31 July - Wasting time. Wasting money

Following comments made here a couple of days ago, Dimitri gave me chapter and verse on the police investigation into the so-easily-could-have-been-fatal hammer attack on his house. He seems to be happy enough with the limited progress made so far although I cannot quite get my head around the sense of scheduling the request for CCTV images from nearby commercial premises for next Friday. That’s more than three weeks after the crime was committed.

The hammer attack got in the way of Dimitri attending the last Full Council meeting and he was unable to pose his question about Council Tax. A simple one-liner. “Why does a Bexley household in Council Tax Band D pay over £200 more than a similar household in Greenwich or Bromley?”

The written answer is now available. What is it? We get a far smaller grant than Greenwich and we waste far too much money on covering up for our mismanagement? (Two months now not to get around to answering my Wilkinson complaint so far.)

Not quite right.

The grant which was wrong when the Labour Government set the formula 15 years ago is even more out of date now but it was rather lame of the Leader to point out that Sutton, Havering, Richmond and Kingston all have higher tax rates. “We are bad but not quite the worst” doesn’t quite cut it.

It was noted that in 2002 the Council Tax in Bexley was below the Outer London average but by 2006, after a spell of Labour control, Bexley’s tax rate was above average. The official response included; Labour raised the tax rate by 34% in four years excluding the GLA precept while the Conservatives have managed 64% in 18 years.

There is no explanation of what sort of state we would be in if Labour had not raised so much extra money 20 years ago. No difference at all I would guess.

What will Council Tax rates rise to once Rachel Reeves Queen of Thieves sticks her expensive oar in?

 

29 July - Marking time

The nicely timed good weather has taken precedence over most things, fortunately coinciding with not a lot going on in Bexley. There are no webcast meetings to report until next October. What will I do?

I have not heard from Dimitri so I don’t know if he ever heard from the police. While at the Oval yesterday watching Surrey collapse in an ignominious heap again another Club Member who knows I come from Bexley asked me if I knew of the hammer throwing episode in Sidcup. He had stumbled upon it on the web and was anxious to tell me about it.

I half suspect he had found it on Bonkers but I didn’t like to ask or press too hard for answers.

Another of my little Indices was knocked up today, they are automated so an easy job. This one covers the recent General Election. I aim to tell you why I thought it might be worth doing on Thursday. As usual the website demands an entry for the 1st of each month.

Meanwhile it looks like Rachel Reeves has given me plenty to add to the Starmageddon file. I thought the Labour Government might take 18 months before falling apart but it looks like their popularity will drop off a cliff long before that.

 

26 July - It’s good news

You will be pleased to know that this morning the police reached out to Dimitri about the reckless attack on his home which has left him and his family feeling very vulnerable. This was just a few hours after Louie French MP took an interest yesterday although the police officer’s email with its timings makes it more likely that his benefactor a week ago may have been the real trigger for action. Dimitri has asked that I do not reveal the name, I think that is because his new friend asked him not to.

The police email shows that at present they have no idea of what happened but you can be sure that Dimitri will soon put them right. Until there are more developments which Dimitri is content to make public the subject will no doubt drop out of the BiB headlines.

 

25 July - The good news and the bad news

The good news is that Dimitri’s MP Louie French has been in touch with him offering what help he can following the potential murder of Dimitri’s six year old daughter by an identified hooligan. The bad news is that with the exception of Sadiq Khan, no politician can give directions to the police. Louie will of course get what information he can and press the police to give Dimitri an answer, but so far everyone is still waiting for them to lift a finger.

Shoplifting is exempt from prosecution today, criminal damage and grievous bodily harm will presumably join the list soon. Whoops, I think criminal damage has been already. How many monuments and public buildings have been daubed with red paint so far this year?

 

24 July - 50 Not out

The final noteworthy item of the Full Council meeting a week ago was the tribute paid to Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) who has completed 50 continuous years serving the borough.

I find her to be amazing in many ways, she is six months older than I am and manages to show up at Council meetings three evening in a row when I struggle to find the energy to attend just the occasional one.

She can be a good friend when needed and will always stop to pass the time of day if our paths should cross. On two occasions when Bexley tried very hard to get me into trouble she was willing to debunk their lies in writing which was both very reassuring and useful. Unlike some of her colleagues at the time she absolutely refused to stand by in the knowledge that there was some serious malfeasance going on. I know that made her own life difficult but there are few people as upstanding as Councillor June Slaughter. Long may she feel able to continue.

Labour Leader Stefano Borella shares my view and said he was “delighted” to speak in praise of Councillor Slaughter, he “values her as a friend” and like me knows that she “is amazing as one of the longest serving Councillors in London”. (Beaten only by a Hounslow Councillor who has served for 53 years.)

He is happy to see her recognised as an Alderman although he would have preferred Freeman of the Borough. She had won the Lamorbey West ward when Stefano was only six months old and “served on the Housing Committee when we had Council houses”.

When Stefano was first elected in 2010 it was June who was at the front of the short queue to welcome him to the Council. He also spoke well of his recollections of June’s late Councillor husband Mike. He has fond memories of him. Stefano presented June with white flowers decorated with a single red rose. (If I might say so pretty much all of the foregoing could equally be applied to Stefano, always ready to say hello and stand up against malpractice. - but he will be going some to make his 50 years.)

Council Leader Teresa O’Neill was next to her feet and grateful that the Labour Group was fully supportive of June’s achievement. She should be “extremely proud. The role of Councillor has changed dramatically and Councillor Slaughter has moved with and adapted to all those changes. She is one of the hardest working Councillors in this Chamber, and certaintly deserves recognition. She is a beacon to others and I wish her many many more years”.

Labour Councillor Chris Ball made a similar tribute. “June is always completely prepared for meetings and dedicated to detail. June gets involved in everything and has an incredible capacity to keep on top of all of those things. Preparedness, Service and Caring, unfailingly lovely isnְ’t she? Always genuine.”

“Fun is another thing, a very good sense of humour. On a personal note I took nine months not to get a mortgage until June arrived as a locum solicitor. I was in my home three weeks later. In Council she says things which may not be popular but are right. I am lucky to have her as a friend and we are lucky to have her in the Council Chamber.”

I don’t think I am qualified to adequately summarise Councillor Slaughter’s gracious response and it is probably right that her words should be preserved for longer than the webcast archive allows.

Introduction by Mayor Sue Gower.

 

23 July - Attempted murder is not a crime in Bexley

Just a quickie blog today because it is mainly taken up by website housekeeping. One of the horrible coding chores is the annual update of the list of Councillors and their jobs which has not yet been done for the current Civic Year. Probably no one noticed anyway especially as I discovered that the 2023-24 list contained quite a lot of mistakes and no one reported them. The page is created on the fly from a whole load of source files. As you can imagine one year is built on the previous one which is perhaps a recipe for cumulative mistakes.

Last year some of the contributory files referred back to 2022 data instead of 2023 which was present but ignored. This, not to overstate the issue, made a bit of a mess of things. I think it is corrected now and the most obvious change may be that Councillor Leaf has gained his beard and Zainab Asunramu lost her Covid mask.

Next step, the 2024-25 list!

So to the quick blog. It needs to be said relentlessly that in Sidcup you can cause criminal damage and endanger life with impunity. Sidcup Police know the address that should be investigated, indeed anyone who reads this blog carefully will know the address that should be investigated, but have absolutely refused to do so.

In Bexley a crime little short of attempted murder is a non-crime just as if it was shoplifting booze from the Co-op. The police are simply not interested. Neither is the newly elected MP Louie French, we will have to remember that when he next seeks our vote.

In stark contrast the new Labour MP for Crayford, whilst constrained by Parliamentary protocol expressed his regret at the incident.

There was briefly some hope when a person of influence took up a sympathetic position but a week has gone by and even he or she is unable to rouse Sidcup Police from their lazy arses.

Meanwhile residents of Sidcup must cower behind their boarded windows awaiting the next attack on their lives.

The police are disgusting and deserve no one’s respect.

Note: The victim has subsequently informed me that he believes MPSSidcup may have passed the case to MPSBexley and he may get a call from them at some time.

 

22 July - The Leader’s report

I have always found the Leader’s report to be interesting, the written report is comprehensive - 26 pages this time around - and Councillor O’Neill does not overstay her welcome when summarizing it for Full Council.

Last week she covered the General Election and congratulated the three successful former Councillors along with the team that organised the count. She had already begun to lobby them for a better deal for Bexley. Even the London Mayor has had a congratulatory message from Bexley Council. “We need him to provide borough based policing, better transport including the restoration of the Loop Line infrastructure, the DLR to Belvedere or even further.”

