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News and Comment February 2015

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7 February (Part 2) - Bexley’s nightlife; not what it is cracked up to be

TweetI live in what is superficially at least a nice quiet area of Belvedere but thanks to the Police Safer Neighbourhood Team and their Twitter feed I know it’s in part illusory. Apparently there have been rather too many burglaries nearby in recent days and only yesterday the police found a cannabis farm barely three minutes walk away.

Tempting fate I know but the worst I have ever suffered was several egg bombardments by the mad wife beater I mentioned the other day.


CannabisWhat concerns me rather more than cannabis is the homelessness and starvation I hear about via my neighbour, Vic the vicar.

Vic has explained to me exactly how the local food bank works and whilst he mentioned donations and local company support, never once did he mention the council.

Bexley council doesn’t help the homeless either unless you count sending people to Manchester when they are legally obliged to do something. Volunteers with a bit of spare cash can help out with the food bank but there is no easy answer to the lack of accommodation. Taxing bedrooms has not provided any significant dividend in Bexley.

I asked the only local politician who can be relied on to answer my enquiries, about the provision Bexley makes for the homeless. Teresa Pearce MP replied as follows…


The housing crisis in Bexley is getting worse each week. Every day we get more and more calls. It's heart breaking. There are no night shelters in Bexley. We try to refer single people to Greenwich Creek that feeds the homeless and can sometimes offer a bed. But the demand massively outstrips the spaces.


Not a single night shelter in Bexley apart from the underpass beneath Erith’s fish roundabout! Bexley council really is as bad and uncaring as you might imagine.

 

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