23 August (Part 1) - Bexley council lies to the press again
Eric Pickles is obviously disappointed by Bexley council’s continued refusal
to allow its meetings to be recorded. For its sins Bexley is one of the six local councils ridiculed yesterday in
a government press release. Mr. Pickles will need to act fast, Bexley
council is due to review its protocols the week after next. If they think they
can get away with it they will organise some sort of fudge, like getting their
own staff to take photographs etc. and ban everyone else from doing so.
Both the
Bexley Times and
the News Shopper speedily picked up the latest development and once again
Bexley council is quoted by both papers. “Our current process allows for filming.” This is an
outrageous lie of the sort one has come to expect from Bexley council. They have
never allowed any form of recording at any council meeting. They admitted that
was the case following
a recent Freedom of Information request.
In
the Bexley Times the council’s spokesman goes further and, referring to another
FOI response, says that while only two meetings have been brought to a halt completely
(both by recording attempts) others have been disrupted. Beyond requests to switch the
microphones on and the occasional jeer from the audience there has been no disruption of
council meetings in Bexley, if there had been they would have been reported here.
Ironically, if the council allowed their meetings to be recorded we might know
who was telling the truth, but the truth is rarely in Bexley council’s best interests.
Numbskull councillor Cheryl Bacon clearly didn’t engage her brain when she called the police and
took her meeting into closed session
when faced with Nicholas Dowling’s dictaphone.
The photograph is of the people Bexley council accuses of planning disruption to their
meetings. As you can see, they are so rebellious and hell bent on destruction,
that Bexley council is happy to vacate the council chamber and leave these
gentlemen unsupervised to vandalise it. Bexley council’s only defence to its
stupidity is non-stop lying.