27 October - Pay, pay and priory partying. Pay again!
Sometimes there is simply no time for commenting on local events, in the
meantime here are a
few items of relatively minor interest. More substantial things are likely to have to wait until next week.
Council pay rates
From within the Civic Centre comes a complaint about miserly pay increases. It
says that the Leader has circulated a message to all staff to say their pay will
be going up by 2·75% but scratch below the surface and it is really only 1·75%.
The extra 1% applies only to a very few people. if any.
A further complaint, one that I have heard many times before is that Bexley
Council is cramming staff back into the office paying no regard whatsoever to Covid infection control.
Whether these complaints are fair or not is hard to tell. If the Leader has sent
an email to all staff it would be simpler and more authoritative to forward a
copy instead of having to second guess what she may or may not have said.
Hall Place
A
similar message said that
the idea of charging for access to Hall Place gardens
has been resurrected following a Consultation. There is no Hall Place
consultation listed on the Council’s website for the past year so again it is second guessing time.
No one would be surprised if a money grabbing Council charged extra for everything possible
but there was no mention of charging for the garden when
Hall Place was last discussed at a Council meeting. Only car park charging was discussed.
Lesnes Abbey
There may be no Consultation at Hall Place but Lesnes Abbey is the subject of a slightly
different one, it is proposed that the monks should be allowed to get drunk.
Click to see a lot more.
If you look at the complete document you will find that the Council has made
it as difficult as possible to make comments.
Currently Lesnes Abbey events must end by 5 p.m. and not more than twelve
of them a year. The Council gives no details of their new proposals and ask that
you phone 01732 227004 if you are worried about the likely impact of what yet another money making scheme will have on your life.
Probably the occupants of New Road, Monk’s Close and Abbey Road will suffer most
with noise and parking problems spreading at least as far as the railway line.
Just two weeks left to object.