21 July - The Transport Users’ Sub-Committee : Road matters

With no Police presence at the Transport User’s meeting, roads was next to take centre stage with Andrew Bashford the Highways Manager in the hot seat. There has not been any significant progress on the proposed cycle track from Bexleyheath to Erith. TfL is not keen on it crossing the Long Lane railway bridge and the safe route is too long so cyclists probably wouldn’t use it. In practice cyclists will go wherever they fancy as the always do. Whilst that is my comment, Chairman Steven Hall, possibly more diplomatically, said the same.

About 400 electric vehicle chargers have been installed “in the last few months”. Mainly lamp post units. The Chairman said that many of them were effectively inaccessible because of road layouts. “Who does the assessment?” (The contractor does.)

Some road resurfacing work has taken longer than expected and some deferred due to the hot weather. Chievely Road was specifically mentioned. It had been scheduled for June. In further bad news for gridlocked Bexley, Bourne Road, Brampton Road, Chislehurst Road, Church Road, Crittals Corner, Erith Road, Harrow Manorway, King Harold’s Way, Knee Hill North Cray Road (twice), Pickford Lane, Sidcup High Street, The Green, Watling Street and Woolwich Road are all due to be disrupted over the coming months. Innumerable small roads too.

Mr. Bashford said he would be sending someone out to check on the invisible traffic lights at the Woolwich Road Knee Hill junction. He was not sure who might be responsible for maintenance but he would find out. The situation gets steadily worse and drivers cannot see whether they are facing a red or green light when turning left.

The new Chairman seemed to be more sympathetic to the plight of motorists than his predecessor and complained about temporary traffic lights being left in place after work was completed. The Highways Manager said that utility companies can be fined for doing that.

In what was a big surprise, Councillor Hall said that it really was time that Knee Hill was straightened and widened which would allow buses to use it. Whilst it would be great to see Knee Hill made safe, to reroute buses from New Road would be a devastating loss to local residents. Stops at the lower end of Knee Hil, Florence Road, Woodland Way, Hurst Road and Woolwich Road would all be lost. Even the SL3 stops at Florence Road on its way to Abbey Wood station.

The Highways Manager agreed to look into the legalities of a minor incursion into ancient woodland whilst Steven Hall said he didn’t expect it to happen in his lifetime but currently things are far too dangerous. Yesterday, behind a bus at the Knee Hill lights I wondered whether to descend Knee Hill instead of turning right, as I almost always do. Waiting behind a bus would block the junction. However the bus went down Knee Hill and I was able to turn right into Woolwich Road without causing an obstruction. The bus must have been Not in Service.

As an aside, may I say that the red light jumping at that junction is constant?

Taking advantage of the Chairman’s invitation to me to speak I asked that parking be banned opposite the Hurst Road stop because a moron resident leaves his car there and causes chaos for buses and cars alike. Stand there for ten minutes and see for yourself just how stupid the single yellow line is.

Not directly related but the Highways Manager referred to bus stops set in from the road which prompted the question in my mind; why are some bus stops recessed into the footpath and others stick out into the road. It makes no sense and appears to be random, maybe according to which political party was in charge at the time of creation.

Mr. Bashford’s most interesting revelation was that his internal departmental mapping of the borough’s road closures etc. would be made available graphically on the Council’s website. Click on an area of interest and everything relevant to that closure or disruption will be displayed. All within the next few weeks. That really is the best thing I have heard about Bexley Council in a very long time.

Under Chairman Steven Hall the Transport Users’ Sub-Committee looks like becoming even more interesting and progressive than it was in the past.

 

20 July - A Rocking Motion?

Newly elected Conservative Councillor for Longlands, Oscar Harrison is no shrinking violet. He used his maiden speech to launch a Motion and quite a good one if you enjoy attacks on the Labour government. One might call it barnstorming and I was surprised to find myself, usually critical of Motions. quite enjoying it. But then I find it difficult to find any redeeming features in the past two years of Labour tyranny.

I shall ignore the various footballing references in Oscar’s speech (it was the night of the World Cup semi-final) because they went way above my head having last watched a professional football match when Aldershot played Reading in League Division 3 South, or whatever it was called, circa 1956.

“The new Prime Minister due to take office on Monday (today) is going to do absolutely nothing for the people of Bexley unless they think that higher taxes are an improvement.”

“The King of the North is marching South to conquer Mercia, but how I have absolutely no idea. Having watched everything he has said I only know that Andy Burnham wants more nationalisation, more tax, more spending and hard working families in Bexley will pay the bill. In truth they are already paying it. After two years of a Labour Government and a lifetime of Sadiq Khan at City Hall taxes are going up. If you own a car you are taxed more. Employ people, you’ve been taxed more. Work hard, you’ve been taxed more. Run a business, you’ve been taxed more. Pay Business Rates, you’ve guessed it. More taxes.”

“I ask Members, to what end? What have Rachel Reeves’ and Kier Starmer’s tax rises delivered for the people of Bexley? Zilch. Zero. Diddly Squat. Without a change of course we are creating a generation of young people who will be locked out of the opportunities that I enjoyed just a few years ago.”

“This Government has piled job destroying measure upon job destroying measure on local businesses. Compounded by soaring Business Rates. If they had offered tangible benefits I might have offered grudging understanding, but they haven’t. Apart from the Pride of Place funding for Slade Green, (£20 million over ten years) what exactly do we have to show for two years of Labour Government?”

“Bexley’s finances have taken a battering and face a significant funding gap. In cash terms, Bexley sees a reduced level of funding despite rising demand for services.”

