12 October - Four Council meetings in a week but nothing much to report
Public Cabinet meeting
While listening to last night’s Cabinet meeting I noted very little
that I considered sufficiently interesting to make into a blog immediately. The
recording may reveal that I wasn’t paying enough attention but I think reviewing that
may have to wait for the weekend.
Possibly
of note is that once again the Chief Executive’s direction that members of the
public may only sit where indicated by the plan on the inside cover of the
Agenda page, proved to be another waste of time and effort by Council staff. The
diagram did not accord with the actuality.
Once again The Berlin Wall, as I overheard one Councillor call it, was in
evidence, serving no useful purpose whatever, not unlike its progenitor. I suspect it would not deter a
determined axe murderer. Unusually, almost uniquely over the past two years,
there was a newspaper journalist in evidence who scribbled away in shorthand
throughout the meeting. Presumably he found it more interesting than I did.
He was
Simon Allin who is responsible for most of
the Bexley Times’ web page.
Strange coincidence that the press was present at the first significant meeting
following The Buffoon’s review of meeting arrangements.
The News Shopper
While on the subject of newspapers, the News Shopper seems to be doing funny
things. Last week there were no Readers’ Letters in the Bexley paper
edition but there were five on Page 15 of the on-line version.
One was from Cabinet Member Peter Craske explaining why most people are paying more this
year to have their garden waste collected than they did last year.
Those five letters are repeated in this week’s on-line edition but they are in
the paper one too. It’s not as though the News Shopper is short of material, some people
send me copies of what they send to the editor, so I know that.
For those of us who keep their eye daily on local news, Readers’ Letters is the only
section of the paper that comes as a surprise. The only genuine news in fact.
Fly tipping
Some
roads in this neck of the woods can be rubbish strewn from end to end. I
noted three piles in a 150 metre stretch of Alsike Road Abbey Wood yesterday. The sofa first
featured on 24th August has been joined by a fridge. Soon Bexley
Council will be able to let it as temporary accommodation.
Better news is that I sent my pictures of
Saturday’s fly tipper to Stephen Didsbury (Head of Waste) and my neighbour drove over to see him to deliver a USB
stick of video of two incidents. Mr. Didsbury made all the right noises so we will wait to see what happens.
Bexley Council’s website
Bexley Councillors are strongly advised to save money by not having meeting Agendas delivered by courier to their home
addresses, they are supposed to get them from the Council’s website. All very laudable.
Members of the public interested in how the Borough is misgoverned have to get
their written information the same way, indeed the law says it must be available
to them a week before any public meeting can be lawfully convened.
Bexley Council’s website, the sub-domain where important documents are kept, was
down all day yesterday and still is. If they are to make a success of being a
digital council they are going to have to find a more reliable IT contractor.