11 August (Part 2) - Bexley Council’s lie of the day. Their latest attempt to rewrite history
Maybe BiB is being stalked - by Bexley Conservatives that is. Flattering, but
it is only going to get them into trouble - for lying again.
Yesterday, Bonkers
reminded its readers of Labour’s suggestion that the new Civic
Centre should be built in Erith and a few hours later a similar report was
posted on Bexley Conservative’s website. Possibly a coincidence.
As usual it strays a long way from the truth. The Tories hope that everyone has short
memories but the truth is always buried somewhere within Bonkers.
In 2011 there were three Civic Centre proposals on the table. To rebuild on the old Broadway site, an idea
put forward by Council staff which they said “would
provide a highly efficient purpose built Council office” for around £27 million. An obvious bargain.
The second was to refurbish the old Woolwich Building Society building at a
cost of £36 million. The scheme which had captured the imagination of Council
Leader O’Neill because she said it was “iconic”.
In
third position was a scheme for a totally new build in Walnut Tree Road,
Erith which would be a no compromise town hall with a projected life span of 60
years. At £42 million it would cost £6 million more that the Woolwich refurbishment
but that was expected to be good for no more than 40 years.
Given its location and the deal to be done with Tesco, Watling Street may well
have been a reasonable choice although why nobody seriously went for the much
cheaper option of rebuilding in Broadway never became clear.
The old Civic Offices were falling down and no one disputed the fact that
something had to be done. The scheme that won through was backed by Bonkers as probably the best compromise.
A site swap allowing Tesco to be close to the town centre would be much better than letting them
build in Watling Street. Nevertheless, the longer life of a new build in Erith had obvious attractions.
Bexley Council justified the £36 million cost of the Watling Street refurbishment by claiming it would allow
various Council outposts to be brought under the same roof and that would
save a million pounds a year. Remember that figure.
As time went by and the refurbishment went over budget Bexley Council had to
pull some new figures from the fib factory. Refurbishment costs had gone up to £42 million so Bexley Council
invented a new savings figure of £1·5 million a year to compensate.
They made no attempt to justify the claim but seemed to think that a nice
brochure would convince everyone the figure must be correct. Several months
later the fiction was repeated in the Bexley Magazine, (Autumn 2014.)
Yesterday’s claim is that the actual savings have been £2 million the
truthfulness of which cannot be verified. They also say that this is double the original projection.
Double £1·5 million is £2 million? Much more likely is that the 2014 brochure
(above) was yet another lie just as was suspected at the time.
Click text above to read more
The Tories are irredeemably addicted to lying about the opposition party. Labour
Councillors wanted to spend £42 million on a building that would have been good
for 60 years rather than £36 million on a building that was a less than ideal
conversion with a life of only 40 years. It was a perfectly reasonable position
to take and in the event the Tories spent £42 million anyway.
Facts never suit the liars who run Bexley. They have just said this…
For some reason known only to themselves, while pondering what to do in Bexley, Conservative Councillors were
unnaturally interested in the civic offices
being built in Newham at the same time. Newham was alleged to have spent £111
million on their new civic offices - and still levy
a much lower Council Tax rate than Bexley.
Bexley’s Conservatives tried to link Bexley Labour Councillors to that
extravagance. It made little sense but that is what they did. If you read all of
the new Tory statement you will see that they are still going on about
Newham spending £111 million on their town hall and claim that Bexley’s cost nothing.
Their statement mysteriously refers to the Walnut Tree Road proposals costing only
£25,000,000. I think that must be a mistake but it has been saved for posterity.
(Click either extract above.)
Note: I had intended to quote from the Bexley Magazine in
this blog to add further evidence of lying but Bexley Council has got the better
of me. None are available on line any more, not even the Summer 2017 issue. The
liars are going to extraordinary lengths to cover their tracks.
Later: Magazines dug out of my dusty stockpile! Image added.