We have a new Assembly Member in Thomas Turrell and with him The Leader had met the Deputy Mayor to discuss transport issues - but almost certainly they will reject the Mayor’s offer to improve Knee Hill while expecting his co-operation with Bexley’s ambitions.

She confirmed the appointment of Jim Beale as the new Deputy Director for Adult Social Care who has already made a good start at the Scrutiny Committee meeting.

Labour Leader Borella preceded his first question by emphasizing how disappointed he was that Councillor Ogundayo’s Motion had been side-lined. It wouldn’t be a Borella speech if it did not contain a number of political barbs. 14 years of chaos, Trussonomics, Covid parties, food banks, no new funding formula, the Capitalisation Order. “Labour has one hell of a mess to clear up. Imagine if we had a Labour Council in 2026 with a Labour Government and a Labour Mayor to deal with the housing crisis.”

Someone called out “Dream on” to which Stefano said “you should be worried and it is no secret that there will be a by-election this year. We should have a by-election in Crayford (Independent Felix di Netimah) and Falconwood (Independent Nigel Betts) too”.

If Councillor Borella intended to ask a question, he must have forgotten it.

Leader O’Neill said she too was disappointed that the two parties didn’t co-operate over the Motion having forgotten that the Conservative Group didn’t even give advance notice of their Amendment let alone co-operate with the Labour Group. She claimed the restoration of the Loop line to Abbey Wood was the result of Conservative pressure.

Councillor David Leaf who can always be relied upon to have gone through all the small print said that the King’s Speech didn’t have a single word about Social or Council housing so he expected disappointment ahead.

Councillor O’Hare asked what was being done to minimise littering and fly tipping. Cabinet Member Diment said he took “a zero tolerance” approach and all the fines have been raised to the legally permissible maximum and new Artificial Intelligence CCTV has been strategically placed along with 450 new litter bins.

Councillor Andrew Curtois criticised the London Mayor who had predictably sided with Greenwich Council’s plan to force their alleged parking problem in Eltham into the residential streets of Falconwood. Greenwich residents now park just across the border in Bexley. Cabinet Member Diment said he was angry and frustrated because Greenwich’s rearrangements did not impact their own residents at all because there is no housing in the affected streets but Falconwood residents will bear all the consequences. “It is typical of the disregard that Mayor Khan has for residents in this borough which is exactly what they have come to expect from him. It will cause significant problems and it may be necessary to extend the Falconwood CPZ. Residents should remember that this is yet another problem inflicted on them by Sadiq Khan.”

 

21 July (Part 2) - Don’t mention the R word

Following Councillor Ogundayo’s disturbing story of racism in Bexley her colleague Anna Day seconded the Motion. She said that what some white people people say to her in unguarded moments about race is “shocking”. She has also seen “vile racist vitriol” in connection with HMOs and people with brown skin called terrorists.

The Stephen Lawrence murder was retold in some detail as proof of endemic racism as was Islamophobia relating to the recent Palestinian disturbances in London. A Conservative supporter verbally attacked Diane Abbot and all black women and their Mayoral candidate Tweeted negatively about “the wonderfully diverse city we live in.”

“We must call out any racism we see, comments in the News Shopper show how much work there is to be done. We must foster good relations between our residents.”

Councillor Nick O’Hare (Conservative) put forward an Amendment to the Motion the contents of which we can only guess at.

He said that Bexley is now 36% from ethnic minorities, “not including our Ukrainian friends who have been welcomed with open arms”.

Nick also spoke of of his childhood experiences as a non-English speaking immigrant sent here (Hertfordshire) for adoption. The only foreign child in a school of 1,000 children. “Of course I was picked on and called names but I got on with it and made friends and the name calling stopped. I promised myself to always be respectful of others regardless of the colour of their skin religion or sexual orientation. Racism has no place in the 21st century.” It is good to see that Councillor O’Hare appears not to have been damaged by his earlier life experiences.

Councillor Janice Ward-Wilson (Conservative) thanked Mabel Ogundayo for putting forward “this very important Motion”. She referenced Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and the 2021 census that showed Bexley to be more than a third ethnic minorities and more than 10% of residents speaking a foreign first language. “As a Council we have an enduring commitment to standing against racism. We believe in a fairer Bexley.”

Labour Councillor Zainab Asunramu said that the Amendment claims that Bexley stands against racism “but we have sitting Councillors who have made racist remarks and still have the privilege of a place here and a group of majority white people [a reference to the Conservative Group] who think they know more about the experiences of Black and Global Majority people than those of us who experience racism on the ground every day.”

“You trample on the wishes of your Black and Global majority Councillor colleagues and also the staff who work here who are Black and Global Majority. All the Black and Global Majority people in the room here have seen and experienced racism up close and personal. The original Motion was incredibly important because it names the issue of racism but by not naming that issue you cannot hope to solve it.”

“Growing up on Thamesmead I have experienced my fair share of racism, in my own community, in my school and being called the N word which still happens in 2024. In very recent history there have been specific places in Bexley where we are told not to go for fear of being physically abused or attacked. Racism is a scourge on our community and in our institutions and health care and in the Council. Black kids make up 20% of stop and searches while making up only 6% of the population and fewer than 1% of school pupils study books written by people of colour.” A whole load of similar statistics followed.

At last year’s election count “a disparaging and Islamophobic comment was made to me by a sitting Member in this room right now. The original Motion sets out our intention to root out racism, unlike the showboating Amendment, it is a chance to put political differences aside and should be supported.

Councillor Ogundayo was “extremely disappointed” by the Amendment. “I had reached out to the Global Majority Staff Network and Cabinet Members about the terminology but you chose not to bring your Amendment to me because politics comes first in this Council. That is the message you are sending tonight and it is embarrassing that we cannot get on the same page in advance of a meeting. It is really disappointing.”

The Conservatives voted for the Amendment and Labour did not. As far as I can tell from the debate, the Amendment did not refer to racism which probably makes it worthless.

Bexley’s Conservative Council at its very best.

I am nevertheless left wondering where all this racism takes place because despite living close to and arguably within Bexley’s African conclave I never see what our black Councillors do on a daily basis. As you might imagine, if I saw racism at a Council meeting it would be enthusiastically reported here but it never has been. It’s come close a few times but never quite sufficiently clear cut to confidently merit the use of the R word. Misogyny, now that is another matter, but not recently to my knowledge.

 

21 July (Part 1) - Another ghetto

Conveniently close to the sewage works, the incinerator, the rapeseed oil factory and a railway station where half the trains don’t stop, Belvedere is to get another 1,250 houses for people who don’t mind having no access to GP services and nowhere much to go at night.

So far it is just outline planning permission and I have not seen it go before the Planning Committee as yet - that sort of thing is best left to Murky Depths - so it must be governance by pen-pusher at this stage.

More details here.

 

20 July - Mabel’ְs Motion

Another Council meeting means another Motion. What is the point of them? All Bexley Motions are the same. “This Council resolves to behave like decent civilised human beings in future because up until now we have fallen a long way short of that.”

Like most of Bexley’s Motions the one put forward by Councillor Mabel Ogundayo had been in the pipeline for so long (four years) that she considered it to be out of date. Permission to update it was refused, the Mayor said that the rules are that Councillors as a whole had to agree to the change and Leader O’Neill stood to oppose it. She pulled the usual stunt of saying she was going to propose a better one. The same old trick used so many times before.

Councillor Ogundayo was condemned to proposing the original old Motion. It was…

Bexley Council stands in solidarity with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities in Bexley and across the globe in their fight for justice in the face of racism in all its forms.
We commit to working with our Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities to further understand the harm and pain past and present day racism has caused, and address the concerns raised. We commit to rooting out racism within our own institution, partnering institutions and our public arena, as well as celebrating the growing cultural diversity within our Borough.

This may not be the easiest Council report to write because I am a racist. I know that because my MP’s right hand man told me so after reporting that almost 90% of Abena Oppong-Asare’s Tweets following her election in 2019 were only of interest to black people.

It was confirmed last Monday afternoon when I was swept on to a 301 bus at the Clock Tower and from the back seat watched it fill to standing room only. What would that be? 60 or 70 passengers. The driver was a white man and beside myself one other man and one woman were white. There was also a couple of Middle Eastern appearance, apparently together. Every other face was very black. No one was behaving badly and the bus was remarkably quiet but I suspect that by some definitions, taking note of my surroundings is racist.

I am one of those people who believe a man in a skirt and wearing lipstick has no idea what it is like to be a woman and it is insane to think otherwise, and applying the same logic to white on black racism, no white person can possibly know what it is like to be black. I have probably led a charmed life in my 40 years living in South East London by experiencing racism only once. A friend was called “white vermin” for uprooting some ivy that was invading a neighbour’s garden. Most people assume racism is a one way street but maybe it isn’t always.

