3 November (Part 1) - Bexley set to become the most expensive place to live in the country
The
lesson of recent years is that you should never agree to any Bexley Council proposal. It is
currently claiming that everyone has already agreed to additional charges being
imposed on residents. As if the 3% (individual percentages vary) of Council Tax
above the 4% advertised increase represented by the
brown bin tax and the thousands of £120 yellow money box charges are not enough already.
Bexley Council is now planning to extract another £3·6 million from the collective borough pocket and has issued
a Press Release. A very low key affair which does
not contain any link to
the Consultation said to be currently in progress. I
find it particularly obnoxious that the additional levies are proposed by a
Councillor who doesn’t even live in Bexley.
£3·6 million a year is more than £150 for every man woman and child in the borough (2011 Census.)
The proposals include the rather worrying suggestion that Bexley should not
charge less for a service than any other local authority and to charge higher
fees whenever it is legal to do so. After Bexley Council has adjusted all its
fees so as never to be cheaper than anywhere else the borough will surely die,
as democracy did in the Council Chamber last night. (Detail later.)