“The Government has taken a nonsensical approach to taxation and regulation driving businesses to the wall and costing jobs.”

Oscar went on in similar vein for a few more minutes before the Motion was seconded by Councillor Cafer Munur (Blendon & Penhill) who wished the new Prime Minister well before launching a blistering attack on Nigel Farage; hoping he would lose the by-election against Count Binface. The relevance of his diatribe to the Motion escaped me. NFDS again.

Councillor Jeremy Fosten for Labour proposed an Amendment.

He reminded Members that three Conservative Leaders had all failed to drive Government investment into this borough and for 14 of those 20 years “their mates were in charge. 20 years of whining!”

“The Labour Government has an excellent record of bringing investment into Bexley” and we now have certainty. (A three year settlement, albeit lower than before.) “There was £11·4 million of Highways spending. Slade Green has been given £20 million which under the previous MP got nothing. The Motion is nonsense” and Jeremy continued with the mandatory criticism of Reform Councillors all of whom failed to show up at Public Cabinet. “Reform and the Conservatives are the Uni-Party in Bexley.”

The seconder was Councillor Borella who said that the Amendment is “a more accurate portrayal of the Government than the original Motion. The Government has made a solid start and no matter what is said by the party opposite it is all a load of nonsense.”

Councillor Donna Briant (Erith) said that the Labour Government had provided free school meals, protection for renters and continued with the triple locked pensions.

Both the Conservatives and Reform UK, along with Independent Dave Curtois, voted against the Labour Amendment.

Councillor Andrew Curtois (Conservative, Sidcup) said the new Prime Minister faces a bar for improvement which is not especially high. “Keir Starmer came to office promising a decade of renewal and delivered a decade’s worth of stealth taxes. Rachel Reeves told us that the finances were in a far worse state than anyone had imagined and proceeded to make them worse.”

“The new funding formula has left Bexley worse off and we look to the new Prime Minister to examine it again. The increase in National Insurance contributions which we were told was absolutely not a tax on working people, but fooled nobody has hit local businesses hard. We call on the new Prime Minister to change course because you cannot tax your way to prosperity; a lesson that has eluded the outgoing Chancellor entirely.”

The Mayor asked Councillor Leader David Leaf to sum up within the remaining 30 seconds but he rambled on about football and the job destroying, tax grabbing, business bashing Socialist Andy Burnham. After nearly two minutes the Mayor asked Councillor Leaf to wrap up but he ignored her until just before the three minute mark.

Only the Conservatives and maybe the Independent voted for the Motion. Reform UK abstained.

Fortunately Councillor Craske’s Motion praising residents for delivering a clear and decisive electoral Mandate on 7th May was rejected. Presumably for mathematical inaccuracy

 

19 July (Part 3) - The Transport Users’ Sub-Committee : Bus matters

The discussion on TfL buses pretty much reflected my journey to and from the Transport meeting. The only bus that takes me all the way to the Civic Offices is the 229. Not a route one would normally choose to get to Bexleyheath but my camera gear is very heavy and lugging it to Abbey Wood Station is unattractive. What’s more I can see the 229 bus stop from my lounge window and can get to it in two minutes.

Checking the Bus App soon after 6pm I saw that a 229 was due but there would not be another for 27 minutes; this at the height of rush hour on a twelve minute interval service. I twiddled my thumbs at home until ten minutes before it was due and then went to sit at the stop. By then the App was showing two buses on their way, both due in nine minutes.

Expecting to wait I sat there head in the phone and almost missed the bus because one turned up in a lot less than nine minutes. The circuitous route got me to the meeting with fewer than ten minutes to spare.

On the way home, the App said there would be a 23 minute wait at the Highland Road stop so I walked to the Clock Tower to try my luck on the newly electrified 301. By coincidence that said 23 minutes to wait too. However a 301 turned up unannounced in about eight minutes.

The TfL bus lady on a video link at the meeting was equipped with various statistics from January to March this year and routes 96, 132, 229, 286 and 492 were the worst performers. Gas and water works were said to be the problem. For the 229 it was said there were road works in Abbey Wood but I don’t remember any. School buses, routes in the 600 range, were among the very worst performers (less than 40% on time) causing children to be late for school and sometimes punished for it.

Councillor Frazer Brooks said that the count down boards at bus stops were horribly unreliable sometimes getting down to Due and then the buses disappeared. Conversely some buses turn up unannounced. Every bus user must have seen the same but the bus lady claimed never to have heard of such a thing. Frazer had to repeat his story five or six times until eventually the TfL representative said she would have to take the issue away for investigation. One might easily lose confidence in TfL’s competence. Maybe like the Mayor, they avoid buses.

Councillor Jermy Fosten said that the 229 is a massive issue in his ward and waits of 20 to 30 minutes are commonly reported. He too had experienced the same. In Abbey Road there is no longer an alternative route. He said it sometimes misses stops too. (May I add that I have twice in the very recent past walked the 229 route from Lidl in Eynsford Drive all the way home without having one pass me.) It is totally unreliable although I have not seen any stop skipping. I thought that was confined to the 301, albeit rarely.

Jeremy thought that the 244 which terminates at Abbey Wood station could be usefully extended along Abbey Road towards Erith. A good original thought which the TfL lady noted.

As has been reported elsewhere the 96 to Bluewater is now saved until 2033 with a break clause in the contract set for 2030. The frequency is unchanged. The 301 has been starting earlier in the day since last Saturday 11th July. Chairman Steven Hall said he heard that the 301 was a lot less than reliable, I agree, it can be absolutely awful at times; but the TfL lady knew nothing about any problems.

