2 October (Part 2) - Amateurs versus Pros
Bexley
council doesn’t like amateurs even though in the derogatory sense of the word
much of what it does is amateur. Is there any need to remind readers of
the total
mess they have made of recycling over the past month? I am still awaiting
delivery of my food waste bin and the garden waste was not collected this
morning. Probably the bin will now adorn the street for ever. It says it is the
property of Bexley council so I shall leave it where it is until they take it away.
An example of not liking amateurs is Bexley’s plan to get rid of the Splash Park in
Belvedere. Having been shown the stipulations laid down by the council for the
band of volunteer splash park saviours, my verdict is that they are deliberately contrived to make
sure ‘the amateurs’ have no chance.
Getting a charitable group together, raising funds, obtaining price quotes from
equipment suppliers and having
to
submit a business plan in less than two months is probably asking the
impossible of enthusiastic mums and dads with busy lives to run.
Something similar went on two years ago when Bexley council was intent on
selling off as much of the Howbury
Community Centre as possible.
It had been run very successfully for many years by a volunteer group known as
Howbury Friends but cabinet member Don Massey was absolutely determined to hand
over management to a totally different sort of friend. Another politician and
allegedly a former Conservative election candidate.
The consortium of which he was part went by various names at the time, one of
which was Eco Communities. The council claimed they were experienced in running
community facilities and financially sound. They rated them well above Howbury
Friends in the financial stakes. (See table.)
Howbury Friends had been raising
up to £100,000 a year for eight solid years. The money financed local activities geared towards helping the
disadvantaged and their children in and around Slade Green.
Bexley council ignored that amazing record. They also ignored Eco Communities’ amazing
record which included a County Court Judgment against them and no money in the bank.
But they weren’t amateurs so that was alright. And they were political friends, so that was doubly alright.
Where
Howbury Friends had been charging a pound a session for their after school
activities enabling working mums to work for longer, Eco Communities were
looking for £8. It was a commercial enterprise, there were wages to pay and a profit to be made.
If all has been going well they should have plugged that £53,300 hole in their accounts by now.
Maybe they have but maybe they haven’t. Stories have been circulating about Eco Communities
for the past three or four weeks.
Like too many of the things that Bexley council would rather you didn’t know it
can be hard to get at the facts.
Rumours are not good enough. If BiB is to avoid getting things wrong and acquiring
the sort of reputation it could do without, documentary evidence is a must, or
failing that, assurances that come from the heart of Bexley council and sources that
experience has shown are not there to set traps with false information.
It has taken a while and the evidence comes only in the form of an assurance
from a trusted source with official access to the guarded information. It is
reported that Eco Communities has not paid its council tax and is £17,000 in arrears.
This may of course be nothing more than forgetfulness and a muddle to do with
charitable status but it nevertheless makes a mockery of Bexley council’s
decision to choose ‘professionals’ over experienced amateurs.
My source mentioned unpaid utility bills too.