9 October (Part 2) - Bexley council can do whatever it likes - and does
It was councillor
Linda Bailey who coined that phrase, but it is true.
There will be a council meeting on November 5th, a mere 15 weeks after the
last one. Full council meetings are the only gatherings where the public may ask
a question. Only 15 minutes allowed for 200,000 odd residents mind, we can’t
have democracy getting the upper hand can we?
Some people like to ask questions because they think that the council should be
constantly held to account. Most people don’t bother because Bexley council is
under no obligation to answer questions, truthfully or at all.
One member of the public who likes to ask a question is Elwyn Bryant. Before the
July meeting he asked one which I felt was more than a little cheeky. It said…
Due
to the exoneration of Councillor Cheryl Bacon for her wrongdoing when
Chairperson of the Public Realm meeting of 19th of June 2013 under the Council’s
Complaints procedure, despite overwhelming evidence against her, Councillor
Cheryl Bacon is now subject to Criminal Allegations to the Metropolitan Police
for Misconduct in Public Office and Perverting the Course of Justice.
Between 5th May 2010 and 26th November 2013, 49 complaints were made against Bexley
Councillors of which only one was upheld, that being a complaint from one
Councillor against another Councillor.
No complaint from members of the Public was upheld. Does the Leader agree that the Council’s
Complaints Procedure is unfit for purpose and therefore recommends that a full scale
independent inquiry be held into the running of the Council’s Complaints Procedure?
You may have expected that question to be rejected out of hand, it’s not the
sort of comment that Bexley council would want to webcast. However it was
rejected for being submitted too late even though by any reasonable day counting
scheme it wasn’t.
Elwyn submitted it again for the November meeting and got the following reply a day or two ago.
The Mayor considers it is inappropriate for your question to be put to the
Council. This is because the first paragraph of your submission refers to
allegations made against a Councillor.
In relation to the criminal allegations you refer to, it is a matter for the Metropolitan Police in conjunction
with the Crown Prosecution Service to deal with those allegations as they deem appropriate.
I think if I was in Elwyn’s shoes I would remove the first sentence and put it
in again. We really ought to better understand how it is that no complaint by any
member of the public against any Bexley councillor has ever been upheld. Is it because
the Standards Committee is chaired by
that renowned liar councillor Cheryl Bacon?
Meanwhile
Mick Barnbrook who submitted a question twelve days before the July
meeting but also had it rejected for being too late
set in motion a complaint
about twelve days being whittled down below seven when by even the meanest of
anti-democratic counting methods he had given seven clear days of notice.
Mick pointed out that there was no practical difference between a question
submitted at five to midnight on a Friday evening (allowed) and one sent in on Saturday morning
(rejected). In any case the official guidance says that Saturday must be counted
as a working day but Bexley doesn’t count weekends or the day of submission or
the day of the meeting.
Mr. Barnbrook eventually got a reply from Paul Moore, Director of Customer and
Corporate Services, which is probably as close to being an admission that Bexley
council is undemocratic as any you are likely to get. Moore has acknowledged that Bexley’s
Constitution does not conform to the norm and entertains the possibility
that this may get changed at some unspecified future date. Meanwhile Bexley
council’s unorthodox day counting procedure stands. Even seven honestly counted
days is longer than other nearby councils demand.
Two extracts from Mr. Moore’s letter follow.
So it looks like Mick had a point.
Click either extract above for original letter.