For Blog Number 7,013 it is barrel scraping time again.
FOIs
Yesterday’s report that Bexley Council had responded to @tonyofsidcup’s FOI
request by saying they did not know who represented them on the Oxleas NHS
Trust is likely to be them resorting to buggering him around again. It is
foolish to assume that Bexley Council will be straight forward and honest about anything.
A quick look at Oxleas website
reveals that Councillor Janice Ward-Wilson (Conservative,
Crook Log) serves as Governor at the Trust; and if that is not
enough it is only six months since Bexley Council announced that appointment.
@tony had asked for information on the last four years of appointments. That
information remains unavailable due to Bexley Council’s ignorance.
Aaron Newbury being Janice’s predecessor doesn’t look to be very democratic. He
is an unelected Conservative activist, not a Councillor entitled to represent the
population at the NHS Trust.
Lidl
It took years for Bexley Council to approve the Lidl store in Belvedere but a
similar proposal for Erith has fared rather better. 233/00298/FULM in Fraser
Road was approved a couple of days ago in only 18 months. 18 Conditions imposed,
among them not to open for customers before 8 a.m. or after 22:00.
Funambulism again
Coincidence I am sure but since sticking my neck out
two days ago
by saying that the leading Labour Councillors have always been ready to engage
in correspondence on Council matters, two matters have arisen which merited a
few words and in both cases a helpful response came flying back.
I may have been critical of them from time to time but not so often that I can
remember when, but it is only Conservative Councillors who are so
thin-skinned that they block me from looking at their Twitter/X posts.
Councillor June Slaughter
A
last minute edit on 9th May saw some praise for Councillor Slaughter stripped
from the narrative on the grounds that reminding the Council Leader that in 2014
June was the only Councillor who stood against a Council campaign of lies might get
her into retrospective hot water, but casting caution to the wind June gets
another well deserved credit here.
Following @tony’s (him again!) complaint that Sidcup High Street was
strewn with rubbish Councillor Slaughter got busy. It is not appropriate to
reveal every string pulled but suffice to say that the culprit has been
identified and the problem should now go away.