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News and Comment November 2020

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11 November (Part 1) - It’s all gone pear-shaped

A year ago and right up to the time that our freedoms were first curtailed I was receiving messages - mostly but not always anonymously - from three boroughs saying broadly the same thing. If Bexley insisted on recruiting Finance staff with a track record of failure and then promoted them, Bexley would be on track for financial meltdown; and so it came to pass although now that Covid has reared its ugly head the link might be hard to prove. The best I can offer right now are the words of a Councillor whose career I would not dream of blighting. “I have to wonder if people can count.”

Yesterday the News Shopper came up with the following headline. Click it to read Lachlan Leeming’s report.
News ShopperYesterday I didn’t know where our Aussie friend had got those numbers from because I’d listened to the recent Audit Committee meeting and Full Council and didn’t hear anything about job losses although it wasn’t hard to take a guess after hearing how Bexley’s finances had been allowed to go down the pan.

The Council’s auditor said that with the way things have gone “you will have to make unplanned changes to your service provision.”

Next week’s Cabinet Agenda provided the the information I was looking for…

Cabinet Agenda

Job losses loom.

The direction of travel in Bexley is worrying and one of several reasons that make me want to go back to my country bumpkin status of many years ago. Messages sent to me suggest that I am not alone in being worried.


“Job losses are to be discussed at Cabinet. 150 full time staff may well affect more than 200 people as many work part-time.

The impact on services will be diabolical. Is it due to Covid? Seems not as the Council has received millions for its Covid losses and it is lobbying for more. It’s more likely linked to the malaise over the last few years as reserves have shrunk and the financial stewardship has caused the auditors to question financial resilience. And the debate over the housing losses rumbles on. The report online shows further pressures of over £2 million. déjà vu.”


For ten years, maybe more, Bexley Conservatives have been telling us how they save money by improving efficiency but that simply won’t wash any more. There is no way another round of cost savings won’t be detrimental to services. Can anyone point to services that are improved compared to ten years ago? Off the top of my head I cannot think of any other than a few obscure examples provided by profit making companies. Town centre wi-fi. 13 almost useless electric car chargers. Have I forgotten any?

Election promise

It will be a long time before we see promises like this again.

Note: The email above has been shortened slightly but nothing has been added.

 

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