The 301 is a very useful route for those living in and around Abbey Wood as is the SL3 but they are never around when needed. From arriving at Abbey Wood station to alighting at Lion Road the journey took me 54 minutes last Wednesday.

Frazer Brooks asked what criteria govern a bare bus stop and one with a shelter and seats. Usage is the probable answer and TfL lady said she would come back with more information.

The day of the meeting was the last for comment on the DLR extension to Thamesmead. Bexley Council’s submission may be read here. (PDF)

 

19 July (Part 2) - Blog birthdays

Hugh Neal of Maggot Sandwich fame is celebrating the 20th birthday of his blog today which reminded me that Bonkers had a birthday last week and I did not give it a thought. It has now been going for more than 17 years while Hugh says that the average lifespan of a blog is 18 months. It takes up far too much time but without it Bexley Council could operate as a Secret Society.

I met a Councillor on a train last week and said that I had no idea how many people read Bonkers and was assured that everyone does. Councillors presumably which is not the intended target audience. And it is not even true, an email from a Councillor earlier this month began “I do not usually read blogs but…”

It used to be that Bonkers was regarded as the enemy of Bexley Council and I think staff are still banned from reading it at work. Three times Councillors have objected to the truth to the extent they have reported me to the police. Baroness O’Neill for “criticising Councillors”, by former Cabinet Member Don Massey for repeating an anonymised version of his own publicly available family Facebook page, and by Maxine Fothergill, described by her colleagues as “that vile woman”, for accurately reporting her highly dubious business practices. Forged letters, encouraging fraudulent behaviour by employees and more. Has anyone told Rupert Lowe yet?

Things are very different now. Councillors are prepared to speak to me in a pub, beg copies of photographs, keep in touch via Social Media and joke about me listing Councillors O’Neill and Read among the loss of talent since the election - perhaps I should have said experience - and invite me to speak at a meeting.

One recently asked me if I thought Scrutiny meetings could be improved. Maybe if Councillors were not so ready to accept non-answers from senior staff and Cabinet Members it would help. Some Councils allow public questions at Scrutiny meetings but with Bexley not even allowing Call Ins by the Labour Group that is probably too much to ask.

What I am finding more than a little intriguing at present is why I think that the current crop of Councillors seem to be a pretty decent bunch and the more one speaks to them the more one likes them; but I hate Bexley Council as a whole more than ever before. Probably readers should take that into account when reading these meanderings.

Note 21st July: I have totally lost the plot. Bonkers’ 17th birthday is not due until September

 

19 July (Part 1) - Railway matters : A correction

While the Transport Users’ Sub-Committee was waiting for Sean Brackstone, the Reform Leader, to take his seat I attempted to make excuses for him by letting the Chairman know that he worked nights and had to make suitable arrangements to be able to attend. However by the following day Sean’s own X post announced that he had been at the CPAC conference which led to some false conclusions.

He works nights so it makes life hard for him.

Sean had been to the conference but only until mid-afternoon when he returned home for a short rest before going to work. So my original excuse for him was correct although it was not a total Get Out of Jail Free card. Sean should have sent his substitute. Councillor Oke Ene. (Crayford.)

Reform is still in its learning phase and Sean has assured me he will not be forgetting his substitute Members again.

 

18 July (Part 3) - Full Council meeting : Councillor Questions

In a demonstration that Full Council meetings are rehearsed theatre, Councillors asked Cabinet Members 32 questions that they could have asked privately at any time but that would not have allowed Labour Councillors to attempt to embarrass Tories or Conservative Councillors to show their lap dog propensities.

Of the 32 questions, 14 were from Conservative, 18 from Labour and none at all from Reform UK. Whether this means they have not yet learned the rules of this silly game or decided not to participate in it I have no idea.

Newly promoted Cabinet Member Cameron Smith was on the receiving end of more than his fair share of the 32 questions and given his responsibility for the ever-popular dust bins, housing,  parking and holes in roads, that is pretty much inevitable.

Labour Councillor Chris Ball (Erith) attempted the embarrassment route. How many home starts have there been in Bexley this year? Answer; 591 in 2024/25. Later figures not available.

Councillor Ball said that at that rate it would take more than ten years to accommodate the current waiting list.

Councillor Eliot Smith (Conservative, West Heath) treading the Brownie Points route asked Cabinet Member Rags Sandhu about investment in playgrounds. It’s about £2 million over the next few years. Just over a million this year. Howbury Lane and Danson Park have been completed with arson damage due for repair/replacement next month. £180,000 will be spent on West Heath Park over the coming Winter period.

New Councillor Graham D’Amiral (Conservative, Crook Log) may not have fully understood the rules of the game because he asked about transport infrastructure priorities which is a tricky one in a borough so frequently gridlocked.

Cameron Smith said he had not expected to be immediately confronted by TfL bus cuts but the Elizabeth line to Ebbsfleet and the DLR to Belvedere remained important issues. Unfortunately Thameslink has decided to cut services to hourly on Department for Transport instructions and nothing could be done about it. Fortunately the 96 bus route to Darenth Valley Hospital and Bluewater has been saved until at least 2030 but maybe “not permanently saved”.

Councillor D’Amiral thought that TfL owed Bexley residents an apology for the stress they have caused by their poor communications relating to bus route 96 tactics. Cameron agreed. The Deputy Mayor for Transport never bothered to reply to Bexley Council’s protestations. The clash between a Labour run TfL and a Reform run Kent County Council was “to the detriment of Bexley residents”. Councillor Jeremy Fosten (Labour, Belvedere) said he was disappointed that stopping Thameslink trains at Erith and Belvedere was not mentioned among the Cabinet Member’s priorities.