To my mind, no one like me can dispute what Mabel had to say although I do wonder how it can be that black children are picked upon in any number when in my neck of the woods - and Mabel’s - they are in a very large majority. I live within a few yards of the footpath that leads to Lesnes Abbey woods and the school parties on their field trips are always predominately black.

So what did Mabel have to say? She began by thanking the Members opposite for their support which I took to be pure sarcasm; and if it was not it should have been.

Councillor Ogundayo would prefer the four year old term ‘Black Asian, Minority, Ethnic’ to be changed to ְ‘Global Majority Community’ as it excludes white people and Council staff have expressed a preference for it, however the Conservatives are not in favour. “The term Global Majority better reflects the realities of the world which is 85% diverse groups”. (Statistically true no doubt but Bexley is a local Council in Great Britain, not the United Nations. Despite the alleged opposition Bexley Council now has a Global Majority Network for staff which seems to be an odd way to go about suppressing any divisions there might be.)

“No single term can fully capture the complexities, the rich and varied history, culture and contributions of the British diverse communities.”

Mabel said the Motion was originally put forward in response to the death of [criminal] George Floyd in the USA [while being arrested] by a white police officer and excess deaths of black people during Covid. Since then “the topic has lost the attention of most people but racism in all its insidious forms continues to taint the fabric of society worldwide and undermines the principles of equalities and fairness that should be at the heart of every community including Bexley.”

Racism isn’t always overt, she said. “It can result in micro-aggressions which can cause just as much hurt and damage. It is not good enough to be anti-racist, people are treated differently because of the colour of their skin, or name, or hairstyle, beard, wearing a hijab etc.”

“We must pick a side, we can’t complicate it, we can’t excuse it, we can’t explain it, we have to call it out. All of us have that responsibility; a responsibility to drive it out of our society.”

She went on to say that racism was her “passion” and related how she came to Bexley as a young teenager. It was racism when on her first day at school her “form teacher struggled to pronounce her name and the class burst out laughing”. Later she suffered monkey messages, racist social media comments and given detention because of her hairstyle. The school gang was called RA which stood for Racist Attack and white parents refused to let her visit a white friend at home.

She accepted that these events some 15 plus years ago would not be accepted as the norm now but “it does still happen and may be disguised”. Even now she has racist words thrown at her in the street and even spat upon. (How do people get into situations where that sort of thing can happen?)

“Some people refuse to sit next to me on a train and give dirty looks. In Council some people roll their eyes when I mention racism. It has resulted in hateful email to both my Council and home address” and the police have not been very helpful.

Bexley Council needs to do more than put up stands in the libraries for Black History Month. It is not good enough. There needs to be school events and public events. We must be careful what we type, references to black on black crime “are nothing but old rubbish”.

By introducing an amended Motion “Bexley Council is more interested in political point scoring”.

Bexley Conservatives have not seen fit to make their Amended Motion publicly available so one might assume that they are less than proud of it but tomorrow maybe I will report on how they went around defending their decision to kick Mabel’s into touch.

Well I don’t know about you but I think that is enough tight-rope walking for one day. Mabel Ogundayo has clearly suffered at the hands of racists and once or twice I have noted the not so micro-aggressions against her in the Council Chamber, all of which is unforgiveable. She has always come across to me as a very likeable lady and effective Councillor for Thamesmead East.

There must be racism around but whether choosing a different seat on a train or counting faces on a bus makes one a racist I am a lot less sure. Probably if I say that I have only had three visitors into my house in the last week and they were all very black it will confirm my status as an unconscious racist but if their way of life is broadly similar to my own I cannot get very worked up about their presence. One visitor has a name so complicated that I have been given permission to not bother trying to get my tongue around it!

It is very sad to hear how Mabel’s experiences in Bexley have left her with such bad memories. I hope they don’t lead her towards too extreme remedies.

But rioting in the streets and waving foreign flags is something very different.

 

19 July - Councillor’s Questions No. 2, 3, 4 and 5

The second Councillor Question came from June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) who asked the quaintly renamed Cabinet Member for Place Shaping to explain the increase in HMO applications. Presumably the new title follows the Global Warming to Climate Change logic. When the title no longer fits the facts make up something new. Has Bexley Council given up on Growth?

In 2021 there were 17 applications, 2022 saw 29 and in 2023 it rose to 37. 2024 has already seen 35 and that is a concern. However that doesn’t tell the whole story; a single application has covered up to 60 dwellings.

Councillor Slaughter asked how existing residents are protected from the consequences and ensuing the quality of HMOs. Answer; due to a Planning Policy change in 2017 all new HMOs require permission. A Community Safety Partnership (Police, Fire and Council) meets every two weeks to evaluate applications and examine problem HMOs.

Labour Member Anna Day (Labour, Slade Green) asked what was being done to avoid “demonizing HMO residents who are among the most vulnerable”. Cabinet Member Munur said that “not all HMOs are problem HMOs”. Councillor Day said that didn’t answer the question. The Cabinet Member tried again. He said each one was judged on its merits by the planners who consult those who might be affected.

Question 3 was Councillor Borella seeking the Leader’s agreement that the Election Team did a good job on the 4th July.

Number 4 was a slightly mischievous Larry Ferguson (Labour, Thamesmead East) asking when Bexley Council will next be applying for a Capitalisation Order. The Leader said that “unless there was some Dastardly Deed lined up by the Labour Government that Councillor Ferguson knew about that she didn’t then there was nothing planned. All the budget plans are out in the public domain.

Councillor Ferguson did not give up; “What plans are being made for the eventuality given the Councils precarious financial position.” The Leader suggested that Councillor Ferguson could not have read last week’s Cabinet Agenda, everything is there including the position right up to last month and the plan for the next five years.

Councillor Craske asked what had happened to the immediate increase in Council funding promised by the local opposition in the event of a Labour Government being elected. Where was it? Not reported on BiB, that’s for sure.

Question 5 from Councillor Read was designed to provide an excuse for Cabinet Member Chris Taylor to say that the Justice Department’s report on Bexley’s Youth Justice Service (PDF) only just fell short of being ‘Outstanding’.

 

18 July - Councillor’s Question No. 1

I briefly contemplated attending the Full Council meeting to see our new Mayor in action but the Covid or whatever it is decided to come back and get me. While Councillor Gower was putting on her chains of office I was thinking of climbing the wooden hill - and did so shortly afterwards. What did the idiot P.M. Sunak say in Parliament? Ah yes; the vaccines are safe and effective.

As it turned out I would not have been able to watch Dimitri Shvorob ask his usual awkward questions because Sidcup Police have condemned him to guarding his house and protecting his family against a hammer heaving builder. The police know his name, his address, have his van pictured parked nearby, maybe the culprits fingerprints on the weapon and certainly know the motive but cannot be bothered getting off of their lazy arses to initiate an enquiry. And Dimitri’s MP Louie French has proved himself to be in chocolate teapot territory again.

So question time went straight to Councillor James Hunt.

Exactly what Cabinet Member Leaf would have been hoping for and he set about answering it with his usual gusto.

He opened with the election being a case of “Vote Farage get Francis” presumably having forgotten that in 2019 it was a case of “Vote Conservative get Conned” and most of the electorate didn’t fancy being fooled a second time. He did nevertheless wish all three former Bexley Councillors now in Westminster the best of luck and he would “work constructively with anyone who wished to make Bexley Even Better”.

Councillor Leaf said that the Labour Manifesto said almost nothing about Local Government finance but combined with the King’s Speech there were significant cost burdens across the whole of Local Government. On Planning there are no details and we do not know what the costs are, we do not know if we will have to write a new Local Plan and there is the vague threat to modernise Planning Committees. A complete unknown.

Social Care costs will increase but no one knows by how much. What does Collective Bargaining for Social Workers mean? Labour have said it doesn’t like Free Schools and we have ten in the borough. Labour will do “what their Union Paymasters ask them to do which might have significant cost impacts”. There is more red tape for business and we know nothing about future Highways funding. Millions of pounds had been promised for potholes, now we don’t know.

5,000 prisoners are to be released early (a Labour Member shouted something inaudible and was admonished by the Mayor) and the borders are to be opened creating further pressures on all boroughs so “we face huge uncertainties and potential costs” but we will make the case for Bexley. (Except where indicated the foregoing is not David Leaf verbatim but an edited summary of his words.)

Councillor Hunt looked back at the previous Labour Government; Local Government underfunding resulting in Council Taxes doubling (†) and a new “funding formula skewered against Bexley and is still being felt. Is the Cabinet Member concerned that history will repeat itself?”

