29 November - Bexley Council over-egging the pudding again

I used to really look forward to the Bexley Magazine dropping on to the doormat because of the opportunities it presented for exposing our Council’s truth bending activities but for a couple of years at least the authors have been much more careful with their words and the extreme truth bending has been transferred to Twitter.

However the current issue indulges in a some deceptions which should not be allowed go unchallenged.

The worst example I have discovered so far is the suggestion on Page 4 that the Peer Review of Bexley Council was absolutely wonderful.

Below is what Bexley Council said and alongside it what their peers from several better councils said…

Not good is it?

Another thing Bexley Council is trying to claim credit for is funding the improvements around the Abbey Wood Crossrail station. They are responsible for the construction works and that probably explains the two years of road chaos and the fact that the job is running a year late but their financial contribution is minor. The money mainly came from TfL and Crossrail/Network Rail.

(Bexley magazine on the left. News Shopper report on the right.)

After four months of pedestrian diversions one of the four flyover walkways was opened this week and the rebuild of Gayton Road which should have commenced last January, started two weeks ago.

The Councillor’s report just a couple of days ago that work on the flyover would be completed by the end of this week is already superseded by a mid-December date.

 

28 November - Another ‘Do what we say, not what we do’

As soon as I have finished writing I will be driving to North London via the Blackwall Tunnel; my journeys are about six to one in favour of the train but sometimes public transport is just not suitable. In three years time that will be an expensive option for some because of TfL’s extension to its Ultra Low Emission Zone. In fact even a trip into Woolwich will cost you £12·50 if the price isn’t raised in the meantime.

I am assuming I will be able to get my car through the chicanes created by commuters - or should I say created by Bexley Council. I think only one of these cars is parked illegally the others exploit the lack of parking controls and the absence of police patrols. I once saw the police place warning stickers on windscreens but that was years ago.

Today’s collection of inconsiderate parkers
LV09 ZSN, YK64 WYR, BJ17 ZZC, OE56 YXL.
I think only C17 ZZC is actually parked illegally - hanging over a dropped kerb.

There will be mixed views on the subject. A couple of years ago I attended a talk by a King’s College consultant which impressed on me the need for action on pollution. The lungs of children brought up in the worst of the pollution hotspots are measurably smaller than they should be which will knock several years off their lifespan. On the other hand successive Mayors (and Bexley Council) have gone out of their way to increase pollution by cancelling Thames crossings and thereby forcing more traffic through Blackwall, introducing cycle lanes which have brought central London traffic to a standstill and 20 m.p.h. zones to keep people in third gear.

I drove home from Rotherhithe Tunnel at 2 a.m. on a Sunday in October at a steady 20 m.p.h. - the limit - and I was overtaken on both sides (by drivers using the bus lane and the wrong side of the road).

Air pollution is undoubtedly a problem and so are stupid politicians. (I often wonder if there is any other sort.)

I have not paid Vehicle Excise Duty since 2011 having chosen my cars carefully although I confess to doing it for monetary reasons more than air quality. Having checked the number plates of the vehicles belonging to my immediate neighbours I can see that only a couple of us will be able to drive into London free of the pollution charge.

Sadiq Khan has already proved himself to be very happy to spend our money and while he is in office things can only get worse. How I wish I had kept that pre-Mayor leaflet that said that opting for a London Mayor would cost no more than three pence a week.

So what has prompted this off-topic mini-rant?

It’s diesel drivers who park while leaving their engine running.

In the enclosed space of the Abbey Wood Sainsbury’s car park the vehicle shown here may be seen most days.

With supreme irony an NHS response vehicle is parked among the electric car chargers with its engine running constantly for over an hour. I noted an hour and 35 minutes a couple of weeks ago.

It not only sits alongside the pollution free Nissan Leafs and the occasional Renault Zoe it delivers patients to the consultant at King’s who persuaded me that pollution was a problem that went well beyond the inability to see the London Skyline from Lesnes Abbey.

I suspect that ambulances are parked strategically to enable a faster response time, but if they need to run their engines for a fast get away do they have to do it in confined spaces?

 

27 November - Do what we say, not what we do

Bexley has had a reasonably good refuse collection service for the past ten years. I don’t think they have fined any residents for minor transgressions of petty rules but they do seem to encourage fly tipping. Not emptying a bin because the lid isn’t totally down is just stupid. By the time of the next collection there will be an even greater accumulation so the rubbish can either go into a neighbour’s bin or into the woods. What else is a resident supposed to do?

I personally find the variable bin capacities to be unfair. At my address 240 litres of capacity per person is provided. Next door they have only 48 and beyond that there is 480 litres. I allow my neighbour to use my spare capacity and sometimes find it filled with stuff that should have been recycled - not to mention the maggots in summer.

Maybe the 480 litre man has the right idea, he won’t share his bins.

Refuse collection is probably the most important service offered by any council, it affects everyone, so I expected to go to this evening’s public meeting on the subject.

Having looked at the Agenda I think I have better things to do. Discussion of all the interesting stuff will be held in secret, the public excluded.

All we know about what Bexley Council is preparing to inflict on us is that the three plastic boxes are likely to be replaced by two more wheelie bins, there will be some mixing of materials that used to be separated and the real rubbish will be collected at three weekly intervals. The details were provided in a blog and its appendix last month.

There is an updated version which reveals that the aim is to save almost one and a half million pounds a year.

Two years ago Bexley introduced a charge for collection of garden waste, a bin tax. By taking advantage of discount schemes in three successive years I have paid £27, £30 and a couple of months ago £33. The plan is to increase the charge to £38. An increase of 41%. So Bexley Council’s bin tax has inevitably become a stealth tax.

Bexley Council’s justification is not that the service is operating at a loss but that their charge is lower than some other Councils. Bexley Council is hoping that you will have forgotten that separating garden waste from food waste saved them £440,000 a year and on top of that they collected tens of thousands of £33s.

I think that if the charge goes up to £38 I will not renew next September because there is little garden waste during the winter. Then if I rejoin in April I will have effectively saved around £20, enough to pay the increased charge for another four years. Either that or buy an incinerator.

On a related subject, Bexley Council is aiming to get us to reduce plastic waste. Yesterday Councillor Craske issued another of his Press Releases. He was trumpeting the provision of a water fountain in Broadway. Ironically it was Councillor Craske who authorised the destruction of the water fountain that used to be at the same site.

Maybe he should address the waste of plastic at Council meetings.

On 17th October ten people at a Council meeting somehow managed to share 14 plastic bottles and a similar number of single use plastic cups.

The scene was shown here on 18th October and the picture nicked for use on Twitter, I personally do not mind but that particular photo is copyright Hugh Neal of Maggot Sandwich fame and it was used here with his permission.

 

26 November (Part 3) - For the want of a cooperative Bexley Council officer

A recent email prompted me to check whether Bexley Council had extracted the bin tax from my account because I had failed to notice. My bank moved from monthly statements to three monthly and there is just too much data.

They had taken my £33 in September and I have heard no more. Not everyone is so lucky.

Even though we have paid our fee for garden waste collection we have received two emails stating that due to non-payment Bonkers Bexley Council will collect our bin as we haven’t paid . I even have an e mail confirming that we have paid. This is distressing and almost constitutes harassment.

I dread to think how some poor old folks or anyone of a nervous disposition would feel. Makes me wonder what other “mistakes” the council make.

Grrrr.

This is something that should be sorted out with one quick phone call but apparently that is too much to ask of Bexley Council.

At a recent Council meeting a Conservative Councillor got very annoyed at the term Black Hole being used in connection with their budget. May I suggest they carefully look into it to see if there is a spare thirty three quid lying there?

 

26 November (Part 2) - No shit Sherlock!

Another occasional series draws attention to police officers who are content to exceed their authority or otherwise unreasonably bully the public.

The man who blogs under the name Crimebodge and exposes the corruption and ignorance of the law that is all too common among police officers has been arrested and charged with harassment.

For what? Uttering the questioning and probably sarcastic words “No shit”.

The policeman featured is apparently totally shocked by such language and I am tempted to think he may well be. To me he looks as though he is only recently out of nappies.

