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News and Comment July 2022

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22 July - ULEZ again

Councillor Cheryl BaconWhen I saw Councillor Bacon restored to chairing the Places Scrutiny Committee on 6th July I had an instant flashback to 2012 when she was doing the same job and closed a meeting to every member of the public present. All because just one of them was carrying an ancient Dictaphone to record her words.

The following day Bexley Council realised that what they had done was illegal and instead of offering a simple apology they embarked upon the most massive lying cover-up operation ever recorded in these pages which ultimately led to Cheryl and three members of staff being named in a police file which was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Ironically the Dictaphone was not in working order and could not be used as evidence of the lying but nine witnesses convinced the police that there was evidence of Misconduct in a Public Office.

For the record I don’t believe that the episode was wholly Cheryl’s fault, she was ill-advised but unlike some other Councillors, Conservative too, was not prepared to break ranks and speak the truth.

But it was all ten years ago and most of those responsible for Bexley Council’s chequered history have gone.

What was her meeting about this time? Not an awful lot as it happens.

Councillor John Davey (Conservative, West Heath) asked if anyone knew what local businesses thought about Sadiq Khan’s proposed ULEZ extension. Cabinet Member for Growth, Cafer Munur, said he had spoken to many and it was of “great, great concern to them” not just directly but because of employees who commute in from places like Chatham.

Councillor Davey said it impacted not just on residents who cannot afford to replace cars, but also on the local economy as a whole. Maybe he was under the illusion that the local economy would be of the slightest interest to a Labour Mayor who attacks prosperity on so many levels. Unjustified bus lanes, 20 m.p.h. zones. Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, little used cycle lanes etc.

Councillor Sally Hinkley (Labour, Belvedere) said the Local Plan recorded an issue with air quality. If there is no ULEZ what is Bexley Council going to do about the pollutants? There was no immediate answer.

Councillor Frazer Brooks (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) said that ULEZ was regressive. Those who can afford to update their vehicles had already done so and it directly impacts the poorest. Overnight carers, both family and professional, would be hit hard and twice within 24 hours in some cases.

Councillor Mabel Ogundayo (Labour, Thamesmead East) trod the well worn socialist path of public transport being the answer and claimed it was cheaper. However it is frequently impractical. I drove to Petts Wood and back yesterday to fix a problem that had arisen there. The roads were busy, Sidcup was gridlocked and the total driving time was an hour and fifty minutes for exactly 20 miles. Three buses each way would have been close to five hours and lacking the car’s air conditioning which I enjoyed at no cost. (All my motoring has used solar energy for the past three months at least which maybe confirms Frazer’s point about regressive taxation.)

Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) thought it was pretty silly that perfectly good cars will have to be scrapped. Councillor Nigel Betts reminded his colleagues that residents were already affected as our local hospital is within the existing ULEZ and sick people cannot always jump on a bus. Councillor Davey said he was an enthusiast for electric buses and that the Mayor had not provided any on borough routes, indeed the plans for them have been cut. (A small number of the 180s from Abbey Wood to Erith are now electric.)

Cabinet Member Craske said that air pollution in Bexley had not exceeded permitted levels in the past few years. “It hasn’t happened.” He went on to say that with the transfer to electric vehicles there will be millions of pounds of cameras with nothing to enforce. A totally naive view. They cannot be justified on monetary grounds now, they are being put in to enforce London pay per mile charging, a point which Councillor Craske later acknowledged.

He spoke of the possibility of fines for those who leave engines running when parked, particularly outside schools. Another plus for electric cars; both heating and air conditioning will run when the engine is turned off.

Cabinet Member Munur said that electric cars “leave a foot print too” but I suspect he speaks from a position of ignorance. He can run his hand over my brake discs any time he likes and he will find his palm clean afterwards because the brakes are so rarely used. I will concede that tyre life is heading towards about 75% of what I used to achieve in a petrol car.

Note: What happened to the file that went to the CPS? Basically it was lost. The investigating police officer had retired in the year following the submission but he came to see me afterwards in a private capacity and provided a few details. He said he had never seen the like of it before but left me convinced that the Crown Prosecution Service is bent and that he thought so too. Nothing more was ever heard about their involvement in Bexley Council’s cover-up.

 

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