Councillor Terry Barcock (Conservative, Sidcup) asked Cabinet Member Brian Bishop about investment in libraries. About £2 million over the next four years and opening hours will be extended. Crayford will get an extra two hours from next month.

Councillor Sean Brackstone (Reform UK, Northumberland Heath) slipped in an unscheduled question. Given the £25 million the Council has just had to borrow can they really afford the library investment? Caught off guard the Cabinet Member floundered but eventually came up with a very definite yes.

Labour Councillor Nicola Taylor (Erith) asked the Council Leader about the decision to rent out the flats in West Street which BexleyCo was unable to sell but he only referred her back to Public Cabinet and left the question hanging. Nicola responded “Wow” and reminded the Leader that BexleyCo “stole” much needed green space, delivered no affordable homes and has not delivered a profit for the Council.

Nicola was accused of being a broken record and the failings of BexleyCo could in part be attributed to “the dreadful policies and economic chaos of this awful Socialist government and Mayor of :London”. The Mayor specifically refused to help fund affordable homes in West Street while doing so in other parts of London.

Councillor Fosten asked the Cabinet Member for Children to comment on the statement made by Councillor Barry Saunders (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) at a recent Planning meeting that “some of our youths are not nice youths” to which I would have referred him to some of the Facebook posts (click for image) made by his residents and in adjacent wards about marauding knife wielding robbers, including earlier today, and maybe the number of Dispersal Orders regularly imposed by the police.

It is not often that I agree with Cabinet Member Taylor, but he said that Councillor Fosten was making “a cheap political shot”. And for once he may be right. To my surprise Councillor Taylor said that Jeremy could have asked Barry Saunders directly for an explanation which sort of supports my contention that the same applies to all questions and they are all a bit of a waste of time.

If they were not reported here maybe even a total waste of time.

And next, another bloody Motion!

 

18 July (Part 2) - The Transport Users’ Sub-Committee : Railway matters

In my opinion, the Transport Users’ Sub-Committee is the most important meeting in the Civic calendar because it is the only one relevant to every single resident and worker in Bexley, except perhaps the bedbound. As anyone who has tried to move around Bexley - and Bromley for that matter - in recent days and months, the borough is frequently gridlocked by the long term antics of the million pound a year CEO of Thames Water. There is currently no service on part of bus route 96 and the SL3’s current diversionary path to Bromley North is great fun to say the very least. And it is all down to Thames Water.

For the past four years Councillor Cameron Smith has done a great job Chairing a relaxed but effective Sub-Committee and with Councillor Steven Hall (Conservative, East Wickham) being the most likely to be elected as the new Chairman I was initially apprehensive that things might not be quite the same in future. Then I remembered that many years ago when Mick Barnbrook and I were seen as agitators to be reported to the police and subjected to entirely false Press Releases, it was Steven who would always have a friendly word as we entered the Lion’s Den.

Under Steven Hall, the Transport Users’ meeting was an even friendlier place than before. Jeremy Fosten (Labour, Belvedere) has replaced Sally Hinkley, Frazer Brooks (Conservative, Blackfen & Lamorbey) has taken over from John Davey, so presumably his “pointless” SL3 stop outside Wetherspoon’s is safe now but the everlasting June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) remains to maintain some continuity.

Reform Leader Sean Brackstone (Northumberland Heath) was supposed to be there but didn’t show up, nor did he send an apology for his absence or field the agreed substitute Member.

It transpired next day that he would rather spend £100 on the entrance fee to CPAC than speak up for Bexley residents and I imagine that Council Leader David Leaf has already made an entry in his next Manifesto notebook under the heading, ‘A Reform UK Vote is a Wasted Vote’.

Having checked the CPAC Agenda and guest list I can well understand Sean being keen to be there but an unannounced disappearing act is no way to treat the people of Bexley.

Anyway, down to the Agenda.

The first item as always was Railways (Southeastern and Network Rail only, Thameslink does not show any interest in customer support) and interesting as Southeastern’s representative’s presentation was I don’t think we learned a lot that is new.

90% of trains are no more than three minutes late. Fewer than 2% of trains are cancelled.

Frazer Brooks said he always seemed to be held up at Lewisham and was given the usual excuse about worn out signalling systems. The same system which has supposedly had millions spent on it already. (Network Rail claimed It was almost finished 18 months ago.)

All the track (1,800 metres) between Waterloo East and Charing Cross is to be replaced in a week or so’s time. (Total closure from 26th July to 16th August).

Jeremy asked about the fact that wheelchair users cannot cross from one platform to another at Belvedere and complained about Thameslink’s lack of interest in the Committee. Unfortunately accessibility Improvements at Belvedere will be “pretty far into the future”.

When the Class 376s are eventually replaced they will be air-conditioned for temperatures up to 45° but no contract for new trains has yet been placed. Frazer remarked on the fact that not only do trains not always have toilets but reported that in his experience, all station toilets are closed by early evening. He understood the vandalism issues but staff will not even allow a special request by the desperate. This he knows stops some people from travelling and he asked for more “common sense”.

The worst station for crime - by a considerable margin - is Abbey Wood but on the other hand it is by far the busiest. Very few crimes are solved. About 6%. Some comment about the British Transport Police was less than flattering.

Bus performance issues were next for discussion. Oh dear!