I have considered embedding the video within Bonkers but the language does become very direct at times - nothing obscene, but certainly descriptive - and I have had enough policemen at my door already.

It is a little reminiscent of what happened in Bexley seven years ago. Another blogger used the S word in a Tweet. A golden opportunity for Bexley Council to silence a critic and for Bexley and Bexley police were happy to embellish the evidence in order to secure a conviction for their friends. They said that the word must have been intended as an inducement to send faeces through the post.

The guilty verdict was overturned on Appeal but cost the innocent party £20,000 in legal fees.

Source video.

 

26 November (Part 1) - Blocked in again

A return to the occasional series on motorists who block the streets around my home.

Last night when I returned home the purple car (Photo 1) was obstructing about 25% of my dropped kerb. The red car was not there so I was able to squeeze in and in any case I know who the purple one belongs to so there wasn’t a big problem but the poor parking is consistent and the owner has their own off street parking.

Today there was a bigger problem as the red car is very long and it was parked nose to the kerb and it wasn’t even close to it. It made my exit extremely difficult even though it may not have been parked illegally.

If I had been in anything bigger than a medium sized car I wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere. The adjacent road has been obstructed all day long by two inconsiderate commuters. (Photos 3 and 4.)

Vehicles that managed to squeeze between them had to negotiate the blind bend at the junction of Coptefield Drive and Carrill Way. It had been further obstructed by AX15 NBM which was illegally parked by allowing an overhang of the dropped kerb.

MK57 LHX, OE56 YXL, BD08 VNU and AX15 NBM all photographed today.

The difficulties associated with getting my car on to the public highway has gone on for quite long enough.

The road design is silly but the original plans (I have a copy) mitigated that by designating the area as a no parking area, never enforced, and with the increasing pressure put on parking spaces by Bexley Council’s policy of eliminating parking spaces where even possible, everyone now parks end on.

This time I am going to make a formal complaint to a ward Councillor. It is unlikely that anything will be done about it but it might be interesting to see if Bexley Council can come up with a feeble excuse for their inaction.

I heard them say a long time ago that the problem would be addressed by the coming of Crossrail but we have seen how behind the times Bexley Council is with that already.

 

25 November - Arse from elbow?

Bexley Council has made an announcement about their plans to tart up Gayton Road by Abbey Wood station.

They had previously announced that work would start last January (second to last page of the first brochure) and then they changed their minds and said February. (Screen shot of Council website.)

At a Council meeting in the Summer they said they would start the work in time to get everything finished by 9th December, the date Elizabeth line services were due to begin.

Then last Friday they said they were going to start work next week. (Tweet below. Click for web announcement.) In fact they started work in Gayton Road two weeks ago. 12th November.

Typical Bexley efficiency eh?

They have issued a new leaflet on the subject. You may see it here and it contains some good things, a few surprises and some that may be unwelcome.

They are going to make it look better and have promised to solve the decades old flooding problems.

There will be trees and seats and cycle racks.

The flyover will become a Red Route - good - and parking will be restricted in Gayton Road 24/7.

Where parking is permitted it might be for five minutes, for half an hour, or an hour.

In Wilton Road parking restrictions will be extended beyond the present 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

During construction Gayton Road will be shut completely from February next year with no end date stated. It is safe to assume that Abbey Wood will once again become gridlocked.

Quite separately a Belvedere Councillor has said that the flyover will be cleared of cones before the end of November which should help reduce traffic congestion but the walkways will not be re-opened yet.

Harrow Manorway won’t be finished until next June at best, which makes it a whole year behind schedule.

The yourabbeywood website has been updated to hide the interminable delays. Good job I kept the original.

 

24 November (Part 3) - Another market success

Despite the Christmas theme the Abbey Wood Craft & Food Market was not as bright and colourful as the one held in September but you can blame the November weather for that, but at least it didn’t rain. Nevertheless several stall holders cried off citing the poor weather. What did they expect? Today’s weather was exactly as November usually is.

Someone who is not put off by the thought of cold feet is Greenwich’s Mayor, Councillor Christine May. She showed up once again and appeared to enjoy herself, parting with a bit of money in the process. She doesn’t know it yet but one of her tickets was pulled out of the raffle box. (Teresa Pearce MP was absent due to Parliamentary duties.)

Without the September sunshine people did not hang around, giving the appearance of thinner crowds but the stall holders said they were very happy with their day and the total footfall was much the same as last time.

The next Market is planned for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend in March 2019.

Event photos.

 

24 November (Part 2) - Sing Sing for Singh?

Several people have suggested that Kulvinder Singh should be featured here again, this time for being given an award at Bexley’s Civic Offices for his work on - well I am not quite sure but the News Shopper considered it worth reporting and given most of Page 16 of the current issue.

All I know is that there were religious connotations and there are no links to Singh’s unwelcome building developments. I would much rather let you know that he has been reported to the police for threatening behaviour and spitting on a bystander at one of his demolition sites.

 

24 November (Part 1) - They are trying to deceive us again

This needs to be repeated over and over again.

It was Labour Councillor Wendy Perfect who pushed for the Bexley Road bus stop opposite Northumberland Heath’s Tesco to be relocated but Councillors Read and Reader were both against it so it couldn’t happen.

Now that they have belatedly realised that it would be a popular move they are all for it and shouldering Wendy out of the limelight.

Too many of Bexley’s Tory Councillors are disgusting bullying individuals and none more so than Councillor Philip Read.

 

23 November (Part 2) - Grammar School policy in Bexley

There are certain local subjects which I do not attempt to follow closely, not just for time reasons but because some seem to be far too complicated for non-experts to understand and making an error might have worrying consequences for some people. Rightly or wrongly Education is one of those subjects.

I have twice heard the Cabinet Member for Education, John Fuller, say that Bexley’s grammar schools are not stuffed full of Bexley’s children because Bexley’s teachers would rather put their own political prejudices before giving a child a potentially better start in life. He has said that Catholic schools are particularly bad offenders and go out of their way to steer their pupils away from a grammar school education.

For that reason huge numbers of Bexley’s grammar school places are occupied by children who do not live in the borough.

Bexley’s Labour party is getting increasingly agitated about a situation which may be depriving Bexley children of a grammar school place and has today issued a Press Release.

If what Councillor Fuller has said is correct maybe the politically motivated primary school teachers need to be tackled too.

Click the image above to see the complete Labour Press Release. (PDF.)

 

23 November (Part 1) - Black and black

Making work for working men to do

A correspondent from Townley Road, Bexleyheath was intrigued by the sight of Conway’s men ripping up perfectly good paving stones and replacing it with an ugly asphalt patch. He was doubly intrigued when it became obvious that they were not going to replace the broken paving stones just a handful of yards further up the road.

I think he may be looking for an explanation but he won’t get a rational one from me, they did the same in my road a couple of months ago. (Photo 4.)

Mad? Of course they are.

I discussed the spiteful bollards with a Conway man the other day. He said that they are a retaliation against residents who decline Bexley’s invitation to have a dropped kerb installed. Their spite costs us tax payers about £500 unless a blind person trips over a bollard in which case the cost rises to around £10,000.

It’s only a matter of time
It was reported just a few days ago that road accidents were occurring in Bellegrove Road almost weekly, all at the same spot and where Bexley Council in its wisdom had created dangerous pinch points.

It caused accidents at the construction stage too but that was six years ago and in typical Council fashion they pretended there was not a problem.

Since the last accident the lighting column has been replaced but it is not yet working thereby inviting another accident.

My Welling correspondent has had an interesting thought. The current spate of accidents follows the conversion of the street lighting to LED.

Despite what Bexley Council would have you believe, the LED lights have barely half the output of the old sodium lamps.

 

22 November - Bexley Council’s excuse machinery goes into overdrive. A Temple of Lies

Brian Barnett who was tragically killed in a road accident last month was a gentle soul who would not hurt the proverbial fly; on the other hand I did hear that he was rather proud of breaking the arm of Roy Whiting when he and Brian collided during a bike race but he never mentioned that to me. Roy Whiting was arrested shortly afterwards for murdering eight year old Sarah Payne in West Sussex.

