16 August (Part 2) - Colin Campbell says council meetings suffer “planned disruption”. Council says it has issued no warnings
Among the things published last week
in the Bexley Times
was deputy leader Colin Campbell’s assertion that members of the public are able to ask questions and present petitions. Half truths at best. No
committee chairman has ever allowed a question. Councillors Alan Downing, Eileen Pallen and Alex Sawyer
have all refused to take a question in recent memory. When Mick Barnbrook
asked a question, viz. Would councillor Craske switch his microphone on so
that the hearing loop worked he was told in writing that his question had
disrupted the meeting. To the best of my knowledge no committee chairman has
ever accepted a question although on just one occasion councillor Downing said
he would accept a question directed at the police - but not at councillors.
The Bexley Times extract shown here may not make it clear that it refers to
committee meetings but the original article does. Petitions are usually ignored -
councillor Sybil Camsey famously saying
that they are not worth the paper they are written on - and sometimes not accepted at all.
However this further example of a Colin Campbell lie is small beer. What about
his claim on TV that “There is a small group with a history of disrupting
meetings and being abusive” and “you’ve got a group of people who are being
abusive, they are breaking up the meeting”. He said much the same thing to the
Bexley Times - see associated image. Is he being a big time prevaricator again? You bet he is.
With a group of people attending all the most important council meetings
planning deliberate disruption you might have expected council patience to
have worn thin and they would at least have issued some warnings.
Obviously I know that hasn’t happened and none of what Campbell said is true or
anywhere near being true but I don’t expect you to take my word for it. One of
Mick Barnbrook’s FOIs was called for again.
And the answer is inevitably none.
Bexley’s senior councillors do not tell the truth. Q.E.D.