8 December - Making a complaint. It’s a walk in the park
Obviously a stage in the Cheryl Bacon affair will be sending a file of papers
to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) to see what excuses they can come up with in
defence of Bexley council. Meanwhile I’m not yet sure how I will respond directly to Will Tuckley’s
suggestion that it doesn’t matter how well you behave while attending council
meetings, if your name is associated with someone who has embarrassed them, both
can expect the same treatment. Ditto his suggestion that someone who confines his
complaints to the council’s criminal acts is trivialising the complaints procedure.
I appreciate that Tuckley is desperately looking for new excuses for
the lying but he doesn’t do himself any favours with such
nonsense and I am concerned that despite my best efforts he is still ignorant of
what I complained about.
The Chief Executive makes no comment on my suggestion that he should interview
the councillor with the best view of what happened or the one who has indicated a willingness to speak on my behalf. The
lack of comment may indicate the depth of Bexley’s corruption or perhaps simply the incompetence of
those who draft Tuckley’s letters. When I write to the LGO I would like to be sure which it is.
While
mulling over the whole subject I took myself for a stroll in the late Autumn
sunshine. There are no trains through Abbey Wood this weekend due to Crossrail
works but apart from the
white vans belonging to signalling contractors there was nothing interesting to see.
The best photo I could came up was this one adorning what was the Felixstowe
Road car park. A product of the English education system or the Polish?
A walk through the picturesque Lesnes Abbey park and woods might convince a stranger
that access is restricted to dog walkers but I went anyway. Whilst the abbey
ruins and the arborlogical colours can be a delight to the eye the view to the north is
less so. The remnants of nineteen sixties Thamesmead are being demolished or improved but the
skyline gets ever more ugly.
Tower blocks still dominate the view and the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower is too
far away to be a serious blot on the landscape but the River Roding flood defences,
poisonous plumes from the Normandy Road incinerator and the occasionally malodorous
Crossness sewage disposal works are ‘interesting’ rather than things of beauty.
In the same category are the electricity bill inflating wind turbines which have recently risen to five in
number. That pictured is less than a week old and at Crossness. The Erith turbine is out of sight
around the bend of the Thames.
Unfortunately I saw nothing while walking to inspire my next letter to Will Tuckley but
the irony of Bexley council’s flag flying at half mast when they have just told me that
their segregation policy at meetings is based on which ‘tribe’ I might be
associated with rather than who I am or how I behave, did not go unnoticed.