Brian never had a bad word to say about anyone and if he had a fault it was expressing his justifiable dislike for Bexley Council and what he called the political police in terms I occasionally found to be a little obsessive, but who am I to talk?

Councillor Philip Read said that Brian was a racist.

Chris Brown took a leading role in derailing Bexley Council’s plans to build on the green spaces of Wilde Road. Like me, Chris was not particularly political until he found himself up against the ruthless ambitions of a senseless Council. Whilst mounting a defence to their wanton vandalism of a much loved park he took advice from the few Councillors who publicly opposed those plans.

He spent time in the company of both Labour Leader Daniel Francis and his ward Councillor John Fuller.

John Fuller is a Conservative Councillor but for meeting Daniel, Councillor Philip Read called Chris Brown a Labour Troll.

Councillor Philip Read regularly calls me a cretin and sad old blogger. Maybe he has a point. Bonkers keeps limping along mainly in revenge for various Councillors, including Philip Read, reporting me and others to the police for revealing some home truths about their unsavoury activities. However the cretin is Philip Read and he and his colleagues must learn that lying and bullying does not pay.

In April 2018 Poisonous Phil libelled all three of us in a single Tweet despite me taking no part in the relevant Twitter conversation.

Vivienne Waters who is unknown to me thought the Tweet was “awful” and there have been similar comments from Philip Read’s Conservative colleagues. “It is both unnecessary and unacceptable to insult and offend on social media. When, by association, I am implicated, I feel the need to apologise” and more simply "I am mortified".

To me Philip Read’s insults are like water off a duck’s back and a badge of honour; if I am getting to him then that’s what it is all about and it makes continuing with Bonkers worthwhile. On the other hand, that might encourage Councillors of little intellect to continue in the same vein - but it provides another story. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Chris Brown decided to submit a formal complaint to Bexley’s Code of Conduct Committee.

The Code of Conduct Committee in Bexley is basically bent so there was no hope of his complaint being heard. Every complaint submitted this year has been dismissed out of hand by a Council minion before ever going to the Committee.

Chris Brown’s complaint was one of those dismissed out of hand. Bexley Council is absolutely content with having a dishonourable scoundrel within its ranks even if some of his colleagues think otherwise and apologise on his behalf.

Chris’s complaint was based on the Conservative’s pledge for the last election.

“Condemn supporters who engage in intimidatory behaviour.” “Refrain from making abusive or offensive attacks.”

Fine words but in Bexley, utterly meaningless.

Councillor Read was surely banged to rights. An open and shut case if ever there was one. But that would be to ignore Bexley’s track record for dishonesty and shady dealing.

What happened? Well obviously the case didn’t go before the Code of Conduct Committee, that would risk the complaint getting into the public domain and on to Bexley Council’s website.

The rebuttal of the complaint came from Mike Summerskill. I know that I shouldn’t have done so, but when I read it I laughed out loud. The manufactured excuses are ridiculous and are the product of a tortured mind. That mind is not Mike’s, he is a decent man under orders and like all Bexley Council officers in fear for his job security.

The tortured mind will be that of his boss, the temporary Monitoring Officer, Nick Hollier.

I once complained to Nick Hollier that his Legal Team Manager had lied about me in support of the lying Councillor Cheryl Bacon. Four Councillors from both parties wrote to me to confirm that Cheryl Bacon is a liar so Hollier’s excuse manufacturing capacity was tested to the limit.

He turned the whole thing on its head by saying it was me who was "hostile, abusive and offensive" for once using the word lie in a complaint about lying. He warned me that to accuse any of his staff of lying was “unreasonable and could be considered vexatious”.

Mr. Hollier is absolutely the right man to be the Monitoring Officer of a Council renowned for its dishonesty.

What did Hollier tell Mr. Summerskill to say?

The excuse letter goes on to say that Chris Brown was not the Labour Troll to whom Councillor Read referred and that he has no idea who the sad old blogger is. Both claims are preposterous and yet again offer the proof, if further proof were needed, that Bexley Council is a temple of liars.

It is interesting that according to Bexley Council it is perfectly acceptable for its Councillors to behave in an unacceptable manner so long as its victims are not Bexley residents. Someone was desperately scraping the excuse barrel.
According to Nick Hollier, unjustifiably calling someone a racist, a troll or sad is not in any way insulting.
The letter drones on saying that Councillor Read was not in breach of Bexley’s Code of Conduct and his words were neither derogatory or offensive. By Bexley Council’s lamentable standards, maybe not; but anyone with any decency at all, like many of Read’s Conservative colleagues, will recognise him for what he is, a thoroughly unpleasant little man.

I feel for decent people working under duress within Bexley Council who are required to put their name to such drivel. It’s no wonder that the previous Monitoring Officer resigned within a few months of her arrival.

The three pages of Hollier’s drivel may be read here.

 

21 November - The best laid plans…

“Back to Bexley tomorrow!”

Apologies but Iֹ’m afraid not. The plan for today included a reminder of just how unreasonable Councillor Read can be and to present the evidence that Bexley Council officially condones his appalling behaviour. However on my return from a trip to Sidcup and Abbey Wood there were four phone calls to say I had to get over to East Ham quick.

It turned out to be a bit of a fool’s errand but it wasted another five hours. My aunt has always been a stubborn and uncooperative woman and the passage of time has done nothing to improve matters.

Patience is wearing thin but maybe she will allow me a few hours tomorrow.

 

20 November (Part 2) - They brought it on themselves

I am one of the million listeners who has deserted BBC Radio 4 for news. My radio used to be glued to 93·5 FM but not any more, I can usually be found listening to Nick Ferrari on LBC in the morning. I occasionally have to turn him off for politically correct nonsense but by and large he is tolerable.

I have listened to him long enough to know exactly what it is that occasionally addles his brain but to mention it here may in this day and age get me arrested by the thought police.

This morning he was heavily featuring an incident that took place in Wimbledon last Saturday. Some thug had been kicking a police officer in the head and a bystander video’d it. Good evidence I would think.

You have to be insane to kick anyone in the head.

Nick’s theme was to debate whether people should film such events, pass on by or intervene.

Most listeners who called in were not inclined to help a police officer which you may find shocking but is no surprise to me at all.

When I lived in Hampshire and worked funny shifts in central London I would sometimes drive to and from work along the M3 in my 1959 Mini. One incident has stuck in my mind ever since. There was a massive traffic jam and a day or two later it was in the news that a young lady driver who had become hungry while at a standstill for far too long pulled a Kit Kat bar from her handbag and began to eat it.

For that she was charged with not being in control of a (stationary) motor vehicle and I found myself discussing the matter with friends. I remember saying that when the police had alienated every law abiding citizen they would lose the public help upon which they relied.

I have found it increasingly difficult to support them ever since and used to say that if someone like me, no criminal record, no speeding fines, no parking fines, began to hate the police then they ought to be worried.

Penalising motorists for being one mile per hour over an arbitrary speed limit as advocated by several Chief Constables alienates thousands. Not turning out for burglaries and violent offences is simply not acceptable. Dismissing criminal damage as a civil matter is intolerable. How many times have you read of the innocent party in an assault case being the one to be arrested?

My opinion of the police has worsened over the years and I cannot think it could possibly deteriorate further. I have been assaulted by a police officer (mistaken identity) and had a distant relative murdered by the police which has not helped the situation. (Note that I now say murdered by the police and no longer see the need to hedge my bets. Slowly the evidence against them mounts.)

More recently I have been four times attacked by the police at the request of politicians for things I had not done and twice they have lied to me at the highest level when evidence of wrong doing by Bexley Councillors was presented to them.

I know that the Metropolitan Police Force is corrupt because I have a copy of the letter admitting corruption they sent to a member of my family over the cover up of their murderous activities.

I am of the firm opinion that Kent Police is corrupt too and I know for a fact that another county force is because once again my family has the written evidence.

