9 August - Bad investments and non-disclosure agreements
Someone is on a roll at Bexley Council because a second email follows up on the one published yesterday and refers to Bexley’s involvement in the Thurrock fiasco. Bexley, Newham and Thurrock Councils used to be linked via an admin. consortium called oneSource which invested in a solar panel company called Rockfire. Fortunately Bexley didn’t get in too deep but it left Thurrock £500 million in debt. Whether Bexley ever got its smaller investment back remains a mystery.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/15/thurrock-council-hid-losses-gambled-millions-risky-investments
Thurrock
had a Council where only Good News was welcome. Members generally didn’t ask
questions and when they did their senior managers didn’t answer. Is the same happening in Bexley? Why has Jackie
Belton decided that a Master’s degree in Oxford is better than leading a local authority with 200,000 residents?
If people are committed to public service, why run?
Has she and her Deputy Chief Executive, Paul Thorogood [both previously in Newham] something to hide? Maybe your story that
he is going to replace her is his fairy tale ending worthy of the Brothers Grimm.
Maybe he will be given the opportunity to cover his tracks.
It is quite common. Just look at all those non-disclosure agreements imposed
on the various senior managers currently leaving. Apparently the Council’s principal accountant is leaving too and the job is being
advertised by a private recruitment firm.
Was Jackie pushed or did she jump?
This email has been
subjected to minor re-wording because the original
may not have been easy to absorb on a single reading. However the revised
version remains substantially the same.