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News and Comment November 2015

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27 November (Part 1) - It was a good day for spreading the news

Please excuse me if I sound a bit like Teresa O’Neill bragging about winning the election but I shall try to avoid being power crazed as she appears to be. A blogger’s power against Bexley council is very limited. Its history includes requesting the arrest of critics by its servants in blue and interfering with the work of the Crown Prosecution Service following councillor Peter Craske’s arrest on suspicion of distributing homophobic obscenities. Bexley council certainly won’t be caring about residents two and a half years before an election.

And what can Sidcup residents do? Kick out the only Tory councillors who have genuinely fought for them?

All a blogger can do is his research, report and hope the message gradually spreads. For that, yesterday was a good day.

Below is the day long trace of visitors to the blog about the mysteriously closed Burr Farm park. BiB visitor numbers generally rise gradually through the day with 4 p.m. through to 10 p.m. being nearly twice as busy as ‘office hours’.

While I briefly watched visitor numbers in real time yesterday evening up to 20 were arriving every minute. The good thing is that over the day as a whole 55% of visitors had never read Bexley is Bonkers before.
Analytics

The blog went on line at 17:09.

The story spread via Facebook more quickly (over 3,000 users reached) than it did via Twitter and to more people, for which I take no credit. The Bexley is Bonkers Facebook page has been under new management for the past two weeks.

The reaction varied from shock to resignation that politicians always get up to no good, so what’s new. One comment was prefixed with “If this is true”.

I would hope that after six years BiB has achieved some sort of reputation for never making things up and providing enough evidence for readers to check things through for themselves, but it is a fair enough comment. All that is known that is indisputably true is that Burr Farm and Old Farm parks are of similar size and one is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and the other isn’t.


O'NeillIt is also known that Burr Farm is permanently locked, the pictures were taken yesterday, and one resident whose garden backs on to the park confirmed it. The park is bounded by Church Road and number 125 is the address council leader Teresa O’Neill uses when standing for election. It is also listed under her Register of Interests.

Beyond that nothing is certain. It could be that Burr Farm park is permanently locked while all the others are left open night and day because Teresa O’Neill values the security it brings to her back garden, or possibly it is riddled with mine shafts like Old Manor Way and could swallow a dog walker at any moment.

The real question is whether or not it was ever on the provisional list of land surplus to requirements and if not why not?

It is a question I cannot ask because I have already been threatened with the vexatious label for my average of a question every two years. It’s a weapon all corrupt councils use against those inclined to probe it too deeply - and the idiot at No. 10 seems to think it’s a good idea to hand them even more powers.

Presumably however, it is a question the Save Old Farm Campaigners will be asking.

 

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