I don’t like to see anyone kicked and can only assume that the perpetrators are high on drugs but would I help the police when they were in trouble? Like most of Nick Ferrari’s listeners this morning, absolutely no way and that is a situation the police have brought upon themselves.

I note that there is a similar discussion on LBC right now and presenter Nigel Farage has his work cut out defending the police against their critics.

I can number two former police officers among my friends and they do not disagree. I am sure they will still be friends after they read this blog.

Back to Bexley tomorrow!

 

20 November (Part 1) - The principled and the unprincipled

It has come to my notice that the country appears to be embroiled in some sort of political controversy over something called Brexit and I thought I should remind myself what it is all about.

It would appear that there was a referendum in June 2016 when the Prime Minister of the day sent me a leaflet to explain things which was nice of him and then add £9 million to my tax bill which was not so nice.

The possibly well meaning Mr. Cameron said many things but perhaps the most important was this…

“This is your decision. The Government will implement what you decide.”

The people of Bexley thought long and hard about the advantages and disadvantages of leaving the European Union and made up their minds.

In Erith & Thamesmead 45·7% of the voters wanted to Remain in the EU and 54·3% wanted out. In Bexleyheath & Crayford the decision to leave was even more decisive. 35% Remain and 65% for Leave and Old Bexley & Sidcup was much the same. 36·8% Remain. 63·2% Leave.

So we left exactly as the Prime Minister said we would, right? No; the only bit of Leaving in evidence was done by David Cameron himself.

With Cameron safely tucked away in his shed the Conservative Party needed a new leader and in desperation picked the most ineffective Home Secretary in living memory, one Teresa May.

Mrs. May must be a kindly soul as she promptly gave away her government’s majority and while spouting platitudes secretly plotted to give away our country too thereby wounding her party, very likely - hopefully? - fatally. What a woman!

What do our three MPs think about the will of the people being so blatantly thrown to one side?

Well Teresa Pearce for Labour in Erith & Thamesmead has wisely kept her head down while her party’s leadership does what the Labour Party usually does. Try to back every possible horse with only one motive in mind. Putting themselves above country in their ruthless quest for power.

How is that other remainer, David Evennett playing it? I don’t know him particularly well but when our paths have briefly crossed, I always found him a very pleasant and transparent sort of bloke. But is he a democrat?

It would appear that he is and last week he made his position clear. He doesn’t much care for what the traitorous Mrs. May is prepared to inflict on this country.

What about his colleague in Old Bexley? Far from democratic I am afraid.

My old friend Elwyn Bryant who lives in James Brokenshire’s constituency has been trying to get a straight answer out of him for many weeks.

He first wrote to James Brokenshire on 7th July 2018 but received no reply.

He wrote again on 25th July and asked for “a clear statement” from Mr. Brokenshire. There was an immediate response. His MP said that the EU was offering two options at the time, neither of which were acceptable.

I want a fair, orderly departure from the EU to give effect to this intent. Currently, the EU’s negotiating position offers two options both of which are unacceptable. The first is a standard free trade agreement conditioned on Northern Ireland staying within the single market and the Customs Union splitting our United Kingdom. The second is (effectively) membership of the European Economic Area with continued free movement, continued payment of vast sums each year for market access, continued obligations to follow the great bulk of EU law and no ability to strike our own trade deals.

Elwyn was not especially happy with that but James Brokenshire as a Cabinet Member was always going to parrot the Prime Minister’s requirements which he helpfully spelled out in greater detail.

• The end of free movement and taking back control of our borders;
• The end of sending vast sums of money each year to the EU;
• A new customs agreement with the freedom to strike trade deals around the world;
• A new UK-EU free trade agreement with common rules for industrial goods and agricultural products to secure the free flow of goods and livestock;
• A Parliamentary lock on all new rules and regulations and the ability to diverge.
• Departure from the Common Agricultural Policy and Commons Fisheries Policy;
• The restoration of the supremacy of the British Courts and ending the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU in the UK;
• Continued close cooperation on security and counter-terrorism to keep our people safe.

Elwyn bit his tongue for more than two months but then reminded his MP that he was one of the 63·2% who voted out and asked him to respect the result of the referendum as Prime Minister Cameron had promised.

After another six weeks with no reply Elwyn posed the same question again and suggested he should resign his position now that Mrs. May’s final deal was known as his more honourable colleagues had done.

The continued silence can only suggest that Mr. Brokenshire is not a man of honour and would rather protect his red box, his limousine and his salary than respect the wishes of his constituents or try to stop the country becoming a colony of the EU.

Thanks goodness for the David Evennetts of this political world.

 

19 November - Bexley Council; Spiteful and Vindictive

Bollards
The pictures below are perhaps self explanatory. Bexley Council doesn’t like people parking off road if they have not paid the exorbitant cost of a resident’s parking permit or paid out a couple of grand for a dropped kerb.

Putting in bollards is Bexley’s preferred form of revenge.

All of these pictures were taken today.

Bollards to you too!
Abbey Wood has been a transport mess since 2013 and whilst Network Rail restricted movement when they had to, Bexley Council inflicts maximum damage because it simply doesn’t care.

For example the four flyover walkways that lead to the railway station have all been out of use since July and for a lot of that time for no discernible reason.

Today they blocked off Godstow Road and Overton Road for a period said to be five weeks - but we know how good Bexley’s time estimates are. The whole job should have finished three months ago and the simple changes due in Gayton Road are running more than ten months late.

Opposite Overton Road the access to Sainsbury’s is being rebuilt half a road width at a time but not so Overton Road where total closure necessitates a detour of very nearly two miles.

If you need to drive out six times a week that’s 100 miles of extra motoring, and there are an awful lot of residents who will suffer.

A large area to the East of the closure will be deprived of a bus service. How many hundreds of old people will be unable to get around?

Maybe it would have been difficult to maintain one way access to Overton Road with traffic light control and I concede that it might be, but the far end of Overton Road is already ‘temporarily’ blocked off. (Photo 3.) If Bexley Council cared one jot for its residents that barrier could have been removed for the duration.

With luck no resident in Overton or adjacent roads will need to call an ambulance this side of Christmas.

Bexley; your caring council.

Bollards to me
There was a similar operation going on in nearby Godstow Road where fortunately the detour is less extreme. The photography did not go entirely to plan.

If you look at the hundreds of photos taken in and around Harrow Manorway you will note that they are usually long shots that do not place any emphasis on the workers.

When that isn’t possible I ask them if they wish to turn away from the camera but quite often they ask to be photographed in a good pose, There are examples of both smiling and thumbs up poses from within the past week or so.

In Godstow Road I was told that I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of Conway employees accompanied by a demand to look at the only photo I had taken. Photo 1 here.

I refused the request. There was a problem with the camera, I had filled the memory card and while I was fixing that the man shown here towered over me in a threatening manner. I continued to refuse his request and for some unknown reason he decided that he would bend over in a bottom exposing gesture - but without exposing it.

The man in the digger was not a lot better although he remained in his cab with his hands over his face. What were they scared of?

The Leather Bottle
I had assumed that the Health & Safety investigation into Kulvinder Singh’s reckless demolition of the Leather Bottle in 2016 had long since been kicked into the long grass, but apparently not.

Councillor Francis has updated us on the situation today. The Planning Inspector has agreed that Singh’s plans are unacceptable and confirms that the H&SE investigation is not yet shelved.

Daniel if of course diplomatic about Bexley Council’s involvement. In fact they stood by doing nothing to check Singh’s vandalism and when the H&SE asked Bexley Council for assistance it was refused leaving Daniel, some local residents and me to pass information to the Executive.

Bexley; your caring Council.

 

18 November (Part 3) - Another Village Market and a new pub

There will be another market in Wilton Road, Abbey Wood Village next Saturday starting at 11 a.m. (Click image for more details.)

Once again there will be a variety of food and gift stalls, this time with a Christmas theme. Just as there was in September there will be musical entertainment but in a variation from that launch event stalls will be allowed to spill out from the Abbey Arms car park into Wilton Road.

That expansion is thanks to Greenwich Councillors and Teresa Pearce MP who engineered a way through the bureaucratic red tape.

