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News and Comment February 2014

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9 February (Part 1) - Lazy blogger

I’m just back from a windy, wet and wild weekend in the west; actually the only place I saw very wet weather was in Sevenoaks. Why is the weather always so bad in Sevenoaks? You descend the hill from Junction 4 of the M25 and the sky ahead is nearly always black. But I digress; using time as an excuse I'm going to fall back on featuring another recent email. Some local residents may be fooled by over-familiarity with Bexley council but this newcomer can see right through them…


Something your website should highlight is the madness of Bexley's parking charge structure. I have moved from North London to the area recently and am completely baffled by how it costs 90p to park for the first hour in Sidcup's car parks. For only 10p extra you get the same length of time in Bromley, one of the UK's top 40 shopping destinations, or Bexleyheath Town Centre.

You can save 10p by going to Eltham, where they have Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, Next etc. There is simply no sense in that charging structure. There is simply nothing in Sidcup worth paying 90p an hour for. As a result, I often park in Morrison's for free. Sometimes I have to circle around for about ten minutes to get a space, but for the saving it is worth it. Don't Bexley Council realise that if they charged less e.g. 40/50p an hour, people might not bother hunting for that free space and just pay the small charge? As you put it - Bonkers!


Dear immigrant from the North,
I am afraid Bexley council will tell you you have got it all wrong. Before they decided to double all the parking charges, and nearly triple some, the council did a comprehensive survey of South London charges and based on that told the local press and splurged it on their website, both political and council, that Bexley had the cheapest parking in South East London and provided more car parking spaces than any other nearby borough. Needless to say, both were a lie. Anyone with time on their hands could visit all the other councils’ websites and whilst it was sometimes laborious, add up the spaces at each car park and compare the charges.

Bexley’s ludicrous claim was and is a lie made up by councillor Peter Craske who was the council’s liar-in-chief at the time. He tends to keep his head down after having his collar felt by the fuzz and councillor Cheryl Bacon has taken his place.

There is a page commemorating some of councillor Craske’s achievements in the field of lying which gives a few links to some of his more extravagant prevarications. A newcomer to the borough might find it a useful record of his more fantastic fibs.

I hope to give that page an update and makeover in coming days because I understand some of his political opponents intend to refer to it on doorsteps.


‘Bonkers’, I should perhaps explain to a newcomer, was the description of Bexley’s abysmal road planning given to me by councillor John Davey who has since fled Lesnes ward scared rigid by the presence of the UKIP and Labour opposition - Lesnes has a record of being a marginal Labour ward. I then discovered that John Davey was the hypocritical vice-chairman of the Transport Scrutiny Committee, since subsumed into Public Realm. John Davey was one of two people who in effect created Bonkers due to their lies and general uselessness back in 2009.

According to Bexley’s Parking Accounts, their revenue has been falling year on year. It’s all the fault of people like you who decide that Bluewater or Bromley is a better bet. Bexley needs philanthropic drivers not skinflints from up north!

 

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