Cabinet Member Leaf said that the last time there was a Minister for Local Government who represented Woolwich and Greenwich as MP they did very well in the funding formula and we lost out and the situation is exactly the same again. “That is a concern.” Last time around the Labour Government cut the support for the Freedom Pass and this time “they may force higher Council Tax as they did before” and we should be wary of the devolution proposals which ”are quite vague”. Devolution in Bexley means more power for the Mayor.

The Mayor invited Councillor Rubella to speak - who is he? Stefano said that everyone seems to have forgotten the past 14 years and he is happy to be a Councillor under a Labour Government. (Cheers and applause from the obvious suspects.) “Calm leadership will lead to better Local Government instead of managed decline.”

Cabinet Member Leaf responded with “in 2010 one pound in every four spent had to be borrowed, a million young people were unemployed, an economy in decline and despite those challenges plus Covid and Ukraine there are now record numbers in employment, business in this borough is supported with Business Rate relief and they are now fearful of increased taxation (loud Labour heckling) but when the next election comes the public will be disappointed in the Labour Government and so will they” - pointing at Labour Members.

† Council Tax in Bexley more than doubled between 1997 and 2007.

 

17 July - Forget freedom

Here we go again, another 40 Acts of Parliament on the Statute Book to drive us ever closer to being a police state. Whether you agree with them or not - I am a fence sitter on the smoking ban for example (†) - every new law gives the state more control over our lives.

According to press reports, Labour averages about 40 new Acts every year while the almost as bad Conservatives usually hit the 30 mark. If you go back to the 1950s the figure was only just reaching double figures each year.

† I have to be careful what I say about this one in case someone remembers what I was advocating in a very smoky office circa 1990. Exactly what is proposed now. I am a little less dogmatic now but maybe not a lot.

 

16 July (Part 3) - Sadiq makes sense

Despite beginning to feel better after the two week ‘cold’ it is probably best that I do not risk coughing and spluttering in the tiny room that will be occupied by the Transport Sub-Committee this evening, especially as one of my own contacts scored two red lines on his Covid test kit.

A pity because Transport is the one thing that should interest every Bexley resident with very few exceptions. A double pity because as well as the usual Agenda items there is a proposal by TfL to improve the SL3 bus route. I quite frequently drive the SL3 route as far as Bickley station - I did so earlier today - and can imagine the frustration felt by bus drivers because of the interminable congestion, much of it artificially created by Councils; when it is not made worse by Thames Water. The Chislehurst station area is more or less permanently affected, one leak after another. Same this morning.

To call the SL3 an Express bus route must be one of Sadiq Khan's biggest bad jokes, and there have been many. However he wants to do something to help SL3 passengers. Credit where it is due!

On his Ideas List is a review of parking in Arbuthnot Lane, Bridgen Lane, Faraday Avenue, Footscray Lane, Hurst Lane, Hurst Road, New Road, Parkhill Road, Pickford Lane and Woodland Way. All on the SL3 route. Too often Wilkinson style parking impedes progress. Bexley Council, which, despite its protestations to the contrary, is not a lot less spiteful towards motorists than its Socialist neighbours and one of its favourite tricks is to install central pedestrian refuges opposite bus stops so that if a bus stops everyone stops. That is a long way from being SuperLoop friendly and Bexley’s idiocy has come back to bite it. (See also 19 June 2016 and 18th December 2022 to name but two.)

However the big proposal is for Knee Hil otherwise known as the A206. Mayor Khan wants to make it safe. Bexley Council you may bet your life will want to keep it dangerous. Only a couple of months ago I suggested to the Cabinet Member for potholes that it would be fairly easy to transform Knee Hill into a proper A road without any significant impact on the surrounding woodland. The subject has been mentioned on BiB many times since 2013. A small photo feature too.

He said it is never going to happen.

This is the same Bexley Council which killed off Ken Livingstone’s bridge in 2010 by emulating its favourite earthbound bird; the ostrich. The borough has paid the price in terms of reduced economic growth and inconvenience ever since.

Why? Will Bexley Council once again lie about what residents want and make up statistics as they did with the Thames Crossing Consultation?

Is there anyone on Bexley Council who has the brain power to see that even if a handful of trees are lost where the road needs its kinks straightened out, it will make not a twig of difference to the massive extent of the 73 hectare woodland. (Picture below only a small portion of the woods.)

Only the SL3 is planned for Knee Hill. The B11, 301 and 469 will continue to use New Road.

 

16 July (Part 2) - @ToRyofSidcup. Correction and conciliation

Following this morning’s blog about the Sidcup hammer throwing - which @tony had not specifically authorised - he asked me for a correction. The suspect was not “fleeing” from the crime scene as such, but was taking a casual stroll, possibly content in the knowledge that Sidcup Police are not good even by Metropolitan Police standards.

However in better news he has been given some help from an unexpected quarter so all is not yet lost. Maybe the detail should be kept under wraps for now but to my mind it is one of the best developments I have seen in Bexley for a very long time. Something that could potentially influence things here on BiB.

Maybe it will result in @tony voting Conservative one day.

 

16 July (Part 1) - Sidcup Police. Utterly useless again

It is an unfortunate fact of modern life that shoplifting has been effectively decriminalised. The police no longer take action against thieving from shops but in Sidcup the police are even more useless. They are not interested in criminal damage or attempts to cause grievous bodily harm or any number of similar offences. @tonyofsidcup posted this comment (see associated image) in response to the News Shopper’s report (below).

Last Thursday a large hammer was used to smash his front windows and then without a thought as to who it might kill, it was thrown into his living room landing on a sofa normally occupied by his six year old daughter. @tony was quick enough to see the fleeing suspect and recognise him and a neighbour caught a suspect vehicle on video. (Below.)

Despite the positive ID (including name and address) the police decided on Sunday that it was not a crime worth pursuing - but couldn’t be bothered about telling @tony - and his report was motivated solely by “rage”. Apparently he is supposed to calmly accept an attempt on his daughter’s life and sit calmly behind his boarded window awaiting the next attack and not feel any animosity towards his attacker.

What can you do about a police force so totally uninterested in the safety of citizens that it cannot be bothered to check on the alleged owner of the hammer? Write to one’s MP perhaps?

Well forget that, @tony is not one to leave stones unturned and did so. However Louie French MP is apparently determined to hang on to his reputation of rarely responding to emails. Not a word from him.

I am not a detective but if I was I might be considering which of @tony’s many ‘friends’ is likely to own a massive hammer.

A web search will reveal a van with matching numberplate in an advertisement for the suspect’s building company.

 

15 July (Part 2) - Axe Axiom?

I don’t like reporting on the inner workings of Bexley Council’s financial maneuvering because accountancy is well beyond my skill set, hence a degree of vagueness if the subject is reported and the possible over-reliance on quotations from Council officers and the like.

Even then I have the impression that their understanding is not a great deal more than mine. Were they speaking in favour of Axiom last week or not? Either conclusion was possible.

And then there is the risk that someone who really does know what he is talking about will make contact and take me apart. Then when that happens can one make a feature of it without revealing the source? How many people in Bexley Council use Axiom for example. Is it so low a number that any published comment might identify the source of the leak?

Well it’s happened and being ultra-cautious all I can say that I have not been taken apart for my ignorance.

“Don’t get me started on Axiom! I wouldn’t mind so much if it was easy to use but the support is atrocious. Finance take no responsibility at all.”

That is probably as far as I dare go. Axiom was thrown out of oneSource (Newham) for not being good enough but Bexley’s favourite son thought it was good enough for us. It would appear that not everyone agrees with him.

 

15 July (Part 1) - Preparing Children in Care for Adulthood. A new Strategy

The Public Cabinet webcast began with the Leader half way through a joke over a Member’s absence due to a cold. Whoever it was has my sympathy as the one I acquired two weeks ago has still not gone away. One of my contacts has tested positive for Covid so perhaps I should give tomorrow’s Transport Sub-Committee meeting a miss.

The Cabinet was asked to approve a new SEND Strategy (Preparing for Adulthood) for the years 2024-2028 which they did. Its authors said it was “broad, deep and exemplary” so one must hope they are right.

Cabinet Members Caroline Newton, Melvin Seymour, Richard Diment and Chris Taylor were all enthusiastic backers of the “exciting” plan. Transitioning children in care who may have no traditional parental guidance is a vital service if they are to be given the best possible start in life.

Labour Councillor Nicola Taylor managed to find a few negatives based on the findings of the last SEND inspection which the new Strategy is designed to address. There should have been “greater emphasis on the EHC Plans”.