The expectation is that there will be another market in March possibly on the St. Patrick’s weekend which the Abbey Arms has traditionally celebrated; maybe another before then but no plans made as yet.

Beyond March things are not so easy to foretell, through the Summer months anyway.

The closure of Abbey Wood’s last remaining pub has been deferred until the end of March and although the Abbey Arms owners (Enterprise Inns) have been helpful over the use of their car park, its temporary use for the storage of building materials cannot be discounted.

Once the pub has reopened in late Summer it should be very different. The current landlady has rid the Abbey Arms of the image that kept me away from it for 30 years but it still falls some way short of being upmarket.

Maybe it soon will be. The interior will be entirely ripped out and maybe expanded to be reopened with all day food in mind. Regrettably not at Weatherspoons’ prices apparently but priced at a level likely to drive the remaining less savoury clientele away. Probably we can look forward to beer at £5 a pint but somewhere nice to drop into when arriving home from a day out in London.

I did exactly that with a friend yesterday and there was nothing locally I would want to go to eat. (I quite fancied the Taj Mahal but a food allergy keeps me a way from curries from unverified sources.)

 

18 November (Part 2) - Here we go again. Bang!

How long has it been since the last road accident in Bellegrove Road? I will tell you.

At three weeks it is not quite a recent long term record.

The prang before was at the beginning of October. Close to four weeks.

And before that?

Only two weeks earlier.

How can that happen? This traffic island and pedestrian refuge has been demolished four times in two months and it can only be because Bexley Council promotes the worst road designers it can find anywhere.

It is the same old island every time. Let’s hope that next time there will not be a pedestrian there, ready to cross the road.

Welling corridor improvements, 2012

18 November (Part 1) - A brief history of Northumberland Heath

My first recollection of Northumberland Heath probably dates from the early 1990s soon after I had moved into the borough. I was on a 269 bus which way back then ran from Bromley North Station to Woolwich via Bexleyheath, Erith, Lower Belvedere and Abbey Wood. Northumberland Heath was clogged with badly parked cars as it usually is and the bus driver squeezed his way through the narrow gap left open to him. In doing so he sliced off the wing mirrors of innumerable parked cars. Folding mirrors didn’t become almost the norm until very much later.

The bus driver shouldn’t have done it of course but I understood his frustration.

Bexley Road through Northumberland Heath has always been a congestion hotspot and no Bexley Council has ever done anything to address the problem, indeed they have been complicit in making things worse.

Moving forward 20 years Bexley Council stood on the sidelines as things took a turn for the worse, not that they had many options available to them. Wellingtons Electrical moved to larger premises and their old shop was taken over by Tesco thereby increasing the number of delivery trucks.

The arrival of Tesco did go before the planning Committee but only for relatively trivial things like cash points and air conditioning units. The change from selling fridges to selling frozen food did not actually need the Council’s permission.

There were public protestations and Councillors were concerned about the traffic implications of several times daily deliveries to a Tesco store with no rear access. They were correctly told that Tesco could bring in as many delivery lorries as they wanted to unload from the road and there was absolutely nothing Bexley Council could do about it.

Bexley’s traffic ‘expert’ Mr. Boden said that double yellow lines would keep things in order and voting against an ATM would help reduce casual parkers. The Committee dutifully voted against an ATM. Whatever happened to that idea? (See picture below,)

And so the traffic congestion became inevitably worse and the Council and Councillors did absolutely nothing about it, not even when the road was remodelled in 2015.

In the years up to 2018 all the Northumberland Heath Councillors proved to be so useless, one of them in particular specialising in insulting residents and reporting them to the police for things they had not done, that they had to upsticks and find another ward where their reputation was less well known.

Wendy Perfect won a seat for Labour in Northumberland Heath six months ago. Before long she got busy on the Bexley Road traffic problems and they were given publicity on Hugh Neal’s Maggot Sandwich blog twice last September. (First occasion - Second occasion.)

She went around all the shops seeking opinions and got as far as organising a meeting with the relevant Council department to see if the shop owners’ ideas could be implemented.

From observation at Council meetings I have formed the impression that Councillor Perfect is pretty good at getting up the noses of the ruling party and in Bexley Road she apparently did so in Spades.

The Conservatives decided that if any credit was to be given for any improvements in Bexley Road it had to be theirs.

Their immediate reaction was to stage a photo opportunity and then cancel Wendy’s meeting with the Council’s highways man.

As you can see from their picture they had to bring back the former Northumberland Heath Councillor Philip Read to try to convince residents that he had actually done something other than insult both residents and Councillors alike whenever he could.

When one Bexley resident shed some light on Read’s non-involvement in improving his former ward’s shopping centre, Read reacted as all cowards with closed minds do. He blocked the resident from reading his Tweets.

Fortunately Read cannot block Bonkers and in any case it is not very difficult to circumvent Philip Read’s petulance.

16 November - No ordinary man

Today I attended the funeral of Thamesmead stalwart Brian Barnett, scourge of incompetent Councils and police everywhere and the sixth friend I have lost in just 15 months. It was the saddest of those funerals not only because his death was so unexpected but also because the love for him shown by his family was so beautifully expressed.

Can one say a funeral was both fun and irreverent? Well it probably was and to the relief of me and Councillor Danny Hackett, no singing either.

How many ‘ordinary’ residents of a Wolvercote Road tower block could attract two Councillors and an MP to their funeral? Clearly Brian was anything but ordinary.

On the way in I suggested to Teresa Pearce that the exit song ought to be George Formby’s When I’m Cleaning Windows - and it was. Exactly right for commercial window cleaner Brian.

Brian was a man of great courage taking on anybody who did not meet his exacting standards. Whereas I have tried very hard to avoid life’s petty inconveniences like parking tickets, Brian would see them as traps for unwary traffic wardens and ensnare them into issuing penalties that he knew he could contest for technical infringements of procedure. At various times he was labelled vexatious by both Dartford and Bexley Councils, the last refuge of Councils that have run out of excuses for their inexplicable behaviour.

That hobby was reflected in the floral tributes as was his other love, photography. I knew he had three Canon digital SLR cameras but I understand his family found several more cameras in his flat.

Brian leaves his mother, two sisters, a brother, a son and a daughter plus an elderly gentleman he had ‘adopted’ and to whom he was companion, carer and chauffeur - until Brian’s car was written off in the Dartford bus crash.

Our sympathies to them all.

Click any image to enlarge.

 

15 November - Litter Louts

While I try to find the time to report on the recent Cabinet meeting, here’s something about how Council contracted litter police operate.

Craske’s cowboys.

Source.

 

14 November - Under false pretences

We have come a long way since I would hate going to the cinema because the screen was dulled by stinking cigarette smoke or travelling by train because, quite literally on occasions, the far end of the carriage had disappeared into the haze.

In my view smoking is one of the silliest things anyone can do. Spending a fortune on risking premature death and advertising one’s stupidity with the stench that follows smokers around.

I still feel that the Labour Government got things wrong when they banned smoking inside buildings and not in public places for it is in the street that you cannot get away from the smell.

In Bexley, and in many other places too, smokers fall victim to the litter vultures who hang around busy bus stops ready to pounce on any who drop their fag end as they get on to their bus. Most people will have little sympathy although it might be more helpful if Councils provided somewhere close to the busiest bus stops to put smoking detritus.

A lady of my acquaintance recently did exactly that in Bexleyheath. She shouldn’t have done it and knows she shouldn’t have done it. She showed me the ticket she received except that she didn’t, when she fished around in the bottom of her bag the ticket and its reference number wasn’t there.

Never mind I said, you can’t be the first person to have lost the ticket, let’s phone them up.

I looked up the number on Bexley’s website (0333 313 4304) and we phoned it last Friday afternoon. It rang and rang and rang and no one answered.

We did the same on Monday with the same result, no one answered the phone. Tuesday morning we met with success, after waiting for ages there was an answer but bad luck, Monday was the last day for the discounted penalty. The contractor insisted on the full £150 despite the delayed payment being largely their fault.

