19 February (Part 1) - Places preliminaries
Will Tuckley wrote to me as part of his ill-judged defence of
the lies told on behalf of
councillor Cheryl Bacon to say that I should sit well away from other members of
the public when attending meetings if I did not want to be associated with them.
Actually I had, but as I said, councillor Bacon or maybe one of her supporters lied to him so he wasn’t to
know and Tuckley refused to listen to more independent witnesses. Fortunately the
police have done that job for him.
After making such a suggestion you would think Tuckley might make it possible
for me to sit apart, but the new council chamber is an abomination and doesn’t allow it.
It is a legal requirement that the council provides anyone
intending to report on their meetings with the means to do so.
At last night’s Places Scrutiny meeting two tables were provided as part of the public seating. One was occupied
by a Conservative Party supporter and I grabbed the other only to be instantly
surrounded by other members of the public. Inevitably they whisper to each
other, constantly flick through their agenda pages, tinker with laptops, cough,
clear their throats and tap their feet on the floor.
Audibility in the chamber is variable to say the least and it requires constant
concentration to follow what is being said. Councillors John Waters and Don
Massey were no more than seven feet from me and were very difficult to follow.
Council officer Jane Richardson was more like 50 feet away and she was as clear
as a bell. Chairman Melvin Seymour at the same distance was very nearly as good.
It obviously doesn’t help that this dreadful new council chamber allows mainly
only a back view of heads.
It
doesn’t take a genius to work out why Don Massey is indistinct; as the photo
below shows, he simply doesn’t bother to use his microphone. That’s his by his
left shoulder in the photograph. He was speaking when
that picture was taken and councillor Linda Bailey who was sitting to Massey’s
left and using the same microphone was much easier to hear.
The meeting itself was long. Chairman councillor Melvin Seymour is not a hard
task master and runs a decent enough meeting. He started by saying he had no
intention of beating James Hunt’s Marathon 219 minutes but by my watch he over
ran that record by a minute. Councillor Alex Sawyer thought it was a minute or
two less. Either way it is no credit on leader Teresa O’Neill that her decision
to restrict the opportunity for scrutinising cabinet decisions is causing the
final agenda items to be rushed through by councillors who may be close to falling asleep
and indisputably keen to get home.
In addition to the usual small handful of council meeting attendees and the
unknown Tory party supporter was would-be Erith & Thamesmead MP Anna Firth. I
would have welcomed her to Thamesmead but she was closely chaperoned throughout
by the disreputable Philip Read. I hope she isn’t learning too many bad habits
but I fear she has.