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News and Comment July 2015

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12 July (Part 2) - Chipping away at the fundamentals

Planning rules have been relaxed over the years and last week’s budget took another step in that direction. With no effective border controls under the present government and the everybody welcome immigration policy of Labour from 1997 to 2010 it is hardly surprising that there is a housing crisis.

When people occasionally ask me what Bexley’s Chief Executive does to justify his quarter million pound salary package the only answer can be “not a lot”. Practically everything Bexley council is required to do has been privatised, out sourced, sold off and if asked to give examples of what may be safe from such a strategy I have always volunteered “Planning”. I couldn’t quite see how something so fundamental to the character of the borough could not be kept as close as possible to direct council control.

Maybe this is another subject on which Bonkers is always wrong, but planning staff are making noises about their jobs being on the line and being actively considered for “privatisation”.

I suppose there must be jobs that involve going out and measuring up which doesn’t need too much skill.

Everything is fair game for the axe apart from councillors’ own allowances. The Tories voted unanimously against the one third reduction proposed by UKIP.

 

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