26 April - The woman who doesn’t care
The final
significant part of last Wednesday’s council meeting was the 19 page ‘Report of
the Leader of the Council’ in which she lists her achievements over the past six
months. It wasn’t the last item on the Agenda, that went on for a further
141 A4 pages but most of those were nodded through without comment.
I suppose it is fortunate that the leader chose not to comment on her report but
invited questions straight away. Labour councillor Brenda Langstead got the ball
rolling with a suggestion that Bexley should ensure its staff (I think Brenda was
referring to those employed by agencies and contractors) were paid at
least the London Living Wage. Cabinet member Campbell’s response was “we participate in
the London pay bargaining scheme” but he refused to “reveal any details of what we
put in the budget for pay rises”.
Opposition leader Chris Ball shifted the ground to fostering and adoption and if
I heard him correctly was particularly interested in the time such procedures
were currently taking. Cabinet member Katie Perrior told him she had been
advertising services on the back of buses, revised leaflets,
improved the
website and held an open day in Medway, but I didn’t hear her answer the
question. Perhaps the defective microphones were to blame.
Councillor Camsey gave cabinet member John Fuller an opportunity to restate that Bexley
does pretty well in providing parents with their first choice for their
children’s schools. Third best in London according to Fuller.
Labour councillor Stefano Borella had more serious things on his mind when he reminded
the leader that domiciliary care workers are being employed on zero hours
contracts and weren’t being paid for their travelling time. Teresa O’Neill
replied that “we don’t employ care workers” thereby appearing to wash her hands
of the hardship her council is causing, but she did claim that “our care workers
are better off than Greenwich care workers”. Hang on a minute… “Our care
workers”? I thought she just said that Bexley didn’t employ any care workers. One
thing is certain though, we have a ‘Woman Who Doesn’t Care’ as well as Chris Taylor,
‘The Man Who Doesn’t Care’. One up to Stefano for exposing the real
and callous Teresa O’Neill.
Councillor John Waters was concerned about the mud bath which is Danson Park
after a wet winter and cabinet member Don Massey reported on the remedial action
taken. He said “the Danson Festival is currently in the lap of the gods”.
Councillor Val Clark wished to congratulate Tony Hughes (Head of Operational Services) on
his sterling performance in keeping the borough’s roads open through the winter. I wish to
second that, a good bloke always ready to swing into action to fix a reported
problem. Someone should vote him some extra money to fix the pot holes. The past
winter seems to have done even more damage than usual. Not nearly as bad as I
see on my weekly trip to Newham though, they’ve been neglecting them for years.
I could show you one which must be 15 inches deep; but enough of this digression.
After spending 30 minutes on the leader’s report, it was time to skip rapidly
through 13 reports from the scrutiny committee chairmen. Most were deemed unworthy of comment.
The
one chaired by councillor Fothergill
which supposedly examined the effectiveness of the other scrutiny committees provoked most comment.
One Conservative member had already whispered to me that it was a complete waste
of time so to hear the same from Labour’s Alan Deadman and Seán Newman was not a
big surprise. There is “a lack of transparency” and “a tyranny of the majority”,
comments which provoked a chorus of jeering from that majority. The cretinous
mayor Downing failed to bring his attack dogs to heel.
Councillor Philip Read said the committee’s report was “well balanced and constructive”.
Sean (or was it Alan, my notes have failed me) went on to remind the leader of
her refusal to accept a 2,219 signature petition and referred to it as a
“democratic deficit”. The leader has “an inability to scrutinise patronage” and
“failed to hold the executive to account”. Alan said the whole thing had been
“a total waste of money”.
Council leader Teresa O’Neill said her version of democracy “is the result of
the electors [who provided her majority]. Don’t give us any lessons on not
allowing free speech”, she said.
Maxine Fothergill said she spent 270 hours working for the committee she chaired
and that “Labour’s attendance was disappointing”. Councillor Alan Deadman, who as a
consequence of being a member of more than a few committees, said he suffered
unavoidable date clashes. However Stefano Borella came out with something far
more interesting, he suggested that Ms. Fothergill was paid for her efforts.
After that the discussion degenerated, if that is possible, into a pointless
argument about who introduced Bexley’s cabinet system.
As the meeting drew to a close and the debate had moved on to “Health and
Wellbeing’, Labour councillor Gill MacDonald asked the leader if she could
accommodate an opposition member on the Board. Teresa said “No”. I suppose that
is “the result of the electors” too. Perhaps we would be better off not voting
Tory next year.
Incidentally, as I left the chamber, I could have sworn I heard someone say that
councillor Lucia-Hennis is to be deputy mayor from
next month, with councillor Sharon Massey as head girl.