7 September - The cost of democracy
Apologies for the absence, there have been things going on but I really should have commented on this earlier. Our
old friend @tonyofsidcup provocatively asked outgoing Belvedere Councillor Daniel Francis what he had actually achieved
during his long years of public service and for not getting a satisfactory answer and
voicing his discontent about the lack of response he was eventually blocked by @BexleyLabour.
Some of the exchange and Daniel’s resignation statement is reproduced below.
Tony’s question may well have been
mischievous but it made me think. What has Daniel given in return for the
£200,000 he has been paid for being a Councillor? I think the reason that @tony
never got an answer to his question is because the answer is unfortunately “nothing”.
Don’t get me wrong, Daniel may well be the most hard working and effective Labour
Councillor in the Council Chamber, certainly in the top two, and has probably helped thousands of residents
with routine and maybe not so routine enquiries but when it comes to
borough-wide or even ward-wide issues I don’t see many successes.
The Splash Park closed despite his valiant efforts. The incinerator went ahead
and has been growing by stealth ever since. All the green spaces he tried to
preserve have been concreted over. Ye Olde Leather Bottle public house is still
a rat infested mess although if memory serves correctly the similar Harrow Inn
site was fenced off immediately after Labour won in Belvedere back in 2014. The
Abbey Wood Post Office shut despite the protests.
The life of an opposition Councillor in Bexley is not often a happy one
though presumably backing SEND parents who successfully took Bexley to the LGO was a rare exception.-
Unlike any neighbouring borough the opposition in Bexley is not allowed to call
in Cabinet Member decisions. As has been repeatedly stated here, Labour Motions
are either defeated or taken over by the Conservatives and no budgetary amendment has ever been accepted.
Former Bexley Labour Councillor Danny Hackett
got it right when addressing the
long gone Abbey Wood Traders’ Association when he said that he could pass their
requirements on but held out little hope of success because the borough was Tory
controlled and the northern wards were not. His successor Sally Hinkley
was more of an optimist and helped where she could, form filling etc.
But the fact remains that the opposition party is virtually powerless in Bexley
and if Belvedere residents want to get anything done they will have to vote
Conservative on 17th October. (The by-election date.)
Not that I have anything against the Labour candidate Jeremy Fosten apart from
the fact he presumably supports a tyrannical Kier Starmer which has to be a pretty big “no way!” for many of us.
Jeremy has featured on these pages in years gone by although his name wasn’t
published. It was him who objected to the ugly fences that
Councillor Craske placed around Shoulder of Mutton Green
and organised
a petition against it.
So Jeremy has been a Labour activist since he was a young teenager. Who does
that remind you of? Another Bexleyite who became a Councillor when he was
barely old enough but switched to being Conservative supporter (and
Reform UK!) when he became a little
wiser. Hi Danny; long time no see.