We know from the BBC Panorama documentary that Bexley’s contractors Kingdom are a bunch of cheats and charlatans but not answering the phone looks to me like yet another of their dirty tricks. Should one expect anything else of a Council that is itself an expert in deception and dirty tricks?

 

13 November - Didn’t they do well? (But not for Bexley)

When BiB was new and I was a lot younger I was several times asked why I didn’t try to become a Councillor. Leaving aside the fact that I couldn’t support either Labour or Tory - just where has the Conservative Party gone? - my reaction was always the same. The job would be far too much like hard work to do properly which is probably why so few Councillors do.

So why do they do it? I only know of one in Bexley who absolutely definitely became a Councillor to make things better. There may be more but I haven’t seen the evidence.

So why do they do it? For many it is the networking opportunities being a Councillor represents, the furthering of self interests and business deals.

Take two recent senior Cabinet Members for example, both being Deputy Leader and Directors of Finance.

Colin Campbell was Deputy Leader of Bexley Council until 2014 and retains several business links in Bexley. His claims to fame include…

• Accountant skilled in both UK and US law.
• Technology expert. (‘Process Design’ and ‘Whole Systems Enterprise’.)
• Chair of IT User Group and “accomplished speaker”.
• Advisor to the Inland Revenue on their Self-Assessment program.
• Director at EY (Ernst & Young) until 2007.
• Director of several other companies.
• Chairman at two major Hospitals and accountable to the Secretary of State.
• Responsible for review to the Secretary of State into PFI contracts.

You don’t need the ten grand Councillor Allowance with that degree of career success do you? As suggested, such people become Councillors for what they can get out of it, not for what they can offer.

Colin Campbell is not alone, Don Massey, another former Bexley Cabinet Member for Finance has a similar CV.

• An Honours Degree is Econometrics.
• Branch manager at NatWest bank.
• Corporate Account Executive in the City of London.
• Senior Group Audit Inspector.
• Senior Manager at Gresham Trust Private Equity.
• Treasury Operations Administration Manager.
• Finance Director for Domiciliary Care Company.
• Operations Manager for the Centre for Public Scrutiny.

Apart from being in charge of Bexley Council finances, Colin Campbell and Don Massey have one other job in common. Both are Governors at Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance in Sidcup.

There is another link between the College and the Council.

In 2012 Bexley Council sold its old Lamorbey Swimming Baths to Rose Bruford who said at the time that they would turn it into student accommodation. The Council said “by purchasing the former baths site the College has confirmed that it sees its long term future in Sidcup” which has to be good.

The price paid at auction was a bargain £750,000 but nearly seven years later the baths remain a derelict eyesore. What is going on? Where is the student accommodation? Not in the old swimming baths, that is for sure.

On the Acorn Estates commercial website the baths are up for sale again but not for £750k. This time the asking price is £1,900,000. A nice little earner for Rose Bruford and well done the management and governors for their financial acumen.

But whose side were Campbell and Massey on? Just as was the case when selling the Civic Centre site in Broadway, Bexley Council did not think it was appropriate to include any sort of Overage Clause into the sale contract.

Rose Bruford has made a good honest profit but all that experience at Ernst & Young, NatWest and the Gresham Trust has failed to safeguard and protect Bexley taxpayers’ from losing a potential windfall.

 

12 November - Everything is absolutely fantastic

Teresa O’Neill’s Leader’s report to Full Council is not something I would happily miss although if one has taken the trouble to read the Agenda copy first it would be unusual to learn something new.

It is delivered briefly, thereby avoiding any risk of boredom, although usually the only thing that could be considered remotely exciting is the constant use of the ‘F’ word.

Everything about Bexley is Fantastic and counting their use with the aid of my little five bar gate sketch to see if any records are set is the highlight of the evening.

Seven Fantastics in fewer than eight minutes was indeed a new record.

There was a reference to the Peer Review, the one that castigated Bexley Council’s Scrutiny arrangements for being ineffective and a total waste of money. Unlike the untruthful deceptions put out on Twitter by Bexley Conservatives, the Leader acknowledged that things were not all good and she had already introduced some changes to address the problem.

The Leader had continued to put pressure on the Crossrail Extension Project known as C2E. London City Airport has come on board her bandwagon. She is keen to put another couple of minutes on the Elizabeth line journey times into town by having an extra station at the airport.

Bexley Council is going to adopt the London Councils’ approved Anti-Semitism definitions.

Councillor Daniel Francis (Labour, Belvedere) asked the first question. He queried why schools were asking parents to help fund their budgets. (It’s nothing new; my school demanded half a crown per term to fund exercise books during the 1950s.)

The Leader seemed to think that “we are working with all schools” answered the question. The Peer Review seems to have got it right on Scrutiny.

Councillor Francis also asked how many tall buildings (ten storeys or more) are planned for Bexley bearing in mind that the administration had said it wouldn’t be approving any?

Deputy Leader Louie French answered the buildings question. He said it “would not be appropriate to comment too much” before the planning application goes in for Arthur Street in December.

Councillor Linda Bailey (Conservative, Crook Log) asked about the rebranding of the Thames Innovations Centre to The Engine House and asked the Leader to comment on its success - another polish the ego question - after it “made a profit of £70,000 this year”. Not much of a return after the Council gave (and loaned) the TIC a million in 2012.

The Leader said “they have done a fantastic job”.

Councillor Richard Diment (Conservative, Sidcup) said a lot of people are still unhappy with Sidcup’s library being moved but Cabinet Member Craske preferred to concentrate on the reconstruction of the building for use as a cinema as has since been confirmed by the appointment of architects.

Council Mabel Ogundayo (Labour, Thamesmead East) was “disappointed to see that for Black History Month we didn’t do much more than we did last year. We should take every opportunity to celebrate our diversity. Can the Leader commit to doing more and better?”.

The Leader did not agree that the Council had fallen short and Cabinet Member Alex Sawyer provided a long list of events that had been staged and referred to the quality of those events “and that is what should be judged, not numbers”.

Councillor Eileen Pallen asked the Leader “if she would join with her in thanking staff and volunteers who made the annual Children’s Summer Reading Challenge in the libraries happen?” The Leader said she was “happy” to oblige.

The Mayor then announced that the 30 allotted minutes had expired and apart from a few formalities, that was the end of the meeting, all done and dusted by 21:15.

 

9 November - SEN Transport questions. A little explanation

Yesterday’s Council meeting report left the question of Bexley’s educational Travel Assistance Policy unanswered. Cabinet Member for Education John Fuller provided some figures which he must have thought answered parents’ criticism but meant very little to me and it was clear that Labour Councillors were not impressed, allegedly calling his answer “rubbish”.

Not for the first time Bonkers had to hold back on what might otherwise have been reported because Councillors who know a subject inside out assume everyone else does and talk in a sort of shorthand. Councillor Perfect’s question referring to the Travel Assistance Policy did not prefix it with the initials SEN and at no time during the discussion did anyone use those initials so I was left wondering if she was talking about the new SEN Travel Policy or another that I had somehow missed.

48 hours later it has become clear that it was indeed the SEN Travel Policy that was being discussed. I thought it might not be because the Conservatives assured everyone at previous meetings that their new policy would affect no one until September 2019. Like so much of what Bexley Conservatives say, that would appear to be a lie.

During the meeting there was a reference to the police being called to a travel related disturbance at one school which was not reported here because it was unclear how it fitted in with what Councillor Fuller was saying.

Fortunately Labour Councillor Wendy Perfect has attempted to provide an explanation. She particularly takes issue with parents being blamed for the fiasco and whatever you think of the new Policy it probably isn’t a good idea to do that, and all for a relatively tiny saving that will only rise to the giddy height of £18,000 in a year’s time.

Click image to see the whole of the Press Release. (PDF)"

 

8 November (Part 2) - Amazon, what a Prime waste of time. Two orders. Eight days waiting in!

So here’s a bit of a personal rant. I first used Amazon on 15th September 2004, five years to the day before Bexley-is-Bonkers was born. I ordered a copy of the book ‘Untouchables: Dirty Cops, Bent Justice and Racism in Scotland Yard’ by the journalist Michael Gillard and paid £13·29. Me believing that all police officers are potential crooks is not a new phenomenon.

