5 May (Part 1) - Beware of candidates bearing gifts
Last
Monday, exactly a week ago, Bexley council announced
its latest round of
generosity towards the electorate. Its car parks would be free on the May Day holiday, today.
Councillor Kerry Allon went on Twitter to announce “We are doing it again”.
Without doing enough research I asked him if this would be a repeat of Easter Saturday
when Bexley council’s ‘generosity’ in Bexleyheath turned out to be one of Ian Payne’s
Business Improvement District ‘come to Broadway’ promotions and not council funded at all.
Kerry
told me “it doesn’t take a genius” to work out the answer which is his
way of saying today’s free parking is Bexley council funded. And his comment
about Bexley council “doing it again” is absolutely correct, for free parking on
Bank Holidays is the norm, as these photographs of the only council car park in
Mr. Allon’s newly adopted Lesnes ward, show.
It seems more likely than not that the publicity for free Bank Holiday parking
has more to do with there being an election due than any new found streak of
generosity. Bexley council has doubled most parking charges and tripled some since 2010 and now
they hope to fool the gullible that they are giving some of their revenues back.
The photos suggest they are not giving very much away. Gayton Road car park has been empty
so far today.