19 November (Part 2) - Some light relief…
Albion Road/Gravel Hill
BiB has yet to receive any message suggesting that
the wrecking of Albion Road
by Bexley Council has any merit, even
cyclists are complaining about it.
There have been two more complaints in the past 48 hours. “The upgrade to Albion
Road is a total waste of TFL and Bexley ratepayers’ money It will cause mayhem
in the Broadway at critical times.”
Another complaint asked if I knew how much it cost but I don’t. If I remember
correctly the Broadway regeneration (code for a few blocks. no kerbs and a silly
roundabout) cost £3·5 million but I have no recollection of a figure
being given for Phase 2. Does anyone know?
Freedom of Information request
In BiB’s eight years I have only submitted three FOIs,
one of
them only five weeks ago. It has not been answered which puts it more than a
week beyond its due date.
I suppose if you send out an email which says “Dear Mr Knight, Thank you and
Constantine for the information provided. This is being investigated and I will
advise you on developments. Regards, Stephen Didsbury, Head of Waste & Public
Protection” and then fail to follow up and do nothing more about it, it will
take a while to manufacture a plausible excuse.
Constantine sent video, I sent Mr. Didsbury photos of
fly tipping in progress.
Councillor Michael Barnbrook
It lasted six months. Mick Barnbrook has resigned from his local Parish Council. It was
an uphill struggle
to drag his fellow Councillors into the 21st Century but he soldiered on, but no way will
Michael put up with any form of corruption as Bexley Council knows to its cost.
His Parish Council voted to fund the local Residents’ Association which might
have been a reasonable thing to do except that the Councillors and the
Association’s Committee are to some extent one and the same. No one was
interested in considering a possible conflict of interest and every Councillor
apart from Mick voted to give the residents group the cash.
Mick is now working with other former Councillors who have been down the same
route to combat the corruption from the outside.
Crossrail
Today is the day when the monthly picture diary is signed off. The station has
opened, so has WH Smiths (they have lost my custom already), but the external
lifts are still awaited, 74 steps to reach the platform! On Thursday Network Rail management told me that one
lift would open that very day - but it didn’t.
My guess is that they didn’t want to risk a breakdown - it’s a Stannah! - over
the weekend when engineering support might be in short supply.
Check it out tomorrow morning, everything appears to be ready.
LED street lamps
Another subject on which BiB has never received a single message of support is
LED lighting. Universally condemned as dim and unsafe but according to Bexley
Council absolutely the reverse of that.
Council Leader Teresa O’Neill claims that people are queueing up to thank her for changing the light bulbs;
maybe they are muggers and burglars, the most obvious beneficiaries.
Fortunately BiB has a wide readership and one is a professional lighting
engineer. Tomorrow BiB will reveal his verdict on Bexley Council’s claims.
Facebook
Maybe it is time for another reminder that the Bexley is Bonkers Facebook page is not
me. It has my total support and it frequently reflects BiB blogs but is not
usually me writing there.
I haven’t a clue what a Friend Request is or what would happen if one should be
accepted and like Messages - is that the right term? - they effectively
disappear down a black hole. If the Bonkers’ Facebook administrator became your
friend it would be a form of deception.
The best way of getting a message through to me is
the Contact page. Both email and web form are available there.