30 January (Part 1) - Public meeting censored
I like to go to Councillor Seymour’s Places Scrutiny Committee meeting, the way he chairs it has
always appealed to me and more importantly the subject matter
affects every one of us very directly. One might say that the topics discussed are largely rubbish but it is
important rubbish, literally in some cases. Recycling, rubbish ideas like
concreting over parks and the disruptions caused by Andrew Bashford’s rubbish highway planning.
Last night the main Agenda item was the challenge of maintaining high recycling
rates in flats. Given Bexley Council is planning to build flats wherever it can
it is an important issue that threatens to knock Bexley from its recycling top spot. How
can up to five bins be accommodated where no garden exists? Going further I am questioning why anyone should be happy to let Bexley Council take over nearly 20
square feet of their property rent free. Except for the garden waste bin they
are all far too big for my needs.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get to Melvin Seymour’s the meeting. I was running late thanks
to an unexpected visitor and then the relief carer in East Ham failed to show up
and the CCTV showed my aunt at her garden gate insufficiently dressed and
waiting for her dinner and bed. By the time something was organised the webcast
became the only option.
Not for the first time it was a let down. The audio quality is much better than
it used to be, the buzzes and earth loop hums have gone but there was a short
video presentation last night and they can never be seen.
However that wasn’t the main problem, it was the fact that the audio muted at
various critical points, the Cabinet Member’s report for example was entirely
missed as was his reply to Councillor Hinkley’s question about
the recent Serco
disturbances. There were nine audio mutings up to four minutes long and a few momentary ones.
Below is the audio waveform of last night’s meeting. When displayed on a big
enough screen (the image is large enough to be OK at Ultra HD size) the nine gaps are easily visible.
It’s happened before.