11 November - The Leaderְ’s Report
The Leader began her report by welcoming Councillor Jeremy Fosten and she had
something to say about his Thameslink to Belvedere campaign. At present
Thameslink trains do not stop in Erith or Belvedere allegedly to enable it to
make its allocated slot between the North Kent Junction and London Bridge.
In
2020 the train company said that they had other priorities and now they are
saying “it is not feasible”. Strictly speaking it is not a case of me joining
Jeremy’s campaign but rather the reverse. He should “make it clear to his
residents that it is the Conservatives already fighting for them. It is a shame
that your colleagues didn’t tell you that” so that your claim was not
in the leaflets. (See last page.)
“Now that you know the facts I am sure you will be putting that straight for people.”
The Leader said she was “furiously going through the Labour budget announcements
to understand the impact of those announcements”.
“Employer’s National Insurance will affect the Council and its contractors and
the care companies we use but we need to live within our means.”
“One of the first acts of the new Government was to withdraw the Winter Fuel
Allowance and Age UK issued a statement to say the payment is vital in keeping
old people [sic] and allowing them to afford their energy bills in the Winter.
They said old people should not have to choose between heating and eating. Unite
the Union, not supporters of the Conservative Party, have launched a Judicial Review.”
“Obviously our concern is the impact of this cruel decision on Bexley residents
and to have pulled the rug at the last minute is cruel. Most of the 34,000
affected are mobile so we are working to find warm spaces which we have done
before but there are more spaces out there and we are identifying them so people
can go where they choose and then we need to advertise it. The next edition of
the Bexley Magazine will offer tips on how to keep warm.”
“We think about 2,000 of the 34,000 residents are housebound and we care about
them. We will deliver them a box full of goodies to help them keep warm. We will
call them Bexley Boxes. (†). We are thinking what will be in them and some local
companies have already got their cheque books out. It will be hard - GDPR etc. - but it will be worth it.”
“Let’s get out and do it.”
Councillor Stefano Borella said he backed the additional SuperLoop stop
at the War Memorial in Bexley but had the bus stuck to its original route it could have served Blackfen. Referring to the
Belvedere by-election he said it was the first Labour ward
by-election in 24
years and they took control of the Council soon afterwards. He was hoping that
history would repeat itself so that “the housing ethos” could be changed.
After defending the Labour budget - “tough decisions have to be made” - Stefano was critical of Bexley Council for not consulting widely on the
proposal to change the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. “The Consultation was
appalling.” Every Council Taxpayer should have been informed because every
one of them might one day need the Reduction Scheme. “Why did we not at
least consult with the people in receipt of it?”
Train enthusiast Stefano asked if the 125th anniversary of Slade Green station
would be celebrated next year. To most people’s surprise the Leader knew that anniversary was approaching.
The Leader referred back to Stefano’s comment on the budget’s tough decisions. “No one will forget
that pensioners were penalised to feed the Unions.”
Cabinet Member Leaf responded to the criticism of the Council Tax Reduction
Scheme consultation. It closed last week with 74 responses including one from
the Labour Group. There are nine options available and no decision has yet been
made. GDPR, a hang over from the European Union, prevented wider circulation.
After referring to his recent “landslide” Councillor Fosten looked forward to constructive cross party cooperation. In
Belvedere, residents had been crowd funding for CCTV but been rebuffed so Jeremy welcomed
the Council’s renewed interest in the subject. (ANPR cameras installed in Wallhouse Road in July.)
There is no CCTV in Belvedere aimed at preventing street crime.
On the subject of the DLR to Belvedere he said that Bexley Council had failed to
attend stakeholder meetings “time and again” and now they are too late to contribute
and “it may kill the project as a whole”.
The Leader responded that 862 residents voted Labour but 1,375 voted for other
candidates. “Not a landslide.”
“CCTV is only in town centres but technology has moved on” since it was installed.
She claimed to have been personally involved in the DLR stakeholders’ meetings.
† If you search the web for Bexley Box
you will find it is an American term to describe similar emergency boxes which
may be picked up from police stations etc. in Carolina. Contrary to my
expectations it has nothing to do with the town of Bexley in Ohio but is named
after a murdered child named Bexley.