 

18 July (Part 1) - BexleyCo is a failure

Bexley’s Labour Group is not beating about the bush with its latest Press Release. Bexley Council’s building developer BexleyCo is a failure.
It has failed to build affordable homes (only 21 so far and none in recent years) and since its inception in 2017 with the support of the then Labour leader Daniel Francis, it has not provided a return to the taxpayer. The current Labour Leader Stefano Borella soon saw through the mistakes and is now kicking at an open door.

“BexleyCo is not working. No affordable housing in West Street, (Erith) and none on the old Sidcup Library site.”

And a constant drain on the Council’s resources.

Index to Labour Press Releases.

 

17 July (Part 2) - Stop Go Ape

After providing some publicity for the Stop Go Ape campaign group two days ago their leader sent me a thank you note which was appreciated. Personally I have been a fence sitter on the issue as it does not affect me at all but in terms of news their Stop campaign deserves respect - or at least it did.

In preparing the blog I Googled for Go Ape info as one does and for my pains found myself subsequently bombarded with adverts for Go Ape in news feeds, on YouTube and then Facebook - which I don’t fully understand - but somehow it happened.

I discovered to my surprise that I am in trouble on Facebook for using the word gaggle. First it was villain, now it is gaggle.

I did so in a blog posted immediately after the Planning meeting that approved the ropeway and finished with “Back out on Broadway I walked alongside, but not with, a gaggle of protesters and to say they were annoyed with Bexley Council would be an understatement. They were plotting revenge and how best they could legally cause trouble”.

No one objected to that blog in June; I stood at the bus stop with a group of understandably annoyed residents each making their points in an excitable and uncoordinated way. Almost the definition of the word gaggle. (Dictionary: A noisy, disorganized, or chaotic group of people.)

A month later (15th July) I reported that the gaggle had upped their game to a legally constituted campaign group which has formally issued a Letter before Action to Bexley Council. Surely that is some sort of compliment for a group of residents who got themselves well organised in a matter of weeks?

But they don’t think so. My web searches threw up the attached comment from a Facebook Group I had never heard of. I was mystified to read that I had tried to join it and that is simply not true. I very much dislike Facebook and avoid it if I can. There is no way I would want to join a Go Ape group.

The fact that I am not in the slightest bit interested in joining a group whose views I do not support and had not heard of before yesterday is perhaps not the real issue here. The real issue is why Facebook Administrators so often turn out to be power-crazed little Hitlers whose lives are so empty that their only joy is pressing Block buttons. How sad must they be?

Maybe those tempted to support their cause should pause to consider whether it is led by rational people or petty minded spiteful ones. Stop Go Ape is probably doomed to failure. Danson Park is not ancient woodland as Lesnes Abbey Park obviously is, complete with its fossil beds.

Note: Fortunately the local Facebook group I follow is totally free of obsessive moderation. Well done What’s New in SE2.

 

17 July (Part 1) - Green split

At the last local election the Green party operated as a joint Bexley and Greenwich organisation but after doing very well in Greenwich where they are now the official opposition to Labour and not so very badly in Bexley too, the two boroughs have gone their separate Green ways. We now have our very own Bexley Green party and to prove how serious they are, they endured the whole of last Wednesday’s Full Council meeting.

They know that if they are to stand any chance of electoral success hey must get to understand the way Bexley Council operates.

 

16 July - Full Council meeting : Public Questions

With so many new Council faces with which to become familiar I am forsaking webcasts for a while in favour of the real thing and augmenting my photo collection. Friendly faces encountered on the way in to yesterday’s meeting were Stefano Borella, as always, Sally Hinkley and newly Independent Dave Curtois who seemed to be a thoroughly nice fellow; no wonder the Tories threw him out.

As usual Mr. Shvorob was there with one of his questions. Was the Council going to build on Burr Farm after promising to protect green spaces during the last election campaign and the Leader was as usual dismissive of it.

He began by ridiculing Mr. Shvorob's failure to be elected at the recent election and then said that as Burr Farm was the subject of a current planning application he couldn't talk about it, as if it was a legal case and he might prejudice a trial. Or as he put it, unduly influence the Planning Committee. The Council Leader’s Smart Alec approach to politics gets to be a bit tiresome. He is an entertaining and amusing speaker but on balance it comes across as schoolboy politics unbecoming of a Council Leader.

A resident of Elstree Gardens (Belvedere) made a plea for the AW1 Controlled Parking Zone introduced as an 18 month experimental scheme last September be operational for two hours instead of the current six because it is making life for residents very difficult.

This is something mentioned on Bonkers several times. Elstree Gardens presents a totally different situation to other parts of the AW1 Zone which mainly has off-street parking. Elstree Gardens mainly does not. The signage there is a mess and is confusing to visitors and occasionally downright wrong and Bexley Council knows it. The problems have been discussed at the Transport User’s Sub-Committee and on one occasion I was allowed to address that Committee and provide a whole list of things wrong with the design of AW1.

Cabinet Member Cameron Smith said a two hour restriction might not curb the Elizabeth line commuters now that the working day has shifted from the traditional 9-5 pattern but Council officers are already looking at the issues.

The resident thought it would help enormously if the road was marked, ‘Residents Parking Only’ and the restrictive bays and yellow lines were removed. This is pretty much how the roads to the North of Abbey Road (AW1) are laid out and the fact that Elstree Gardens to the South (also AW1) is marked differently was brought to the attention of Cameron Smith when he was Chairman of Transport Users’. One might assume that no one took any notice. Councillor Smith thought that the roads to the North being cul-se-sacs and Elstree Gardens being a through road justified the different approach.