The claim that the Strategy had no financial implications because it will be paid for through the Safety Valve Programme came under criticism too. The SVP is already under pressure “according to school heads, parents and community leaders. What confidence can we have that all children will have the support necessary to fulfill their potential?” Any failure “will be due to the financial decisions made by this administration”.

The Director of Children’s Services said that all the answers had been given “in some considerable amount of detail in the Priority Action Plan”. The Strategy is available to read in the Agenda to the meeting. (PDF)

 

14 July (Part 2) - CPZ consultation confusion

As the postman handed me two white envelopes yesterday I joked that they were going straight into recycling unopened; for that is what usually happens to mail that arrives here addressed only to The Occupier.

But for some reason I opened a totally anonymous envelope which someone thought was worth the 80 pence postage. It was from Bexley Council. Was it really sensible to have no marking whatsoever on the envelope?

The letter initially made me think that it was a consultation about a Controlled Parking Zone but then I wasn’t so sure.

Nowhere did it refer to a new or extended CPZ and instead made a big feature of the existing Abbey Wood CPZ. Why was Bexley Council asking for my opinion on a CPZ they consulted on last year?

I eventually concluded that wasn’t their intention but were instead asking residents about a new one. Why did no one think to include the word New or Proposed in their Subject line?

Assuming that is what they have in mind, Bexley Council is planning a large CPZ which extends along Abbey Road from Carrill Way to St. Augustine’s Road and up the hill to the Splash Park. If you follow the Council’s provided link you will find that three more CPZs are proposed. Around Belvedere Station, Slade Green station and in West Heath, the area nearest to the top of Knee Hill. That is one hell of a big cash grab to be imposed on residents.

I have no idea how my neighbours will react and I could selfishly say that I am not affected with a drive big enough for five or six cars but that is not the whole story. The documentation refers to residents bays being sometimes marked and sometimes not. I think that will be the make or break point for me.

I am regularly inconvenienced by the lack of marked bays as the accompanying photos taken last week will illustrate. According to Bexley Council a tyre on a kerbstone is blocking the footpath and illegal but blocking it completely is not.

I am likely to vote in favour of anything that aims to fix that.

One must wonder what will happen to the severe traffic congestion in the area if people are unable to park even a mile from the station. Will there be even more spouses dropping off passengers in Gayton Road and on the flyover? It can quite literally take 20 minutes to drive from the foot of New Road to the Felixstowe Road car park and CPZs will do nothing to alleviate that.

The blue line shows the area of the proposed new Abbey Wood CPZ. A pity that Bexley Council didn’t think it was worth mentioning in the Key but explained what the red line is, causing yet more confusion.

 

14 July (Part 1) - Debate and dither

Just one more bit of Finance and Corporate Services to cover. A Committee had made four recommendations about the Financial Monitoring Processes (PDF). They were to challenge any underperforming revenue generation, scrutinise deviation from expected outcomes, the Council to train Councillors in capital monitoring and to ensure that any new software introduced next year is efficiently introduced. It will sound like a statement of the obvious to most people but Councils are not most people.

Councillor Chris Ball (Labour, Erith) referred to the final recommendation, the proposed new software system and it was the only one of the four recommendations to see any comment.

He presumed the current system is not good enough. (Long term readers will recall how a system called Axiom was brought to Bexley by the Finance Director recruited from oneSource and widely criticised at the time. As soon as he left oneSource, they ditched Axiom because it wasn’t good enough. The same FD had used Axiom in Barnet too where it was also found lacking.)

The former FD’s protégé from Barnet said that the Axiom software contract comes to an end next February but “we are not so much looking for something as ensuring we have the right package or we move to something better. If we have a tool that works for us, or say to 80%, financially one would want to limit the cost of something brand new. We are looking at what the tool we have can do and what we could do better with it or looking for what is out there on the market.”

So as a software tool comes to the end of its contracted life, only then does Bexley Council look into how it might be used better? Are all the senior managers clowns?

Later it was said that if the support issues can be resolved Axiom might be “continued for another few years because when it is working users find it easy to use and they understand it which is a benefit. If there is not another package out there which is better we will probably continue with Axiom but we are still looking at the options and some integrated solutions are extremely costly. Things we could do differently [with Axiom] would support it for another few years.” Confidence inspiring as always and nothing learned from Barnet or oneSource.

Councillor Borella (Labour, Slade Green) referred to the 30% car parking charge increases of a couple of years ago some of which proved to be counter-productive and implied a better modelling tool was needed.

Cabinet Member David Leaf thought a decision on what package is to be selected will be reached by October. He continued in more general terms while admitting to still reeling from the election defeat.

Councillor Borella reacted to that defeat by rubbing salt into his wounds. Two Labour MPs in Bexley he gloated while acknowledging a third former Bexley Councillor occupying the Old Bexley seat.

We now have “Strong and Stable Government” he said which is hardly a ringing endorsement given what happened when we last had one of those. He is feeling “happy and really good”.

Continuing his theme he said “we have a Labour Mayor, a Labour Government and in twenty six we want to see a Labour Council”.

I was inclined to think that the one good thing that came out of the election result is that two years is more than enough to make a colossal mess of everything they touch, thus ensuring another four years of relative sanity in Bexley. By God they are awful at times but not nearly as awful as neighbouring Labour boroughs.

Make the most of your happiness Stef because it is not going to last.

The Chairman asked if Councillor Francis was going to stand down from his Councillor position now that he is an MP but there was nothing more than the mildest hint that he might do so. Labour wouldn’t want to be seen as hypocrites would they? They created something of a fuss when Councillor Bacon clung on to his position after being elected to Parliament in December 2019. Councillor Bacon’s situation was complicated by the decision to delay the GLA election until 2021 because of Covid.

 

13 July (Part 2) - Fire and emergency drills. Is Bexley ready for the unforeseen?

The second part (Agenda Item 7) of last week’s Finance Scrutiny meeting concerned ‘Resilience Standards’, a London-wide initiative to ensure boroughs have “the organisational preparedness, operational capacity and capability to respond to and recover from emergencies credibly and efficiently”.

Councillor Larry Ferguson (Labour, Thamesmead East) asked if any Department ever does “dry runs” of emergency procedures. The answer was yes, there have been Council-wide tests, the last one being held about six months ago. It had concentrated on the dangers of fire and flood. No official report was published afterwards which provoked critical comment from the Chairman. Councillors need to know how well or otherwise things went.

Cabinet Member David Leaf said the internal feedback was generally critical because no Council wants to say that everything is just fine and come a real emergency an official enquiry makes it obvious that things were anything but. The name Grenfell Tower was mentioned. Mr. Dan Stone, the responsible Council officer, said there is always room for improvement.

There are occasional London-wide tests too.

Councillor Stefano Borella (Labour, Slade Green) reminded everyone of three emergencies that have taken place in recent memory. The fire in Grange House, “Orbit were appalling”, the derailment on the bridge in Bexley Village and a three day power cut which affected much of the North Eastern part of the borough in 2009.

Councillor June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) referred to the cyber attacks on IT systems such as the one that recently brought the NHS to a halt. Mr. Stone said the loss of analogue telephone lines was proving to be troublesome with all the eggs being placed in the digital basket. Tests sent to staff showed that they were rather too incautious about opening suspicious looking emails. Councillor Andrew Curtois (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) thought that should be a disciplinary matter.

 

13 July (Part 1) - Housing Associations selling off stock again

They are at it again. Housing Associations selling off low quality housing stock that is. Who buys them? Presumably not those who rely on the rental market to keep a roof over their heads.

If my records are correct, these are the addresses lost from the social housing stock over the past couple of years…

 

15 Marden Crescent, Bexley
34 Pengarth Road, Bexley
53 Pengarth Road, Bexley
? Pengarth Road, Bexley
Burnham Road, Crayford
Crayford Road, Crayford
83 Heath Road, Crayford
235 Iron Mill Lane, Crayford
234 Maiden Lane, Crayford
? Maiden Lane, Crayford (Not 234)
20 Stour Road, Crayford
52 Jenningtree Road, Erith
Springhead Road, Erith
204 Ellenborough Road, Sidcup
50 Mallard Walk, Sidcup
56 Maylands Drive, Sidcup (a flat)
Maylands Drive, Sidcup (semi-detached)
17 Partridge Eoad, Sidcup
30 St. Andrews Road, Sidcup
19 Berwick Road, Welling
18 Burnell Avenue, Welling
39 Burnell Avenue, Welling

As you will have heard, the new Government has promised to build 1·5 million new houses in five years which sounds remarkably similar to the Conservatives’ 300,000 a year target.