Amazon greet me every time I log on to my account with the message that I have been a customer since 2010 however it is not the silly things that they get wrong that are annoying it is that their delivery system which is, well, total crap is the only way to describe it.

You wait in all day and if you are lucky the door bell rings after 9 p.m. and you feel sorry for the Romanian who has been out all day earning a pittance and spending most of it on petrol.

But it gets worse than that, how’s this for two week’s worth of absolute incompetence?

I made a £27.99 order on Thursday 25th October and with the benefit of Prime delivery (£7·99 a month) they advised a Sunday 28th delivery. I waited around all day and at 10 p.m. an email said it could not be delivered.

Enquiries revealed that the parcel had come from Weybridge to Dartford early on Sunday morning but by late afternoon the delivery driver had simply lost it.

I ordered a replacement the same day and eventually I might get a refund on the lost item. This time Amazon said I would get a delivery on Tuesday. No date, just Tuesday.

On Tuesday 30th October I received a dispatch email which made a Tuesday delivery look somewhat optimistic. Further enquiries revealed that the replacement was coming from Marseille in France and I was left to assume that the promised Tuesday delivery date was actually the following Tuesday 6th November. It actually came on Friday 2nd November. That’s three days waiting in so far.

Yesterday I made another order. Only £6·99 with Prime delivery scheduled for tomorrow, 9th November which was fine as I’m not going anywhere tomorrow.

However early this morning Amazon said it was going to come today but at 18:00 they said it wasn’t. It could come any day now up until next Monday - but not today.

So that will in theory at least be eight days waiting in for just two orders.

I doubt there will be any more Amazon orders unless the item will go through my letter box, not that you can rely on that. A month ago I was sent something that could have squeezed into a fag packet and the box was 18 x 12 inches. I opened it in front of my postman and he was amazed too.

 

8 November (Part 1) - Several questions but fewer answers

A quick glance at the Agenda for last night’s Full Council meeting suggested that it was going to be dull and the webcast might be an option. The pre-arranged questions were lame and there was nothing new to be found elsewhere in the Agenda. Until Mayor Brian Bishop takes lessons from some of his predecessors and learns how to make a monkey of himself in his role as Chairman of Bexley’s Council meetings, the risk that they will be less than interesting will persist.

But reporting webcasts is a cop out so along I went where I found forty or more people sitting in the public gallery.

It transpired that all but three of them were Bexley Social Services staff there to hear Cabinet Member Philip Read repeat his adulation for all concerned with the delivery of an excellent OFSTED cared-for children report.

Clearly they have performed a minor miracle in bringing the service to such a point after it plumbed the depths under Councillor Read’s predecessor in 2012 and no one should belittle it, but BiB readers have heard it all before and there is no need to repeat it all here.

The one minor difference from earlier times is that Councillor Read did not falsely accuse opposition Members of lacking in praise for his team’s achievement. For the record Labour Councillors Wendy Perfect (Northumberland Heath) and Mabel Ogundayo (Thamesmead East) once more stood and repeated their congratulatory message.

“Particular mention has to go to the Cabinet Member whose purpose and resolve to sort this service and ensure our most vulnerable children are well looked after and get the necessary support they deserve. Thank you Councillor Read.” (Wendy Perfect.)

“We are where we are because of the amazing dedicated hard working staff that we have in this Council. I take this opportunity to thank Ms. Tiotto for her dedication, it has been really really great to see. I back Councillor Read’s Motion.” (Mabel Ogundayo.)

Rather magnanimous coming from two Councillors who Read had gone out of his way to slag off only a few meetings ago.

As the staff members filed out the whole Council stood to applaud their achievement.

(Philip Read’s version of events.)

Questions were every bit as dull as I had anticipated, the first three were directed at Cabinet Member for Education John Fuller and two of them in essence asking him how things were going in the world of examination results and education standards. We learned that things were “good” and that Bexley schools achieve around the national average ratings in pretty much everything and maybe a little better here and there especially when measured against the London average.

Councillor Perfect’s questions were a little more contentious. She wanted to know if Councillor Fuller “regretted signing over most of our secondary schools to academies”.

Councillor Fuller reminded Councillor Perfect that it was “Labour that started it all off” and more than 200 schools went over to academy status under Messrs. Brown and Balls. “We had nothing to do with it as a Council, if they want to go, they go. They took the money offered and we could do nothing to stop them. We don’t encourage them but there is nothing we can do about it.”

Well even I knew that and unlike Councillor Perfect I do not pretend to be a spokesman on education.

Another Perfect question was would John Fuller apologise for the “stress and anxiety caused in the implementation of the Travel Assistance Policy this year”.

Cabinet Member Fuller responded robustly. He said the policy was not new, it had been in “for many years and there was no change in the policy”.

There were however more “enforcements”. Applicants were given “between six and eight weeks to apply” and the majority left it to the very last week and complained they had lost the forms. 111 people who were found to be not eligible under the policy appealed and twelve were upheld. 99 people who had once been given assistance no longer receive it because of their own changed circumstances.

Councillor Perfect was “staggered that you do not feel any need to apologise. Can you tell me how many cases there were in which the authority acted illegally?”.

There were “none” and Councillor Fuller reeled off a load of statistics which anyone not privy to the full facts must assume prove his case.

However Labour Members mouthed “rubbish” so who knows the truth?

The question I was looking forward to was Councillor Jackson’s (Conservative, Barnehurst) who asked the Cabinet Member for Growth what his assessment of the impact of the delay of the opening of the Elizabeth Line would be.

I hoped to hear how the borough, especially those in the North were suffering, instead I heard almost wholly political comments from Deputy Leader French.

He said he was "disappointed by the delay and local people would rightly question whether the Labour Mayor knew about the delays and why he is not managing the project correctly. Local residents and businesses will have to wait for the benefits of faster services to central London.” (Tell us something new!)

“I am concerned about the financial implications for TfL and the black hole the Labour Mayor has overseen during his time in office with the loss of passenger revenue during the delay estimated at £20 million.”

“The scheme’s budget has increased by almost £600 million and the government has had to provide a £350 million bail out to the Mayor. Bexley cannot afford the Mayor’s poor leadership where sound bites, PR and grandstanding continue to be his focus rather than doing his job and keeping London moving and keeping London safe.”

Councillor French cannot be faulted on facts but I had hoped that those of us interested in Crossrail might learn something new but inevitably he was not going to pass up an opportunity to criticise Mayor Khan. He presents such an easy target.

What is the impact on Bexley? Maybe an opportunity for the Council to claim it got its new road system in place before the first passenger carrying train rolls towards Plumstead.

To be continued…

 

6 November - It’s later than you think

A question one often hears in Abbey Wood and Thamesmead is just how much longer will everyone be inconvenienced by the road works in Harrow Manorway.

Network Rail moved in in August 2013 and things have not been the same since. Constant disruption but at least Network Rail opened the new station on time even if it wasn’t quite finished.

Bexley Council’s contribution to the Crossrail project has been to rebuild Harrow Manorway from the Eastern Way roundabout to the foot of Knee Hill and to regenerate Gayton and Felixstowe Roads which are adjacent to the station. In terms of timetabling their planning has been a total disaster. The scheduled flyover start date was 6th March 2017 and pedestrian and road travel in the area has been a mess ever since.

People have been asking on Social Media when the job will finish or supposed to be finished and a number of helpful people have referred to Bexley Council’s yourabbeywood website which almost two years ago listed the following completion dates.

It says that work would start on rebuilding Felixstowe Road in January 2018 and Gayton Road would receive attention a month later.

The flyover would be ready six months before Crossrail services were anticipated to begin in December 2018 and Felixstowe and Gayton Roads would be finished at the same time; June 2018.

Naturally those who asked the questions were not pleased with the answers provided but things are worse than that.

A long forgotten brochure circulated in November 2016 gives rather different dates.

Work on Felixstowe was supposed to start in November 2017 and Gayton Road in the following January.