Mr. Shvorob came back with another question; this one being about on-line Councillor attendance reporting as, according to Mr. Shvorob is the norm at most London Councils. After listening to the Leader’s response - which unhelpfully suggested a trawl through past Minutes of Meetings - Mr. Shvorob admitted he was dealing with a Master Question Evader, which the Leader took to be a compliment.

 

15 July (Part 2) - If you can’t stand the heat…

Despite the scarcity of blog posts this month, while I tackle the garden and the winter storm damage which threatens to overwhelm me, there has been a small amount of feedback.

I would not normally mention it but the appalling murder of Ann Widdecombe whose last broadcast interview I listened to live at around 8 a.m. last Wednesday makes it topical. I, a political nobody, receive rather too many messages which reveal what I see as an unhealthy pre-occupation with Nigel Farage’s party; to the extent I have considered becoming a member in protest. Every time I flirt with the idea of supporting Kemi Badenoch she comes out with some total nonsense. She claimed that Britain is not broken, so how the hell can she aspire to fixing it?

Then more recently she said there was no way she would ever consider joining forces with another right leaning party, thus proving beyond all doubt that she places the Conservative party above the wellbeing of the country which is heading for left wing Armageddon at an alarming rate.

And then when Nigel Farage pulled his Clacton re-election stunt she immediately proved that she is part of the uni-party by joining Labour and the LibDems by announcing she would boycott it.

Kemi; kindly get lost. How much is the Reform subscription?

Of the feedback, four messages came from Councillors. Three Conservative and one Labour, but we can forget that one. There was absolutely nothing political about it. Just a friendly chat. One Conservative offered additional information, which was welcome and another commented on a photo which was not a problem but the third I simply do not know what to do with.

Here I must be a bit vague as I do not especially want to reveal the source, but it concerns the week old blog about the Finance Scrutiny Committee. The one in which I expressed doubts about the talent pool within Conservative ranks in Bexley.

It did not go down well in some quarters. The use of the word villain to describe any Councillor was particularly objectionable apparently. It was meant as a bit of a joke, in the pantomime sense of the word. If I’d intended to be really serious I might have reminded readers of what happened the last time the public was effectively excluded from a meeting, but the circumstances were simply not in the same league. This time it was annoying but not illegal. Nothing to justify any formal complaint but maybe worth a cheeky comment.

Believe it or not I gave the word quite a lot of thought and went through several possibilities, trying not to be too critical and perhaps just a little bit light-hearted, before settling on the V word.

To the best of my knowledge the Chairman of the Places Committee is a perfectly decent bloke and competent Councillor but someone who read the blog and complained may be lacking a sense of humour.

In my view calling a Councillor a villain is pretty innocuous stuff whether in jest or not. It is not a common term of abuse, it almost shouts ‘joke’ out loud. To me anyway, but evidently not everyone.

I am not going to phone through an apology to anyone. Like it or lump it! Councillors have called me worse.

 

15 July (Part 1) - Go Ape. The kick-back begins

My Go Ape correspondent told me that the company opened a new ‘attraction’ in Alexandra Palace yesterday and sent several photos taken there. (Example Photo 1.) It does not appeal to me in the slightest and certainly not at £41·95 per person (Ally Pally price) but it does appear to have its supporters, principally among Bexley’s Conservative and Labour Councillors who voted for a similar facility to be built in Danson Park.

When I left the Planning meeting that approved it on 12th June I found myself among a gaggle of Go Ape protesters who were already planning a kick-back over the decision and it would appear that it was not just excitable post-decision talk.

The ‘gaggle’ has developed into a formal campaign group which has taken legal advice and issued the following statement.

Community Campaign Calls on Bexley Council to Withdraw from Go Ape Proposal Following Legal Advice
The community campaign Stop Go Ape in Danson Park is calling on Bexley Council to step back from its proposed Go Ape development in Danson Park. The Campaign has provided clear grounds to challenge Bexley Council’s earlier approval in a formal ‘Letter before Action’.  
The letter argues that the Planning Committee decision to permit a commercial high ropes course in ancient woodland is legally flawed. The grounds raised include misinterpreting Bexley’s own Local Plan, their approach to the likely heritage harm this commercial activity could bring and their handling of the debate over use of ancient woodland and treatment of veteran trees.
Ann McCawley, a spokesperson for ‘Stop GoApe in Danson Park’ said:
“We have absolutely no objection to GoApe in the right location - but we can’t stand by while an ancient woodland - preserved through generations of community support and public investment - is sacrificed for commercial gain”.
The Campaign trusts Bexley Council to think again and halt any further work until there’s time for them to re-examine their approach with GoApe.  The Council has an opportunity to sort this out now, without resorting to expensive and time consuming Judicial Review action in the High Court.

This Press Release was obtained from Mr. Scott Wilson who I assume is their publicity spokesman.

Protesters at the Civic Offices before the planning meeting.

 

11 July - The Public Meeting that wasn’t very public

I have had the feeling recently that Bexley Council is seriously short of talent since the elections in May. It lost Councillors Diment, Gower, O’Neill, Read and Seymour all of whom had held Cabinet positions and former Committee Chairmen such as Councillors Dourmoush and Reader plus two or three more with a lifetime of experience. The new Cabinet has been made up with as yet untested former Committee Chairmen and in turn the Committee Chairmen positions have been filled in by relative unknowns; which brings me to last week’s Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee.

