In the Gutter
Hugh Neal’s Erith based blog
reached a major milestone yesterday, its 1,000th
weekly edition without a single break in 18 years. Hugh
made the right decision when he chose a weekly interval. He won’t be getting
emails enquiring after his health following three days of silence as I do. If he
ever misses a Sunday it would surely mean very bad news.
As yesterday’s blog will have indicated, a public presence does tend to give an
easy access to local Councillors. Hugh reported a nasty fly tip that appeared overnight in Appold Street
this morning.
Councillor Borella (Labour Leader) responded 41 minutes later.
Out of the gutter
My road was given its annual sweep this morning.
The Country Style mechanical sweeper inevitably went down the middle of the road
courtesy of the Elizabeth line commuters but fortunately the area right outside
my house was clear so there was not much of an excuse for a poorly done job.
But it was poor nevertheless. The grit
which has occupied the gutters for as long as I can remember was shifted nearer to the middle of the road.
Back in the gutter
Bexley has
fallen foul of the Local Government Ombudsman again.
The Council decided that a homeless father did not deserve more considerate
treatment just because he had a young child to look after. They maintained this
line of attack until faced with a Court Order.
They claimed that the father did not want to proceed with his housing
application unless his son was included and closed the case. The
Ombudsman found that Bexley did not explain their decision to the father and
kept no contemporaneous notes or telephone recordings to support their excuses to
the Ombudsman who unsurprisingly ruled against the Council. They were ordered to
apologise to the claimant and pay him £200 compensation.
It’s
becoming something of a habit.
Note: The original complaint is a year old; the LGO ruling
was made in March 2024.