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News and Comment November 2023

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26 November - Pointless questions

Councillors’ questions are in the main part of the the theatrical antics of Full Council, most have no benefit over popping an email across to the relevant Cabinet Member but the set reported below may be an exception. Here the Bexley Magazine might be a better medium for getting the messages across rather than preach to no more than five Members of the Public in the Council Chamber. Typical was Councillor Janice Ward-Wilson’s question to Cabinet Member Richard Diment about how much money is saved by putting rubbish in the correct bin.

Residuals for incineration costs taxpayers £126·38p per tonne. Disposal of food waste is cost neutral but if it all went for incineration it would have cost £584,000 a year. 37% of what goes into the residual waste bin is food. Paper and cardboard makes money; £686,000 last year. A figure for plastic, tins and glass is not available but it is “a considerable sum".
Magazine

Click to see more of Page 4 of the Winter 2023 issue of the Bexley Magazine.

Some areas are particularly bad for recycling and a door-to-door campaign is in progress. The misinformation that Bexley was top London recycler for 17 consecutive years was repeated.

Councillor Steven Hall (Conservative, West Wickham) asked how much the ULEZ legal challenge had cost. Deputy Leader David Leaf went back to 1st July 2021 for a Khan quote. “I have no plans to extend the ULEZ to Outer London” adding “some people wonder why politicians cannot be trusted”.

“In the 2022 election we campaigned to oppose ULEZ while Labour campaigned to impose it. We won and they lost and we therefore had a mandate to oppose the expansion of the ULEZ. It has had a shocking and dreadful impact on residents and business. Of 114,000 vehicles in the borough about 28,000 of them are non-compliant. Our share of the costs of the challenge was £147,853·20 [which includes TfL costs], £1·50 per household. We will continue to voice our opposition to this regressive unfair and punitive charge imposed by Labour.” Another S. Hall, he said will cancel the ULEZ if elected next May.

Councillor Francis (Labour, Belveder) asked why the Council’s legal advice remains a secret. The Cabinet Member said he is following “clear processes” and Councillor Francis is very well aware of them”. Labour are “tax grabbing ULEZ lovers and hit their own wards hardest and ignore the pain and suffering”.

Councillor Chris Ball (Labour, Erith) asked Leader O’Neill if she agreed that vandalism is not a victimless crime. She said that in general she does but as it is a hypothetical question a more comprehensive reply was not possible.

Councillor Ball said that there had been 800 cases of ULEZ camera vandalism plus 200 thefts. Would she condemn those people? Somewhat ambiguously if you study the punctuation she said “I would not, definitely, support any action like that but I understand the frustration”. She quoted a 90 year old man who could now no longer leave home because he had to sell his 25 year old car. Shop footfall is down and “jobs are at risk”

 

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