It was Chaired by Councillor Andrew Curtois (Sidcup) who decided to mess with tradition and change the format of the meeting. He began by starting the webcast late and because of that we only know that he favoured “an interactive workshop style approach” which involved splitting Councillors into three independent groups operating simultaneously. This rendered webcasting impractical and if members of the public were present they would be totally unable to follow proceedings.

Andrew Curtois clearly forgot he was supposed to be chairing a Public Meeting when he effectively closed it to public scrutiny.

BiB hereby elects Councillor Andrew Curtois as its first villain of the new municipal year.

With the webcast prematurely switched off there is little to cover here.

Council Leader David Leaf said that he had already said most of what he would have wanted to say at the recent Cabinet meeting. What was left did not amount to much. There are young people work experience from local schools in the Civic Offices at present doing “lots of good work and exciting projects”. No one questioned his brief report.

Councillor Caroline Newton, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services also reported. Yet another Customer Experience survey is underway and the People Strategy is at the two year stage. She spoke of Leadership Academies, Children’s Universities and Induction Programmes which may or may not improve the generally poor calibre of senior staff.

Labour Leader Councillor Borella (Slade Green) made a slightly sarcastic comment about the Committee being graced by two Cabinet Members before moving on to the Customer Experience survey he had seen being conducted on Broadway,. Are other areas being so honoured? The Council Leader said they would be.

Councillor Nicola Taylor (Labour, Erith) put in her usual plea for the digitally disenfranchised not to be forgotten. She also called for ‘cool hubs’ to be provided for the vulnerable during the current hot weather. Councillor Leaf said that was something being worked on.

Councillor Borella said the Committee should look at BexleyCo much more closely. Ideally its whole business plan should be torn up and started again. The governance has been “a failure". In terms of affordable and council housing “it fails the people of Bexley miserably.” The Chairman replied with a rather dismissive “that’ְs noted".

Councillor Jeremy Fosten (Labour, Belvedere) noted that the Performance Indicators said that there was “a huge slip” in the number of complaints being answered on schedule. The Council Leader said that the stats will naturally go up and down. Councillor Fosten was asked if he was happy with the answer, and he was.

Councillor Borella made similar remarks about the percentage of invoices paid within 30 days. Are the targets realistic, some are never reached? There has been a decline in the number of Member’s Enquires too. The Council Leader thought that the latter might be election related, Councillors busy doorstepping!

Councillor David Li (Conservative, East Wickham) asked what was being done to improve the various service deteriorations. Councillor Leaf said in effect, lessons are being learned.

Councillor Sean Brackstone (Reform UK, Northumberland Heath) asked how much money had been poured into BexleyCo and how much have they paid back. There was of course no straight answer but overall a profit is expected. “The Reform Group has spread quite a lot of misinformation but I hope they will learn and start telling the truth.” Councillor Brackstone said that if his question had been answered it might prevent the spreading of misinformation.

 

4 July - Transformers

Having spent 15 minutes reporting on Bexley’s financial position, Council Leader David Leaf moved his Cabinet to the Transformation Strategy. It is not as you might expect a program to improve the environment or the lives of residents but a scheme to save money by doing things like pushing even more customer services on line, The overall aim is to save £3·63 million this year which has been dented by the appointment of Tower Hamlet’s Deputy Director of Transformation on £132,594 a year.

She described 300 possible changes to customer service access as an opportunity to enhance services. Children’s and Adult Care Services would be integrated where possible and a more commercial approach taken on fees and charges.

The first phase of the Strategy is to be launched this month. It will involve “large scale collaboration with our workforce”. You may recall that in the past, surveys revealed that senior staff rarely if ever spoke to their underlings.

Ms. Rahman spoke for five minutes without revealing anything especially interesting to the average resident. By 2030, it is hoped that there will be further savings in the region of £7 million. Presumably the Cabinet found the report as interesting as I did as none of them had anything to say.

Councillor Nicola Taylor (Labour, Erith) was concerned about the changes planned for the Contact Centre because residents already complain about how hard it is to get in contact with Bexley Council and everything has worsened in recent years. “How will you measure your improvements?” The Council Leader said that “residents are used to using digital technology". The more digitalisation there is, the more spare capacity can be moved to face to face intervention. “The performance of our Contact Centre is usually very good. I can give that assurance.”

Councillor Taylor noted that her question had not been answered.

Councillor Borella (Labour, Slade Green) said he had heard the word Transformation discussed in Council ever since he first became a Councillor. He had not missed the reference to fees and charges and did not think that increased parking charges had always been assessed intelligently. (Some have caused revenue reductions. The full Transformation report specifically refers to reviewing margins on Car Parking.)

He was not sure that all staff saw Transformation as Culture Change but as “a Cuts Programme dressed up”.

Councillor David Leaf said that this time Transformation is different.

 

3 July - Widespread traffic gridlock - and more to come

For out of town readers it should be explained that Slade Green is a pleasant enough little backwater of Bexley borough which is almost in Dartford. A community divided by the railway line with the only crossing point being the imaginatively named Bridge Road.

There is an alternative route to the North, a mile or two of residential roads leading to the Thames at Erith and the somewhat notorious Manor Road being the only one you may have heard of because of its fly tipping problem which is on record as being visible from space.

And what was closed on Monday by the emergency gas works? Bridge Road. It was a very bad leak with gas concentrations approaching 100% with resident evacuations being necessary. Drivers were reporting five hours of delay and my driving instructor friend had to abandon two tests.

The usual routine is for the police and the Council to stand by and do nothing but things got so bad that Bexley Council actually did something about it.

