16 February - Built on the foundations of low cunning (and deteriorating services)
I picked up via Twitter the other day that
Greenwich Council is going to
webcast its first Council meeting this evening and I was curious to see how
their rules and regulations compared to Bexley’s.
Although most Bexley chairmen have gradually dropped the ritual, they are supposed to
ask those who plan to record the proceedings in some way to identify themselves
and then everyone present is asked if they agree to be recorded or photographed.
Fortunately few object and so far no one that I have any interest in photographing,
but Bexley’s misinterpretation of the law does provide scope for a dispute.
Not so in Greenwich…
Compared to Bexley, Greenwich can sometimes be a breathe of fresh air although
if I have interpreted the Royal Borough’s blogging scene correctly they do
appear to indulge in more squabbles between rival councillors. In Bexley they
all have to be kept on board for fear of an outbreak of honesty by discontents.
One of the most intensely annoying things about Bexley Council is their dishonest claim
to be a low tax borough, for that you have to go back more than twenty years.
You have to go back to 2000 for them to even be
in the cheapest half - but only just - of the London tax table.
It has been getting worse pretty much every year since then.
According to Greenwich’s Agenda for this evening’s meeting their tax rate
has remained static since 2008 but like most councils they will put up the
rate by the maximum permitted (3·99%) next April.
To help justify this they have produced an interesting table of cross London tax
rises over the past eight years. Greenwich in common with seven London boroughs
has not increased Council Tax at all and beneath them in 28th worst place lies
Bexley where rates have risen by 5·6% over the same period.
Scroll or click to see all London boroughs. Scroll to the bottom for Bexley!
You didn’t actually fall for this nonsense at the last election did you?
