23 September (Part 2) - Closure of Bridleway 250. Secrecy and lies
It
is not legally possible to take Bexley’s
unlawful closure of Bridleway 250 to the
Magistrate’s Court for another week and a bit and I am not yet sure whether this
will be done by local people or an interested charity on their behalf but
meanwhile Bexley council has been answering questions - or perhaps that should
read, not answering questions.
In response to a Freedom of Information request they refused to say which
officers had reached the decision to allow a single individual to continue to
block the highway. However they were prepared to say the police representative
at their meetings was the Sergeant on the St. Mary’s Safer Neighbourhood Team
(SNT) who is not difficult to identify.
Conveniently the council took no minutes of their meetings but the conclusions
reached were disclosed. The female SNT Sergeant is said to have referred to a
“History of Crime” at Mount Mascal Stables but it is impossible to judge whether
she was mistaken or Bexley council has lied. An FOI to the police does not
reveal a “history of crime”;
just a single burglary.
Something that is a Bexley council lie is their assertion that “the gate had
been erected many years ago”. This is presumably offered as an excuse for
allowing the blockage to continue. Other council correspondence refers to
installation in the early 1990s when CCTV of the type in use, not to mention the electronic
entry system would not be available. Numerous local residents will tell you that
the gate appeared during the lead up to the 2012 Olympics and given the state of
the gate pillars; still looking like new, that would appear to be a more
believable story than Bexley council’s. Masonry standing under trees for 20 years
would surely be weathered with both algae and moss in evidence. The
photographs show none.
Bexley council was also asked to justify its use of Section 17
of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to override the provisions of the Highways
Act when the former expressly forbids such use. As you would expect, Bexley
council has not troubled to answer that question.