Another brochure issued by Bexley Council in March 2017 said that Harrow Manorway from Sainsbury’s towards Thamesmead would be completed this Autumn.

Everyone who experiences the daily traffic chaos in the area will know that it seems likely that the flyover won’t be finished until next month and Harrow Manorway itself looks like being at least six months longer.

Except that subterranean utility services have been marked out with coloured paint no work has been done in Felixstowe and Gayton Roads which means that work is running a year late.

There are of course some excuses available to Bexley Council. Network Rail occasionally obstructed the flyover immediately outside the station and Thames Water is said to be dilatory with the rerouting of their pipes north of Yarnton Way. However it is hard to imagine what the excuse might be for shutting the flyover for six nights to resurface it and then digging it up again. If the bridge joints are suspect why weren’t they more thoroughly checked earlier?

On the positive side the road blocks look very nice as they always do before being attacked by bus wheels.

Since March 2017 nearly 700 photos of the work have been published on Bonkers, so many that the loading delays have become significant. From today they are divided into groups of approximately one hundred. The downside is that it is not quite as easy to see them all in chronological sequence and existing links to them will all go to the oldest photos which may not be ideal.

The Photo features Index may be the best place from which to take a look.

Note: I always try to make ‘feature’ file names the date on which the projects would be completed. For Harrow Manorway I originally chose 26th August 2018 allowing what I thought to be a reasonable delay factor. The file names have been changed to 21st December for the flyover and 28th June next year for Harrow Manorway. Ever the optimist eh?

 

5 November - They take us for mugs

Bexley Conservatives are renowned for lying on Twitter apparently convinced that everyone has short memories and unable to research things for themselves, now they are getting brazen about it.

On 1st November they were bragging that an Independent report, written by Council people from outside Bexley, had said they have strong political leadership, tremendous ambition and a clear strategic direction as if that is by definition a good thing.

You could say much the same of Adolf Hitler.

It was not a particularly new report, it was written in March 2018, but Bexley Conservatives, in their wisdom decided to publish it only last month and give it a bit of publicity as late as last Thursday.

I think they must have been hoping that residents would believe them and not follow the link or at the very least not wade through to the twelfth page of the report because it had this to say about Bexley Council…

Not something to be proud of surely?

Tens of thousands of hours wasted to achieve nothing and unacceptable behaviour at Scrutiny meetings. I’ve seen it myself; one Chairman was inclined to tell opposition Members to shut up and go away.

The report says that urgent action is required and given that the verdict was available to Teresa O’Neill in March maybe some suitable steps have already been taken. Two Scrutiny Chairman were replaced in May although what Councillor James hunt did to deserve his sacking I have no idea; his meetings were always good humoured and civilised but maybe that sort of thing would not go down to well with Bexley’s very own dictator.

Note: This subject was first mentioned here on 11th October 2018 but it seems that Bexley Tories are right about just one thing. Bexley residents really do have short memories; I was asked why I had not given the Tweet and the report’s criticism of Bexley Council any coverage.

 

3 November - Singh, Steward, Sold and Sense

2 West Heath Road, Abbey Wood
Residents of West Heath Road are watching developments at No. 2 very carefully, and so they should if their researches are correct for they believe it has been bought by Kulvinder Singh.

It is Mr. Singh who encroached on Lesnes Abbey Woods with his massive concrete slab. Unlike 238 Woolwich Road, the West Heath Road address has a planning application. 18/02505/FUL.

Mr. Singh likes to buy old pubs and The Drayman is on his extensive list to his list. Despite being granted permission for nine dwellings on the site in November 2013, neighbours are only now reporting lorry loads of materials being delivered.

Abbey Wood (Wilton Road) is due to temporarily lose the Abbey Arms quite soon but fortunately Mr. Singh has not got is hands on it.

Councillors have been informed of Mr. Singh’s alleged activities in West Heath Road so that they can be carefully monitored.

Mr. Singh’s business interests.

Gill Steward
Gill Steward left her position as Chief Executive of Bexley Council “due to a change in her personal circumstances”. A couple of weeks later she was doing much the same job for Kingston Council and coming under fire for allegedly exaggerating her qualifications. It suggests that the changed personal circumstances were just a lie which will come as a surprise to no one.

More interesting is a comment from within Bexley Council, it says the last straw that got her the sack was spending £20,000 on new microphones in the Council Chamber. Those of us with elderly ears think it may have been the only good thing that Gill Steward ever did in Bexley.

It has been further suggested that Bexley is not a borough that would-be Chief Executives are queuing up to be working in. Whether this is because Council Leader Teresa O’Neill OBE makes an Obnoxious Bossy Employer or because this blog wrecks any reputation they may have had I have no idea.

Good news for long time Bexley Director Paul Moore!

The Quarry
This development has not been given much coverage on Bonkers, it’s more Maggot Sandwich territory and a month ago Hugh Neal reported that none had been made available to buy just yet. This was slightly in conflict with what L&Q were saying at the time, That was “the first phase is all sold”, and the Land Registry tends to confirm it.

Eight flats on Loampit Road were sold and another eight on Strata Road, all for £104,259 and all on 24th October last year which was a Tuesday, not a weekend site open day. The speculation is that they share a common purchaser and the price suggests a 50% part buy part rent scheme. Who would do that? Bexley Council, Russian Oligarchs? Whoever it was it doesn’t look like 16 regular buyers of the type The Quarry was meant to attract to Erith.

Asda, Bexleyheath Broadway
Asda is not a shop I ever use, a disabled friend once asked me to help him shop there and said it was his preferred destination because their car parking was easy and convenient, which it was but that has been the full extent of my knowledge of Asda Bexleyheath.

However I walked around it last weekend to see if there were any electric car chargers there and found the car park packed, no way would I consider it to be a viable parking destination for myself. For the record I found four electric car chargers, every one of them blocked by cars that relied totally on their petrol tanks. It’s can only be a big waste of money to install chargers that cannot be used.

My experience of a packed car park was reflected in a reader’s email. He said that Asda has covered its parking ticket machine and switched over to three hours free parking and in doing so exposed the pent up demand for parking in Bexleyheath. Asda’s management exhibit good sense while Bexley Council adopts policies which harm town centre trade.

The same reader recently described how another shopping centre was saved by the policies of a more intelligent council.

 

1 November - Public Notices - Read by nobody?

The Public Notices published in yesterday’s News Shopper reveal that Bexley Council is extending its attack upon motorists. There will be slightly fewer parking spaces available - or times further restricted - around Abbey Wood and Bexleyheath stations and a few other places. This of course is not news, most Councils attack motorists as a matter of policy. What might be news is that I actually went to the trouble of entering my registration details into the News Shopper’s website and navigated to Page 53.

A year or two ago reading the News Shopper would be the first thing I would do after getting out of bed on a Wednesday morning and later that day grab the paper copy which would come tumbling through the letter box week after week.

Then the Shopper went badly down hill publishing little but froth and Council press releases. Bit by bit I gave up looking and the paper copy would sometimes hit the recycling unread. Then, around a year ago, the paper copy stopped coming. Occasionally I would look at the paper’s website but the moment my pointer accidentally strayed from the main content and the page was replaced by an advert I gave up. No second chances from me.

A couple of weeks ago I asked where my paper copy had gone and was told that it had gone the same way as everyone else’s. No one gets a copy delivered any more. You get yourself into town to a pick up point or you go without.

Most people go without.

So what is the point of Public Notices? Bexley Council pays a princely sum to have them published each week because the law compels them to do so. There have been several cases in Council where, usually it is Deputy Director Toni Ainge, someone claims that the consultative processes were entirely satisfactory because the required notices had appeared in the back end of the Shopper.

It’s not satisfactory but the law is behind the times and there is no easy answer.

In recent months, with funding from the BBC, the News Shopper has become very much better and with Tom Bull as their Democracy Reporter it is rapidly heading back to Linda Piper standards.

There are five news reports in this week’s issue which are directly related to Bexley Council meetings, things that should appear on Bonkers and four of them have but not always as comprehensively. Keep it up Tom so that I don’t have to.