Bexley’s
General Purposes Committee meetings do not often justify attendance and it is
a
whole year since I last spent time at one. The positives for last night were
that the Chairman and Committee Officer are always welcoming and the
Agenda suggested that it might be all done and dusted in half an hour. Not
perhaps enough to tempt me but two Tree Preservation Orders were being
challenged and nostalgia drew me in.
In 1976, when I lived in Hampshire, I challenged a preservation order placed on
five enormous beech trees growing close to a house I had just bought. The sneaky gits on Hart
District Council had placed a TPO on them after my solicitor had
done his searches but before I moved in. I beat them on a legal technicality
which they were unable to get around. They still argued when I removed the trees
but there was nothing they could do about it.
The first order discussed yesterday evening was on a gigantic oak which overhung a neighbour’s garden. With
a TPO in place the neighbour was no longer able to trim the branches that
overshadowed his garden without Council permission. One can normally trim a tree
in an adjacent garden that is overhanging one’s property.
The only support for the challenger came from Councillor Gareth Bacon (Conservative, Longlands) who
admitted to carefully watching an oak growing in his own garden. He was
considering removing it before it became “a real pain”. Such trees caused damage to
property when branches fell, he said.
No one else spoke in favour of the TPO challenge so it remains in place.
Another TPO challenge concerned a number of trees in and around Knoll Road. They
did not appear to be especially attractive specimens but their removal would
undoubtedly impact the visual environment.
Once again only Councillor Bacon had any doubts about the wisdom of a TPO. He
said he knew the area well and he had more than once seen the trees drop large
branches which would have resulted in deaths had anyone been underneath at the time.
He alone was concerned about public safety but the Council Officer said that
would be the householder’s responsibility, implying that Bexley Council has
limited interest in public safety.
Once again the tree huggers won the day.
"
The General Purposes Committee at this time of the year has to approve a basic
Council Tax calculation. How many Band D equivalent properties are there in
Bexley? The answer is 81,287. Probably no one on the Committee is qualified to
question the Financial Strategy Manager’s calculations so the figure was nodded
through in 75 seconds.
The equivalent Business Rate debate took 15 seconds longer.
Director of Children’s Services Jacky Tiotto was present to explain and gain
approval for reorganising her department following the retirement of a senior staff member.
Good schools attract people to the borough so it is an essential part of the
Growth Strategy. Ms. Tiotto proposes a Deputy Director for Achievement and
Inclusion which will cost £139,000 a year however all but £9,000 will be offset by
not replacing staff in other posts.
Councillor McGannon (UKIP, Colyers) asked some educational questions which were
eventually ruled to be beyond the Committee’s remit but before reaching that
stage we learned from Ms. Tiotto that if a child was excluded from an academy
the Council must take responsibility within six days and that can result in
an expenditure in the region of £100,000 per child if it has to be educated outside the borough.
Remember that when your Council tax goes up by another 4% in two months time.