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News and Comment December 2013

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18 December - A collection of oldies updated

The IPCC and the obscene blog investigation
Just because there is nothing much going on here doesn’t mean I have been slacking. Yet more correspondence with the Independent Police Complaints Commission this week prompted a long trawl through the files checking out a few things. After 30 odd months there is a danger I’ll forget the details.

I noticed that when the IPCC upheld my complaint (18th September 2013) that the Met’s Department of Professional Standards found no fault with those officers who were determined to find no evidence in what became known as the Craske affair, I should have been contacted by them. One letter suggests 15 days might be a reasonable time but I have let it go three months. It’s the same with the Subject Access Request, six months have passed with barely a word, just a two month old broken promise to reply within two weeks.

Complaints against councillors
Bexley council’s FOI response about complaints made against councillors in the past three years showed that only one in 49 had been upheld. I suggested this might be the deputy mayor who had a run in with an elector in 2010 and was ‘convicted’ rather late in the day, but I was wrong.

It turns out that 100% of complaints made by members of the public in since the end of 2010 have been rejected by Bexley council. The only complaint upheld was by one councillor against another. This was the “tosser” comment let forth in the heat of argument at a council meeting in 2011. I don’t propose to regurgitate the names of the protagonists as it seems to be all rather petty in retrospect, especially as neither of those concerned are “tossers’.

It seems odd that a councillor can get his knuckles rapped for calling another one a tosser but deputy leader Colin Campbell can say “crap” at a council meeting with no fear of retribution. Not that I care about that, it merely illustrates how precious councillors can be while residents count for nothing.

Councillor Cheryl Bacon’s Closed Session
Answering questions that might reveal a lie must be difficult; which reminds me, Will Tuckley replied to my last email. No answers of course, and nobody has done anything wrong - except me. I’d like to read between the lines that Tuckley is not entirely comfortable with having to brazen out the lies attributed to Cheryl Bacon but I’ll refrain from further comment.

Councillor Gareth Bacon’s closed mind
Another subject which seems to be eluding straight comment is that ridiculously narrow footpath outside Bedonwell school. The issue was pursued with some initial success by a concerned parent, Chris Attard, and Bexley council’s attitude towards child safety and what was said about it a a council meeting played a big part in interesting him in becoming a councillor. I always suspected that decision would not help his parent/campaigner role at Bedonwell school and once discussed my fears with him.

Chris’s latest blog entry gives some details about Gareth Bacon reneging on his promise to make children safer, he seems to have found reasons to put the scheme on ice. It would be best to read the story on Chris’s own website as a brief summary may not do it justice.

Incidentally, Chris’s reference to 30,000 visitors to Bexley is Bonkers each month may give the wrong impression. The blog gets looked at around 30,000 times a month but an awful lot of views will be by repeat visitors. My best guess for unique visitors would be more like 5,000 a month, and some of those are from outside the borough. If you don’t like how Bexley council operates, please spread the word. www.bexley-is-bonkers.com is the best link to hand out.

 

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