8 April (Part 1) - Yarnton Way crossing
My Freedom
of Information request about Yarnton Way missing out on a pedestrian
crossing was answered last week by Head of Highways Andrew Bashford and
his letter and enclosure was entirely satisfactory. Yarnton Way slipped off the
crossings schedule because solving the drainage problems would have been a
little too expensive for a cash strapped Council. Someone more argumentative
than me might point out that Yarnton Way has plenty of potential crossing sites
and Thamesmead whilst wet is not quite Venice, but that would achieve nothing
except a waste time and money.
Time and money was however wasted by the FOI because I
already had a good idea of why the
crossing had been cancelled and was not desperate for more information. Later I heard Mr. Bashford
explaining the
situation in some detail to the Transport sub-Committee. The real reason
for submission was to demonstrate the futility of
Bexley Council refusing to accept any FOIs from @tonyofsidcup. As various
legal minds have explained over the years; to ban an individual, however obnoxious
he might be - or not in this case - it is not lawful to decide that no questions
are permitted from that particular source. Full stop. End of the matter.
Once again it is demonstrated that Bexley Council has no respect for the law of
the land. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that Bexley Council under its present Leadership
has no respect for the law.
I can think of no reason for Cabinet Member Richard Diment to no longer
be answering perfectly reasonable emails from @tonyofsidcup
- as he did once upon a time - except that he might be under
instructions from his boss who is of course the power behind the ban issued by the Monitoring Officer.
What a mess. The Council’s legal officer acts illegally because to do otherwise might imperil her employment.
Without @tony, in an age when local newspapers barely exist, almost no one
would be asking questions and few would know anything about the strange workings of Bexley Council.