Can it be done? Google suggests - and it is very country and building style dependent - that it takes around 3,000 man-hours to build a house. Probably Labour aspires to little more than rabbit hutches so maybe 2,000 hours would be nearer the mark.

1,500,000 houses in five years, 300,000 a year is about 1,150 per working day. How long does a builder spend not brewing tea each day? Seven hours maybe? Taking the low Google estimate of 2,000 hours to build a house translates into 286 man days each. (2,000/7.) But Labour says they can build 1,150 houses every day so they must be looking for 1,150x286 man days of labour every day. Have I got that right? 328,000 (1,150x286) building workers, electricians, plumbers and roofers summoned up from nowhere starting this week.

No holidays, no sick days, no need for training. Have you tried to get a builder recently? Politicians are full of BS. Why do we need so many new houses anyway?

 

12 July (Part 2) - Lawless London

Readers will be familiar with the name @tonyofsidcup, a man who might be described as one who doesn’t suffer fools gladly and certainly one to protect his rights, whether they be civic or family ones. Not everyone appreciates his occasionally hard line stance, but he is rarely wrong.

Yesterday while enjoying an evening at home with his wife a large builder’s hammer flew through his window and landed on his daughter’s favourite sofa. Fortunately she was attending an event at school at the time.

Quick off the mark, Tony was able to recognise the culprit and note his vehicle registration plate and the police attended about half an hour later.

They may not be his most devoted fans but the police would be wasting their time checking out Councillors’ workshops, far from it. Two Sidcup Councillors (Richard Diment and June Slaughter) were quick to offer their commiserations.

I would be less than confident of any police action although I did once stir Sidcup Police into action by revealing how a long gone Cabinet Member was treating his neighbour. Harassment apparently. (I won, unless I count being permanently blocked by @MPSSidcup on X as a failure.)

Despite being given full details of the culprit Sidcup Police have not been in contact since yesterday evening and @tony’s JP friend has already indicated - I paraphrase - ‘best forget it’.

But don’t drop a sweet wrapper on the ground as it could cost £1,000. Is it any wonder that the electorate rebelled last week?

 

12 July (Part 1) - How not to handle complaints

A short discussion right at the end of Andy Dourmoush’s Scrutiny Committee meeting initiated by Labour Leader Stefano Borella was about complaint handling which is topical for me in view of the Kelly Wilkinson fiasco. Councillors had been issued with some Performance Indicators which Bexley Council didn’t want the public to see. Shame on them.

According to Stefano there is a recurrent failure to meet the complaints targets - mine took five weeks to arrive instead of the promised five days - and in too many cases they finish up with the Ombudsman. An investigation of some sort is required “in case there is a systemic problem going on”.

The Chairman was in favour of a Task and Finish Sub-Group and Councillor Borella volunteered to run it.

Cabinet Member Leaf reminded the Committee that the Customer Experience Strategy was coming back to the Committee in October so the timing was good. Later there was some back-tracking and I gained the impression that the Sub-Group idea had been abandoned.

Councillor Slaughter thought that insufficient attention was being paid to complaints “performance being as bad as it isְ”. The Chairman invited Councillor Slaughter to ask more specific questions. As she did so the microphones muted but part of the answer revealed that “lessons are being learned” and more complaints are reaching Stage 2. Not satisfying complainants at Stage 1 is “not good”. (†) Statutory Children’s Services complaints are particularly complex and take “much longer to respond to”.

Slow payment of Invoices is another problem area - a Capita responsibility.

Councillor Borella said the failure to answer complaints properly had been reflected in the Performance Indicators “for a long time” and wastes a lot of officer time and residents become very annoyed. He felt it should become an Agenda item in October. The Chairman agreed and the Cabinet Member got behind the idea too.

† My Wilkinson complaint was escalated from Stage 1 to Stage 2 yesterday. I am aware it is at the trivial end of the scale but one cannot accept that Bexley Council managers can put it in writing that their staff are at liberty to break the law. Ideally such ignorance should not be permitted at any managerial level.

 

11 July - Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny

Councillor Andy Dourmoush was back in the chair for Tuesday’s Scrutiny meeting (does he alternate with Councillor Hall?) and lost no time in congratulating Bexley’s new MPs on their General Election successes last Thursday. One, Councillor Francis is a member of this Committee but understandably was otherwise occupied on the night in question. Four Bexley Councillors may now be found in Westminster

The first item on the Agenda was the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, something Bexley first started chipping away at in 2012; effective from April 2013 when everyone had to pay at least 5% of Council Tax. The minimum rate was increased by 5% in the two following years. (Council Tax reduction schemes are the responsibility of individual Councils and not statutory.)

Cabinet Member Leaf said he remembered adjusting the scheme six years ago and it needs to be reviewed again and people being nudged back into work was preferable to benefits. Most local Councils had been reducing the level of support and in Bexley it now stands at a maximum payment of 80% of tax due. i.e. residents pay at least 20% on an upwards sliding scale. Most recipients of the benefit are in Band C houses in Slade Green and Thamesmead but affects every ward to some extent.

In Bexley the support currently costs around £9 million but reducing the level may impact collection rates and ultimately be counter-productive. “It is a tricky area.”

Councillor Hall asked how people who had fallen on really hard times are helped. On-line forms and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau were judged to be sufficient. Cabinet Member Leaf said there was a problem with people not accepting help until things became very critical and there is a “Household Support Fund”. (It was described as Council supporting charities. Government support for HSF is due to end in September.)

Councillor Borella said that chasing small debts must be very expensive and maybe the current scheme is “not fit for purpose”. Councillor Leaf said that nationally, Council Tax debt has gone up by billions of pounds and if the debts are not chased people are even less likely to pay. Some cases remain on the books for years.

11% of uncollected Council Tax relates to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. HSF help is only available to people of working age.

Note: This report ends prematurely here because yours truly has been suffering from a flu like cold for just over a week and it is currently making its presence felt more than I would wish for. To be continued…

 

10 July - Another day, another Council cock-up

Monday’s Places Scrutiny meeting webcast was unavailable yesterday, the webpage said ‘Archiving’ for most of the day and now that it is available the recording begins part way through Agenda Item 6 without the usual Indexing of individual comments. That makes two of the last three meetings that would be reported here which have been messed up.

Agenda Item 6 was Bexley’s partnership with the company that runs the Leisure Centres. Post Covid footfall is rising “and we are on the cusp of not needing to subsidise them”.

GP referrals are bringing 70+ obese and other health compromised patients a month to exercise schemes with free or heavily discounted memberships and a total of around 1,300 people are signed up.

The next item was employment levels in Bexley.

I was less than impressed by the opening statement. It didn’t look right to me, so out came the calculator.

Of Bexley’s 155,100 working age residents 135,500 are working. That’s 86% not 81%. Well done Bexley or maybe 135,500 is a typo. 125,500 would be 81%. These figures were debated but nobody remarked on the oddity.

The seven figure sums being invested in delivering new jobs was subject to some criticism, a target of 500 with a one year drop out rate of 60%.

Homes in Multiple Occupation was next on the Agenda.

Councillor Sally Hinkley (Labour, Belvedere) said the arrangements for permitting HMOs and granting licences “was quite dodgy” and standards, such as over-crowding, could be below what was expected. Councillor Cheryl Bacon (Conservative, Sidcup) took a broadly similar view.

It was accepted that there was an anomaly within the law.

HMO licence fees in Bexley are significantly lower than in neighbouring boroughs and planning applications have doubled in three years.

Councillor Rags Sandhu (Conservative, Bexleyheath) asked which London councils were excessively using Bexley’s hotels for temporary accommodation, but no official statistics are available.

Some HMOs have been closed following police investigations and Council noise complaints.

Councillor Chris Ball (Labour, Erith) referred to a number of HMO hotspots and his ward has 58 with eleven in just one road alone. Council officer comment was that the problems are compounded by “good landlords getting out of the market”.

The meeting concluded with recycling. Identifying different types of plastic and whether they can be recycled confuses most people and it would seem that Councillors are similarly afflicted. The Council website has advice that may be useful.

 

9 July - Another clueless Bexley manager with a God complex

Bexley’s record of attracting poor and occasionally dishonest management has always been unsurpassed. Has another London borough ever had a Chief Executive referred to the Crown Prosecution Service for lying?

There is a huge back catalogue of managerial incompetence recorded on Bonkers from deciding, against staff advice, to employ a known drunk on the one-man overnight emergency line (a lady died) and a suspected paedophile with access to a nursery. He was jailed.

The Director of Social Care who left after OFSTED rated Bexley inadequate was soon kicked out of his next job too and via St. Helena, New Zealand and California was eventually forced to find his natural level as a bar singer.

