14 September (Part 1) - The ugly face of Bexley Council
On 31st October 2010 I submitted the following question to Bexley Council to be answered at their November Council meeting
“The Council’s Summer 2010 magazine said that fencing had been put up around
Lesnes Abbey Woods to “eradicate” the problem of motorcyclists riding in the woods.
It is obvious to anyone walking there regularly that the fence has been a total
failure in that regard but it has excluded the disabled in wheelchairs and at
some access points makes entry by the fit and well difficult with a danger of
heads making contact with scaffold poles - as the hazard tape confirms.
May I ask the Chairman of the Environment and Regeneration Committee the total
cost of fencing Lesnes Abbey and Frank’s Parks.”
The answer was £74,995 which seemed dirt cheap when you consider it would take half an
hour or so to walk around those two parks and my own 90 feet of fencing had cost more than two thousand just a few months earlier.
Further questions revealed that there was no prior consultation and the
Conservatives blamed Labour for the decision; an Administration that had by then
been out of power for four and a half years.
I doubt very much that so much fencing was done for just £75k.
After a few years the wooden posts rotted.
History is now repeating itself. Without prior notice Bexley Council has made an
eyesore of Shoulder of Mutton Green in Welling. Concrete posts and scaffold
poles around a delightful local amenity. The Philistines.
The locals have complained and been given lame fob offs about travellers’ caravans. They have
sought support via a petition too. Take a look and see if you agree with them.
Nice house. Nice church. Nice park. Ugly fence. Uncaring Council.