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News and Comment February 2024

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24 February (Part 1) - Well this is a little embarrassing

LabourBexley Labour may have come up with the perfect description of this borough over the past ten years and more. ‘Managed decline’.

I am sure that the ruling Conservatives would argue that they have done amazingly well under the malign rule of various Chancellors such as Osborne, Hammond and Sunak. The man who went on to be the worst Prime Minister in living memory - exactly as predicted - but one struggles to find any aspect of life in Bexley that the local Tories have managed to improve.

We now pay for a recycling service which used to be free and the bins are collected less often. Libraries have much reduced opening times and some are smaller than they used to be.

When Councils were allowed to set Council Tax Benefit at a level to suit themselves Bexley Council reduced it for several years in a row and for everyone else Council Tax has risen a little more steeply when compared to other London boroughs.

Car parking charges have gone up massively everywhere but Bexley Council is one of the few to introduce through the night and Sunday charges to the detriment of local residents and the struggling night time economy.

Street lighting is dimmer than it used to be and Keep Lefts on pedestrian refuges are no longer illuminated, both being the inevitable result of Government energy policies.

CCTV surveillance has been abandoned and Registrar and Licensing Services have been given to other local authorities to manage.

Street cleaning and grass cutting schedules are all reduced but not the number of potholes and blocked drains. School crossing patrols have almost disappeared and SEN parents pay for their children’s transport.

Maybe Bexley Council has not been directly responsible for the decline of the biggest shopping centres but their parking policies haven’t helped. Many a time I have heard councillors call for a free 30 minutes but their pleas fall on deaf ears.

Bexley’s Conservative Council was instrumental in getting our river crossing cancelled which has hit the local economy hard.

Has anything improved? Children’s playgrounds perhaps if one overlooks the loss of Belvedere’s Splash Park and a few things funded by outside bodies. Tennis courts recently and Lesnes Abbey Park funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Council gifted itself a new Town Hall but the plan to put a big Tesco on the old Broadway site fell through and replaced by the monstrosity which is Eastside Quarter.

Transport facilities are generally better but that is down to the London Mayor and No Thanks to Bexley Council which didn’t even bother to push for and plan for Crossrail. (Elizabeth line.) Whilst I personally have fewer buses than 30 or even two years ago I don’t have to go far to find much quicker services to Bexleyheath. From today there is a new limited stop service (SL3) to Bromley which restores and improves on the 269 route which used to serve my nearest bus stop when I first came to Bexley. A time when only Westminster. Wandsworth and Merton (by £1) had a lower Council Tax. (Community Charge.)

 

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