Chairman Cheryl Bacon opened the Places Scrutiny meeting by announcing that she was losing her hearing
which was sad to hear as it is far more debilitating than one might imagine. My
best friend is very deaf and when, not so long ago, I temporarily lost mine
totally in one ear, it was not a pleasant experience, far from it. I wasn’t sure
I was going to get it back but with a loud pop I eventually did.
She asked Councillors to use their microphones properly and of course one
didn’t. Peter Craske (Conservative, Blackfen & Lamorbey).
Cabinet Member Craske has form for not using his microphone and back in 2012
set out to deliberately inconvenience a deaf member of the public by refusing to do so. Bexley
Council lost an Equalities Commission complaint following that meeting and maybe
Councillor Craske has learned his lesson. This time he spoke into his microphone
when Cheryl reminded him of her deafness.
Councillor Chris Ball (Labour, Erith) asked about the financial risks associated with
temporary accommodation particularly those arising from men in rubber dinghies.
Council Officer Jane Richardson said that the data coming from the Home Office
was not good and arrived late. She thought they might currently number in the
region of 120 in Bexley but there is no family data. Those coming from Afghanistan are
more regulated and there are currently five Afghan families in Bexley houses and
rising. Other boroughs might be sneaking them in unannounced too “and London is full really”.
Councillor Patrick Adams (Conservative, Blendon & Penhill) asked if there was
funding for pedestrian crossings particularly around Hurst Road. Highways
Manager Andrew Bashford blamed the bad weather for the planned survey not being
conducted but hoped that it might go ahead in February. There is also some hope that
National Grid which is currently tunnelling under Bexley might be able to fund a crossing.
Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) asked how much funding will come from TfL, and when,
and returned to her favourite subject, recycling, She thought residents needed
to be educated more and June is probably right.
Cabinet Member Craske said £1·5 million will come from TfL. The
recycling manager said he would take the recycling comments on board.
Councillor Mabel Ogundayo (Labour, Thamesmead East) said that garden waste
subscriptions are declining while the costs increase. What is being done to
reverse that? The decline was blamed on strikes.
Mabel also asked about the provision of car washing facilities in
under-used car parks. There are none in Council run
car parks at present but that is under review. Similarly more Amazon style lockers might be introduced.
Councillor Cameron Smith (Conservative, St. Mary’s & St. James) raised the issue of commuter parking around Abbey Wood
station and whether parking revenue might decrease if the expanded ULEZ deters motorists
from driving in London. No one had studied the issue and no one could offer an estimate.
Moving to housing, Councillor Frazer Brooks (Conservative,
Falconwood & Welling) asked if there had been any problems
in Bexley with Ukrainian refugees housed by agreement in private homes losing
that accommodation for any reason. He was told that there are between 200 and
300 such individuals in the borough but there could be no comprehensive answer
because the relevant department was not represented at the meeting. Hosts are
obviously encouraged to maintain their arrangements given the London-wide housing pressures.
The car parking issue got another airing. Councillor Rags Sandhu (Conservative, Bexleyheath)
surprised me by asking when the Felixstowe Road (Abbey Wood) car park would be reopened; I thought it had been
given to BexleyCo for housing. With luck by April was the
answer. The Agenda reveals the Council is expecting to take nearly half a
million a year from it so the question must be which idiot kept it closed after
Network Rail moved out
more than four years ago.
Councillor Smith asked why the Thanet Road (Bexley) car park usage is predicted
to fall by two thirds but the income rise by 50%. A number of guesses were made
but most likely it was a mistake. A more useful question was “are charges
still competitive with private car parks, they certainly aren’t in Bexley
Village?” Another review was promised.
In response to a question from Councillor Brooks, Cabinet Member Craske said
there were no plans to close any car parks “but didn’t rule it out in the long
term. We would if one was not being used but we are not in that place”. Usually
Councillors are content with vague answers but not Frazer Brooks. “What
constitutes not used?” Zero usage, a percentage drop, what? Councillor Craske
continued with his theme. “it will be self evident when the time comes”. The
Council is looking at “dynamic pricing”.
Still on the subject of roads and similar it was revealed that a Road Safety
Officer is to be recruited soon, a development marred somewhat by the recent
resignation of the Head of Road Safety. The school road safety situation may
have been improved by ‘Work from Home’ which allows more children to be driven to school.
Strange to find a Council favouring driving over walking but probably it is safer.
There was an apology for the disruption in recycling services during December
2022 and beyond and it was blamed on icy conditions. No crews went out for seven
days and then 35% of the work force went sick. The enthusiasm for SloppyStyle Recycling
was not exactly overwhelming. “Residents are right in saying that other
authorities are managing better … but they are less efficient.” In the context of the
overall discussion that was not quite as crazy as it sounds.
Councillor Slaughter said there was evidence that the
on-board (the refuse truck) technology did not correctly reflect the missed bin situation on the
ground. Agency staff got the blame for that, in December it was at the 33% level.
The Chairman said that SloppyStyle needs to do better. Deaf or not, Cheryl is on the ball!