If you listened to the Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny meeting in March you will have heard managers bravely admitting to their inadequacies. They were proposing to “teach managers what the word meant and equip them with the soft skills needed and how to behave in the workplace and deal with difficult situations”. (Why were they recruited as managers in the first place?)

Last month the new team on Social Services said they were going to start listening to staff, meeting them and talking but the culture shift will take time. (I suppose given the dross they have it is bound to but you have to start somewhere,)

A new name that has not yet been taught “how to deal with difficult situations” is Fiona Clark, Head of Specialist Advice Services. A clueless wonder if ever there was one.

She has after a five week delay answered my Kelly Wilkinson complaint. Hardly a difficult one. Ms. Wilkinson had blocked my road with her car but no house caught fire and no neighbour suffered a cardiac arrest so I went in quite gently. The real issue was Madam Wilkinson’s sense of entitlement. It was all too typical of a petty bureaucrat and her silence needed to be challenged. She was more important than anyone else and there was no need to offer any explanation or apology for what she had done.

My road is frequently rendered impassable by large vehicles because of inconsiderate commuter parking and the failure of Bexley Council to paint yellow lines in the right places, however on Tuesday this week it was blocked even to the smallest of cars.
Knocking on doors failed to find the culprit and it was impossible to squeeze through the small gap. Fortunately I was nearby when the driver returned, she was wearing a Bexley Council badge and I was able to read the name.
Instead of offering an apology your employee said nothing at all and drove off. This is a formal complaint against Kelly Wilkinson who has besmirched Bexley Council’s reputation before me and two neighbours by not only blocking the road which is a criminal offence but failing to offer any apology or possible explanation for her criminal activities.
I would also suggest that in case of emergency a pre-prepared card with contact details should be left on display so that residents, ambulance and fire engine drivers might be able to pass.
Photographs are attached.

Four weeks later I enquired about the long delay and Lorraine who has the unenviable task of dealing with the likes of Fiona Clark apologised. She referenced the lack of yellow lines, hence my opening remarks.

As I am sure you will recognise, my complaint was not about illegal parking. Adjacent roads have been badly affected in that regard and residents know that the Council is not able to take action against obstruction and it refuses to agree to the installation of yellow lines which might act as a deterrent. The police have taken action in circumstances identical to that created by Ms. Wilkinson because what she did is a criminal offence. They both tow and issue penalty notices.
My complaint is basically one of arrogance and bringing Bexley Council into disrepute which apparently is to be belatedly looked into.
Thank you for keeping me informed.

As stated, blocking the King’s highway is contrary to Section 137 of the Highways Act and punishable by up to 51 weeks in prison.

One might think that the easiest way to answer my complaint was a simple “sorry, we will try to ensure that it doesn’t happen again”, but no, that might imply that Bexley Council had done something wrong. Contrary to Rule 1 of every Public Service Handbook.

Despite the obvious contravention of Section 137 Fiona Clark has denied that any law was broken and cites Bexley’s own Parking Services Department as supporting her in that view. This is a little strange because in relation to the very same road Bexley’s Highways Department admitted that the police have removed cars parked in the manner of Ms. Wilkinson’s. Fiona Clark has clearly not got the brainpower to distinguish between local parking regulations and the law of the land. And we pay the salaries of these dimwits.

Police have been involved.

Then she goes for what she might believe to be her killer point. She says that Ms. Wilkinson remained mute because she felt intimidated by me briefly holding the car door ajar while I read the name badge, for a second at most.

The facts are rather different. Ms. Wilkinson emerged from a house sixty or seventy yards from her car and walked towards me and a female neighbour (another withdrew as she approached) while clearly able to see the problem she had created. Any normal person would have broken into a trot muttering sorry or similar and instantly defused the situation. As I said, Ms. Wilkinson has an inviolable sense of entitlement.

Fiona Clark has been easily taken in by a fairy story. If she had stopped to think for even a minute she might have wondered how it was the final second of possible intimidation had retrospectively affected the previous 30 seconds of the incident.

The road blockage was clearly criminal and had there been any suspicion that it was long term commuter parking the police would have been called as they have been before (and supported by Bexley Council).

There is not a word of apology from Fiona Clark for the inconvenience and potential danger into which residents were placed “and we deem Kelly Wilkinson’s behaviour to be appropriate”. Only within Bexley Council is criminal behaviour condoned.

Now I have to make a Stage 2 complaint to correct Fiona Clark’s misconception on road traffic law and to ask for an explanation of how Kelly came to feel intimidated and struck dumb by an elderly couple in the 30 seconds before either I or my neighbour said a word.

Yes I did indicate I was going to make her famous (not a quote) but only when she was safely in her car and speeding off.

Employing idiots such as Fiona Clark to respond to (not very) “difficult situations” is a major factor in keeping our taxes sky high.

 

8 July - Not good enough

Just a month ago I ventured to say that “Every generation needs to learn that Socialist governments are not the solution to anything”; it always happens but I thought it might take longer than four days.

One of the scandals of the modern age is that even relatively well off people cannot buy their own home and one might argue are thereby deprived of having a fulfilling family life. Something has gone very wrong in the last 30 years. I bought my first home when I was 21 and my son, with £10k. of family help, did the same within a couple of years of leaving university. Imagine £10,000 being enough to make a real difference today.

Ordinary people cannot do that any more and any Government that fails to tackle it is itself a failure.

On The Murky Depths news and opinion website the Abbey Wood based author makes no secret of the fact that he is a reluctant renter living in constant fear of eviction and has already said his piece about the new Chancellor’s stance. The extract shown here is selected paragraphs and is far from telling the whole Murky story. Please take the link to avoid any bias I may have introduced.

From reading the authorְ’s X comments I would judge that he was always a bit of a sceptic when it come to the new Government.

 

7 July - A ‘Vision’ for improving Adults’ Social Care in Bexley

Councillor Ward-Wilson must have put a shilling in the net meter because the webcast worked properly for her Adults’ Services meeting. Lisa Moore, you may remember was muted at Childrenְ’s Services and one must wonder why Bexley Council keeps their incompetence in the public eye by letting it remain on their website; useless as ever.

Adults’ Services is usually a bit of a bore unless you are especially interested in medics and the like making excuses for past failures. Will the new ‘Adult Social Care Vision’ address the past problems?

The Director of Social Care spoke for four and a half minutes and said very little. “There is work to do” in a number of areas and sheltered care is inadequate.

Councillor Read (Conservative, West Heath) said that the stated “working with managers and operational staff” is a fine aspiration but “how and what is different to what has been done before”. The new Deputy Director Jim Beale said that “culture shift takes time”. It will involve “getting people together and talking and Making Bexley Even Better. We will be listening to staff.”

If the new management team is sincere about what it is saying it is the most dreadful indictment of what went before. Listening to staff is not a new management technique, except perhaps in Bexley.

Councillor Nicola Taylor (Labour, Erith) said there are an awful lot of things that have been identified for improvement, "is there a priority list? What are you doing for voluntary carers?"

It was accepted that “some carers fall through the gaps”. Autism was singled out as something that must be improved especially during the transition period from SEND to adulthood.

The Cabinet Member, Melvin Seymour, said that “successive governments have ignored carers because it saves money”.

Fixed 15 minute appointments, late running care appointments and cancelled appointments are all problematical “and there is more work to do”. More day to day flexibility is required. Reducing the number of care providers from 42 to six should make administration and monitoring easier. “They will become Trusted Partners.”

Councillor Taylor asked if there was a Plan B if one of the providers ran into difficulty. No, not really apart from monitoring their financial stability and if necessary find another one.

Labour Councillor Baljeet Gill (Northumberland Heath) told of a 90 year old lady let down by the 15 minute rule and Cabinet Member Seymour asked for any cases such as that be referred to him.

The meeting moved on to Primary Care issues. Losing GPs from the borough is a problem but the Council is unable to influence the private businesses which employ GPs and set their rates of pay.

The well known difficulty of seeing a GP was acknowledged with some practices only managing to provide 74% of appointments within two weeks and many patients surveyed saying they are “resigned” to going straight to 111 or A&E.

Councillor Nicola Taylor thought that services were too reliant on digital. There will always be people who cannot access digitally or may have insufficient minutes on their phone to wait in long queues phone or data or memory to access mandatory apps. Councillor Seymour was somewhat dismissive of such difficulties. “You can only hold someone’s hand so far. No one in this borough is more than a mile from a library.”

Nicola reminded him that libraries are only open for a few days a week and her local library was inaccessible for years but she got nowhere, “I do not accept at all that libraries are difficult to access.”

Ignoring the day to day experiences of ordinary people must surely lead to electoral revenge. Oh, I think it just did!

