8 September - Looked after much better now
Bexley Council is still on its Summer break, at least in so far as
interesting meetings are concerned. It will be another two weeks before I have to
drag myself along to the Council Chamber. Meanwhile there is not a lot to report.
I did my weekly reconnoitre of
the Harrow Manorway road works this morning and
there was very little new to be seen compared with last week. Now that
Crossrail
is deferred by at least nine months Bexley Council will feel able to let the
interminable delays continue. The work was originally slated for completion by
August, hence the file name date 08.2602.php chosen 18 months ago. (26th August 2018.)
For better news one has to look to Cabinet Member Philip Read of all people. He
has been indulging in a little trumpet blowing over the success of his
department in dragging Children’s Services up to acceptable performance levels. ‘Inadequate’
to ‘Outstanding’ in just six years. Enticing Jacky Tiotto away from her former job
with OFSTED may have been his master stroke.
The steady progress made since Philip Read’s predecessor made a total hash of things has been reported
many times on Bonkers. As a Conservative I was a little concerned that Bexley
Council took the lead role in organising a cartel to distort the market for care
agencies and raise the taxes paid by employees. I don’t quite see the point of
the Conservative party now that its answer to everything is more tax.
Philip Read’s article is
on Conservative Home and I note that at the time of
writing the Comments section tend to take a similar view to my own. However
there can be no getting away from the fact that an ‘Outstanding’ assessment by
OFSTED is a notable and commendable achievement. No more
Rhys Lawries.