22 May - Bexley Council reconvenes at last
In a day or two there may be a chance to get BiB back on the road because there will be a Council meeting
tomorrow, the first with only 45 Councillors, 37 old faces and eight new.
Two have already nailed their colours to Teresa’s mast, fully signed up voting
fodder and unlikely to bring any other talents to the table but I have high
hopes for two of the ladies.
At first sight the smaller talent pool has diminished the new Cabinet.
During the recent dead period there was not even any significant input from
readers. Someone who has just moved into the borough was shocked to discover
that Bexley Council is sufficiently small minded to ban library users from
accessing this website. The facilities for learning do not include extending
knowledge of Council activities. Since Bonkers can only report what our Council
gets up to it can only mean that they are ashamed of at least part of what they do.
Library access has been banned since April 2011.
Another reader has long been concerned about the alleged closure of Highland Road
which would turn the whole of Bexleyheath town centre into a huge and inconvenient roundabout.
His recent correspondence with Bellway Homes which plans (17/02745/FULM) to build on the old
Civic Centre site in Broadway told him only a few days ago that they no longer
plan to have Highland Road closed and sure enough their latest planning submission (15th May 2018) confirms it.
Scroll or click to see the whole of the map.
This is a cunning move by Bellway as any closure of the road can now be laid firmly at the Council’s door.
My own efforts to provide input to keep the blog alive all failed. Having watched Thameslink trains go by while working
in my front garden I went out to catch one but my luck was not in.
The other idea to picture the deteriorating parking situation around Abbey Wood
station also suffered from Murphy’s Law.
The drivers who stop on the flyover and hold up the traffic rather than have
their passenger climb the stairs from Wilton Road were all missed in part
because experience has shown that they don’t like being photographed. Maybe the
van driver making a delivery to WH Smith has a legitimate excuse until the low
level goods delivery ramp is completed.
But others are simply thoughtless.
All day parking in Gayton Road has become the norm since people realised that
the yellow line has disappeared but thoughtlessness can create havoc.