Better late than never, but electronic signs were erected to the effect that there was no through route from Manor Road.

TfL was persuaded to change the James Watt Way traffic lights to allow traffic fleeing Manor Road to move more freely. However they continued to direct complaints to Southern Gas Networks.

The 89 bus sensibly avoided the area.

Generally of course, Bexley Council could not care less about the chaos caused by the utility companies. SGN expect to open Bridge Road on Sunday.

I left a friend in Bexleyheath at around 10:30 yesterday evening and she WhatsApped me just before midnight - good job my phone mutes at 10 - to say she had only just got home because of unexplained road closures. She lives not far from the Danson Underpass.

I drove by at 05:44 this morning and saw that Blendon Road was shut. No idea why but the diversion sign merely said go around the roundabout and back the way you had come. Really helpful, but Bexley Council almost never checks on what the utility companies deem acceptable.

In recent weeks the Sidcup blockade has shown signs of being lifted and not having been there since Monday I had high hopes of it been entirely gone this morning; but no. Thames Water had blocked The Green and the entry point was marked ‘No Through Road, Follow Diversion’. but there were no diversion signs which led to a succession of vehicles entering The Green. The signs were OK on the return journey but totally inadequate when heading south.

One doesn’t expect Thames Water employees to have the necessary intelligence to do anything properly but one might expect Bexley Council to monitor what they do.

Never satisfied with the amount of chaos they cause, Thames Water will close Colyers Lane (Erith to Northumberland Heath) in 100 metre sections (Swallows Close and the Medical Centre) from 5th August to mid-October and Bexley Council has permitted 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. working. That’s the 89 bus buggered again.

Just for a change, TfL will take over Alsike Road in Thamesmead from 6 a.m. on 13th July to 10th August. Two railway access points will be constructed to permit staff access and parking spaces will be reduced while bi-directional traffic will be maintained with Stop/Go boards. Staff parking will take over Felixstowe Road. TfL say that their arrangements are approved by Bexley Council although there are references to the track improvement work being between Abbey Wood and Woolwich stations and the access point at Church Manor Way (Greenwich) is specifically mentioned.

There is no reference to Elizabeth line disruptions so where the work is actually being carried out is anyone’s guess at the moment.

 

2 July - Bexley’s new faces

Watching webcasts never quite replaces seeing the real thing in action. I used to know, or at least have an opinion on, all the senior staff and last night, having decided to attend in person, I realised I could only put names to two of the faces advising the Cabinet.

It is the same with the new Cabinet, whilst I recognise them all there are two recently promoted who I do not know well at all, probably because they never really drew attention to themselves as Councillors.

For that reason and to possibly learn more about BexleyCo which featured large on the Agenda, I dragged myself to the meeting on a packed out bus. I was hoping that the Reform people who had taken such a close interest in BexleyCo before the election would maintain their interest afterwards but I can only assume they had settled for the webcast.

Labour had four of their nine Councillors in attendance, Conservatives two out of their 21 non-Cabinet Councillors and Reform UK none. I know that their Leader works a night shift and will have to ration his attendances, but zero is no way to be seen as any sort of opposition.

Councillors Stefano Borella and Nicola Taylor (Labour) found the time for a brief but friendly conversation before the meeting got underway proving that just because there are political differences no one need adopt the sort of attitudes of some of their activists and candidates.

The meeting was chaired by Council Leader David Leaf resplendent in England football tie and he asked Deputy Finance Director Nickie Morris to speak first. She reported a £208,000 overspend at the end of the last financial year. The offenders were, as usual, Adult Social Care and SEN transport. Housing, parking and environmental services had underspent.

£4 million of long term borrowing was repaid and and £25 million “for cash management purposes only” was borrowed. The Council Leader said that the performance demonstrates how “Bexley has a good financial grip and is in a strong position”.

Since April there has been an overspend of £601,000 and once again SEN transport was the major issue but the cost of the transformation strategy, £641,000, is having an unexpected impact; but it is anticipated that things will get better. “Hopefully”. £4 million of the £25 million short term loan has been repaid.

The Director of Finance and Corporate Services confirmed that his plans included the maximum possible Council Tax increases. With 57% of Bexley’s services outsourced, contract inflation represents a risk.

There were no comments from Councillors so the meeting moved on to discussing “Future Bexley”; the transformation strategy.

 

1 July - Bexley Council is useless

Well the Highways Department headed by Andrew Bashford anyway.

Yesterday, and most likely today too, Slade Green was gridlocked by emergency Gas Works. Bexley Council absolved itself of all responsibility by issuing the following notice on its Facebook account.
There were at least two reports of cars unable to move for more than five hours with traffic diversion signs redirecting people to the back of the queue they had previously left. I personally know someone who was stuck there for two hours while on a business trip. The direct loss of income to that one person was £80.

Probably Tom Anderson summed things up most succinctly…

Nobody expects the police to get off their arses for anything any more. Stopping driving instructors for driving on L plates may be an exception. When my road was blocked on an almost daily basis by Elizabeth line commuters they did nothing until one of their own vehicles could not get through on an emergency call.

All of what Mr. Anderson suggests could have been arranged by Bexley Council if only they would leave home - where most of them work - and take a look for themselves. They have contacts with TfL and all the utilities but instead they wash their hands of all responsibility and are happy to see residents trapped for hours on end and their days wrecked,

Bexley Council summarized in one short blog.

Note: The reference to Howbury Road should have been Howbury Lane showing how little interest Bexley Council has in Slade Green.