspection after the leaves had fallen from the boundary trees. I almost walked past the house because I had forgotten the street number but expected to recognise it from all the potted plants in the front garden, but they had gone. The back garden was much as before; like all gardens at this time of the year it looked a little sorry for itself but my main interest, the expected bare trees, was a disappointment; there were none. They are some sort of evergreen which I did not recognise. The garden remains secluded.

Apart from a curious blackbird I saw no wildlife, maybe they have not been told about the Royal Horticultural Society’s Gold Standard Certificate which has been awarded to the owners since my last visit.

RHS Certificate
While there I looked through the file of papers relating to Bexley council’s prosecution attempt which included letters sent by council officials to the Local Government Ombudsman. They were extremely defamatory and probably libellous if published. One fairly small detail intrigued me greatly; the councillors who had originally complained about the garden on behalf of a local resident were Aileen Beckwith and Sandra Bauer. Councillor Beckwith’s involvement is understandable, the garden is in her ward, but what is Sandra Bauer from far away Thamesmead East doing poking her nose in? She poked her nose into the Olly Tweet affair too. She, along with Aileen Beckwith, are the only two councillors that few have ever heard of, I hesitate to use the word nonentities, who feature in the Bonkers Top 20. Am I missing something?

 

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