25 April (Part 2) - Is this the truth I was looking for?
If you have been around for long enough you may be skilled at guessing
when BiB is leading up to some scandal or other and that has been the situation over the past few days.
A week ago there was a whisper that the names on the local election
nominations list were surprising, but that by itself is not very useful information. A bit of
arm twisting provided one lonely clue. “Look at Belvedere.” Hence my request for an
inspection at the Civic Offices. A request that has gone unrewarded.
It remains to be seen if the names go on line tomorrow as promised, they may do, they may not, but earlier
today BiB’s anonymous file submission facility turned up a little gem; hence this
earlier than planned revelatory blog.
It looks like someone has snatched a quick phone shot of some names. It could be
clearer and it could be a set up. I am always wary of being led into a trap but
if it is, it is a very elaborate one that fits a lot of known facts. I like to
illustrate blogs where possible but to show the fuzzy copy here may not be totally legal and it
wouldn’t add much to the story so I will resist the temptation.
As far as I can make out all three
Conservative candidates for Belvedere ward are nominated by the same ten people
with only one named exception.
It is not surprising to see Councillor Leaf’s name on
the list but beyond that there are three names of Indian origin and two are
Singh. One is unmistakably Kulvinder’s father Tarsem.
It looks to be the case that Tarsem Singh is a Conservative backer, one whose company destroyed
Ye Olde
Leather Bottle and despoiled Lesnes Abbey Woods and got away with both.
(The H&SE prosecution excepted, with which Bexley Council was reluctant to help. It fell
to me and Labour Councillors to be witnesses.)
I am not quite sure what to say about all this. When I lived in Hampshire I knew
without a doubt that the local Planning Department was bent but I have never come
across anything remotely similar in Bexley - until possibly now.
Even if the planners are not influenced by our developer friends it appears to
be odds on that Councillors might be and they seem unafraid to publicise their liaison.
The fuzzy copy of the nominations may explain why the wife of the Vice-Chairman of
the Planning Committee is pictured at Singh’s front door and with both father
and son on a Belvedere building site. Cheek by jowl with the Planning
Vice-Chairman! Are they mad or simply brazen after years of getting away with it?
Assuming I am not given further evidence to the contrary, in which case this blog will rapidly
disappear, I would expect in a perfect world for this news to go around the
borough very quickly indeed but in blue Bexley no one cared about Council criminality in
years gone by so why should I expect things to be different now?
But as usual I live in hope.
P.S. Shortly after publication a
tip-off from within said that I won’t be challenged over the foregoing. Phew!
Councillors from both parties have come forward to express their dismay that Bexley has Councillors
stupid enough to allow and even encourage this to happen. No one in Belvedere
ward should consider voting for the shower pictured above.