19 December (Part 2) - Bexley’s history to be locked away in a cabinet by a cabinet?
Last night’s cabinet meeting was unusual for two reasons, firstly the
chairman Teresa O’Neill conducted it in a reasonable enough fashion and
secondly she had permitted a deputation. I have not seen that before at a cabinet meeting.
I sat at the provided table with my notebook while Elwyn Bryant sat alongside
with his camera. The positioning is far from ideal and both of us could see only
half the councillors. I placed my recorder in front of Elwyn hoping its
microphones would have a better ‘view’ of proceedings.
The deputation was against the crazy idea of transferring Bexley’s archives to
Bromley and it was presented by Ms. Penny Duggan. I say crazy because while
there may be merit in transferring or merging back office functions to another
borough, moving customer/public facing facilities is a different kettle of fish. How will
those without cars or the wherewithal to pay the bus fare get a fair crack of
the whip and the projected £41,000 saving doesn’t even match what the
responsible cabinet member and his wife plunder from council funds? But what did
the experts from the historical societies have to say about it?
Ms. Penny Duggan
was their representative and she said she was backed by 3,251 signatories of a petition
and the transfer would be “a catastrophic and irreversible mistake”. Councillor
Don Massey had said that the archive is not a statutory requirement but Ms.
Duggan countered that that was not entirely true. The 1972 Local Government Act requires
the council to make proper arrangements for items in its custody which includes
public access and educational needs. The Historical Manuscripts Commission is
monitoring the situation.
Bexley council has not been able to say how the £41,000 saving is to be
achieved, she said, but Bromley council has stated in an FOI response it has done no work on the
proposal so it has no knowledge of possible costs and saving and was not
expecting the proposal to be taken forward.
Bexley’s archives are currently rated the best in London and shouldn’t be
destroyed. Projects undertaken because of the present facilities on offer have
attracted £200,000 of grants in 2013. That was unlikely to be repeated following
a transfer to Bromley. Local history is one of the few ways a council can engage
with its residents, it encourages the community to have respect for its
surroundings and that is something to be proud of.
Councillor Massey was the first to ask Ms. Duggan questions. He began by saying he did not
wish to pick holes in Ms. Duggan’s argument but he needed to balance the budget.
He wanted to know what the exact issue was. Was it accessibility? Ms. Duggan
said it wasn’t, it went further than that. She mentioned the borough’s
reputation and abandoning its heritage speaks volumes for those to whom it has been
entrusted. Massey dismissed the statutory argument but offered to meet Ms. Duggan
to discuss a possible compromise. She agreed of course but sounded less
than enthusiastic about Massey’s ideas. Those that revolved around volunteers
received short shrift. Volunteers are important but some things require a
qualified archivist if valuable items are not to be mistreated or destroyed.
The volunteers do the cataloguing of artefacts and if their numbers fall because
they can’t quickly and easily access the material it becomes useless. No
catalogue equals no access. At present those volunteers give talks which
encourage more interest by residents. A lack of volunteers would see that come to an end.
Councillor Melvin Seymour asked how much the volunteers could be asked to do but
Ms. Duggan reiterated the need for some qualified help. She cited Erith Museum
which failed because it could only call on volunteers.
Councillor
Philip Read said a transfer to Bromley might only save £41,000 but
lots of only forty one thousand pounds soon add up and there is a budget
reduction to be met. The regular cabinet attendees are only too well aware of
that. Six councillor couples can each take that sort of sum away annually and
several have and do. Had Ms. Duggan thought how else savings could be made? That
was difficult, she said, because no one would tell her what made up the £41,000.
From that point onwards Ms. Duggan was not allowed to speak but councillors
continued to ask each other questions.
Councillor John Davey thought everything would eventually get digitised which
would improve accessibility and lower costs. It is the way forward he said.
Councillor Chris Ball (Labour leader) asked the first probing questions not specifically
designed to pander to Don Massey’s plan. He asked where the £41,000 came from
and if an Equalities Impact Assessment had been made.
Teresa O’Neill said they had not asked for all the answers, she did not want all
the answers, because that is why they were genuinely consulting people. And in
repeat mode said “alI the answers are not there at the moment because we are
genuinely consulting people”. I found that to be unusual logic but I’ve checked
the tape a few times so I must have missed her point.
Don Massey said the £41,000 is mainly staff savings and an Equalities Impact
Assessment had been done. Chris Ball asked the killer question. “Is the Impact
Assessment publicly available?” Teresa O’Neill had to admit it hadn’t been done.
Councillor Ball said there wasn’t going to be much time to study the public’s
comments, do the Assessment and “get Bromley on board”. Was he being
pessimistic, he asked.
A council officer not visible from my position said that all these things were
being worked on with a January target date. Then they may approach Bromley.
Teresa O’Neill then closed that section of the meeting by saying a decision would be
made by March and twenty-odd people trooped out of the chamber.
None of them with any cause for optimism I would have thought.