Bexley’s Legal Team Manager has ruled that nothing
that the Masseys have done recently has brought the Council into disrepute.
Arguing with refuse collectors, wagging fingers in the face of residents,
shouting at them, reporting them to the police after they acted on Bexley
Council’s advice on noise nuisance, being recorded stomping up and down stairs
and allowing guests to shout four letter words at neighbours - recorded again -
does not bring Bexley Council into disrepute. Given the Council’s dubious
reputation, maybe the decision has some logic.
The Massey’s neighbour, Natasha Briggs, reports that they have moved out of Larch
Grove and a check on their Register of Members Interests now proclaims ‘Address withheld’.
To be within the law, a Councillor may only withhold his address if he believes
he would otherwise be in some sort of danger and the Monitoring Officer agrees. I think one can reasonably
assume that the Masseys are either paranoid or abusing the law once again. It
must help enormously that Bexley’s Monitoring Officer is
not a qualified solicitor.
The Section 32 exemption to the Localism Act 2011.
In 2013 when a London wide check was carried out, 15 councillors across the 32 boroughs were making use of the Section 32 exemption. Eleven of them were in Bexley. Teresa O’Neill’s “open and transparent” borough.