As usual, some Councils were very slow to put their Council Tax figures on line
this year preferring to hide them under a Post Code, Select your Address system which is
not very friendly towards researchers, but with Southwark trailing the pack
they are all available now.
Readers will be pleased to know that Bexley has retained its coveted position as
the highest taxing Conservative borough in London (if one excludes Croydon which
went bankrupt under Labour and the new administration was forced to impose a 15%
rise). Bexley remains the 25th worst Council in London, it was 14th in 2002.
Bromley has dropped below, that is worse than, both Barnet and Ealing. I am not
sure how this leap frogging occurs when the maximum percentage increases are all
much the same. What was a £10 Band D advantage last year has gone the other way by about a pound.
What do we get for a Band D tax of more than £2,000? Well not a decent refuse
collection service that is for sure.
It is a month since
Country Slop labelled the nearby paper bin ‘Contaminated’
and as usual all that does is cause an overflow because they cannot be bothered
to put a lock on the broken lid. Then the wind distributes it down the street and
into nearby gardens, mine included.
That story has been repeating every month or so for two years. It results in
extra collection costs and presumably the loss of half a tonne of cardboard each time it happens.
The solution is obvious to anyone with a fully functioning brain but
presumably that excludes Country Slop management and
the recently departed
Cabinet Member Peter Craske.
Maybe his replacement will be more proactive.