 

6 July - Thinking aloud

Almost random thoughts I am afraid but one or two readers take an interest in the site history and hunt out past Council scandals.

To that end the long term project to update this ancient website from its pre-Smart phone beginnings has been slowly progressing for five or six years. There are still some gaps in 2017 and 2018 but despite some broken links a selection of pages from those years have recently become more accessible. They were always there but only via the menus. Earlier years have been properly restored give or take the occasional human error.

Some old features are near impossible to bring up to modern standards. They have been avoided on new pages, hence the once popular flipping picture pages have not been seen since 2016. Old ones have been made to work but they do not scale up or down to suit the viewing screen size. The example given is a right old mess on a vertical mobile screen. I can think of a way of fixing it but life is too short to spend time on eight year old blogs.

The largest remaining problem is the many pages arranged in columns, They are likely to be a mess when viewed on anything smaller than a laptop screen. Don’t look at the Council Tax Rates on a mobile! It really should be fixed but those pages are not actually columns, they are vertically aligned rows. The important thing being that the tax rates must always align with the relative borough. Fixed rows ensure that they do.

If the data was in columns and Hammersmith & Fulham folded into two rows because of its length the tax rate wouldn’t follow suit and the whole thing would become a nonsense. It’s a coding nightmare.

Sometimes aligning column contents horizontally is unimportant and such pages were fixed a while ago. The two column example linked will even expand into into three columns if you have a big enough screen. Technically the addresses shown are in a single list and the browser divides them up into equal sized columns. There is no need to keep things horizontally aligned.

But once again that is not always what is required. A few ancient pages have columns that are not divided into equal parts, this one for example. It was supposed to display as two distinct columns, one wider than the other but it didn’t work properly on a mobile. It was modified to an acceptable compromise but it isn’t as originally planned.

So another technique has been developed and a test page is here.

It allows two columns either of which can be as long as required and they will remain independent of each other. It is very different under the bonnet to anything that has gone before and requires your browser to learn a new trick which it will do eventually. If you see rows of text your browser has not caught up, If it you see two columns it has.

I doubt it can be adapted to suit the Council Tax pages but the search for a solution continues.

 

4 July - Elections may come and go but Abbey Wood remains scruffy

The title Scabby Wood was used here ten years ago but nothing much has changed since then, Abbey Wood remains as scruffy as ever.

It probably doesn’t help that on the Bexley side - and all the Photos below were taken this morning on the Bexley side of the border - the active Councillors, by virtue of their home addresses, have no reason to come here. It goes without saying that Bexley Council is not interested in its North Western outpost.

Very nearly all of the rubbish left hanging around - not the Greenwich bins and the fridge - has been lying there since the Elizabeth line station opened. 22nd October 2017 in case you have forgotten.

There is wanton neglect, and then there is Bexley Council wanton neglect

Inspired by FromtheMurkyDepths on Twitter X.

Gayton Road as it was supposed to look.

Felixstowe Road as it was supposed to look.

 

3 July (Part 2) - Bexley 1: Greenwich nil

It has taken longer than one might hope but the potholes pictured here in April have been repaired. Not just a temporary bodge-up but a thorough two night long resurfacing job.

The junction of Knee Hill, Abbey Wood Road, Wilton Road and Abbey Road serves seven bus routes (not counting school buses) and upwards of 60 buses an hour taking the right angle bend between Knee Hill and. Abbey Road. It sits right on the borough boundary.

Coupled with the adverse camber and the stopping and starting due to both a pedestrian crossing and Elizabeth line related congestion, the asphalt takes an absolute pounding.

It looks to be a good job until you take a look at the Greenwich side. Labour controlled Greenwich has done nothing.

It is probably a reasonable illustration of the direction Great Britain plc will take after tomorrow.

The New Road Layout sign in Photo 1 was put there circa 2004. One day a scrap merchant might do Bexley a favour and take it away.

 

3 July (Part 1) - Well stuff them then

Another election leaflet reached me yesterday, one I had seen before but unique nevertheless.

Unique because it is the only one of seven that hasn’t been delivered by the postman. It was stuffed through the letterbox during the early part of Tuesday evening.

There is another element of uniqueness about Michael Pastor’s Reform UK leaflet, no other party bothered to respond to my request for their literature.

If they treat my request with contempt I am going to find it it so much easier to do the same to them tomorrow.

P.S. Just remembered how care workers were put out of a job by the Conservative government if they considered the Covid vaccines to be a risky option. It has now been admitted that they were and some were quietly withdrawn. How can anyone vote for politicians with so little regard for freedom of choice and bodily autonomy? Or the Labour opposition that backed them to the hilt.

 

2 July - Nearly there

By all accounts Reform UK is putting in a big effort in Crayford and Old Bexley in the hope of causing an upset in those two constituencies, certainly if the number of leaflets which have come my way is a reliable measure (it is not!) Reform is taking the lead. Labour on the same measure has done very little. Perhaps they are being complacent or practicing for going off duty at 6 p.m.

The postman delivered two more leaflets to me this morning, the Conservative one already featured here and one from the Greens. The Greens last made an appearance in the leaflet archive way back in 2015.

The Old Bexley Reform candidate claims to have suffered seven burglaries while living in Bexley; in almost the safest borough in London? That is horribly unlucky, what did the police say? What was stolen? Did they have any idea what was going on and where was the help?

I have never been burgled ever. Had a car broken into while parked in Plumstead once but that is pretty much to be expected down there, but seven burglaries in Bexley? Weird. Perhaps Ms. Fothergill’s luck will change on Thursday.

 

1 July (Part 3) - Pirates of the Caribbean 5

Rumour has it that Paul Thorogood has lost his Returning Officer role in Bexley; maybe it clashes with Scout night in Saffron Walden (where my Great Great Grandfather was a tinker according to the census in 1851 and 1861).

It is understood that he, Paul not Joshua the Tinker, has been replaced by Sexy Sue presumably in her pirate style tricorn hat, golden anchor chain and red cloak. A pretty fair swap if you ask me. I hope she makes it to the TV screens if my informer has not got his rigging lines crossed.

Things have livened up just a little bit in Erith and Thamesmead. Adjacent roads, but not mine, have received the Independent’s election leaflet and the Conservative one.

 

1 July (Part 2) - The final straw

My political pendulum has been swinging towards Reform UK for about a week now but this little headline from yesterday’s Mail on Line finally did it for me.

I am going to upset a few Councillor friends with this and it may not amount to much but everyone will have his tipping point. That photo may have been mine.

It sums up everything I have come to hate about Tory Britain. A surveillance state obsessed with control freakery and higher stealth taxes.

Even I know someone who runs a car with an occasionally false plate - for when it crosses the Khan line.

According to The Taxpayers’ Alliance, since 2010 there have been 50 increases to Air Passenger Duty, nine on company car tax, four on insurance premiums, 45 on climate change, 51 on tobacco. 103 on alcohol and two on sugary drinks. An incomplete list and a Government which does that has no business calling itself Conservative or to claim my loyalty.

How is it that we managed to elect people so thick in the head that that they couldn’t see that they were alienating their core support to the extent that the more misguided of them are intending to vote Labour. How mad is that?

If Social Media is an accurate guide, Reform UK is going to deliver a shock on Thursday but Social Media is driven by algorithms that deliver what it thinks you want to see and hear. Back in the real world I asked my sister if she was going to vote. “Yes but I haven’t seen any of the debates or watched the news and don’t really know what it is all about.” I have no words!

I asked my friend in Bromley, if she was going to vote. “Yes I am going to vote against Sadiq Khan.”

I didn’t argue, It seems like a good plan to me.

 

1 July (Part 1) - Nothing is done right in Bexley

The always helpful Lorraine who handles complaints and FOIs for Bexley Council - even Dimitri sings her praises - was very quick to acknowledge my Subject Access Request, and then went further by coming back to tell me what had happened to my complaint that Kelly Wilkinson knowingly blocked my road and appeared not to care less.

The complaint somehow ended up with Parking Services who used every tool at their disposal to identify an absence of yellow lines in the supplied photographs and decreed that our Kelly had done nothing wrong. Metaphorically speaking they flung my complaint into the waste paper bin.

The Police have towed people for what she did but that was not the main thrust of my complaint, it is that Ms. Wilkinson refused to apologise or offer a word of explanation.

For three consecutive months Madam Wilkinson has appeared here, is it any wonder that SEND parents with really serious complaints are driven to distraction by Bexley Council’s inability to answer questions honestly or at all and are awarded compensation by the LGO?

Everywhere you look Bexley Council is busy wasting our money because of management incompetence.