Parking problems
Next
week two of the three car parks adjacent to Abbey Wood station will be closed
as Crossrail prepares to demolish the 28 year old station and build a temporary
replacement. Where commuters cars will be displaced to only time will tell, but
Bexley council is intent on more misery for local residents.
The houses near the station are nearly all pre-war and many are
entirely without off street parking facilities and compelled to pay the illegally imposed
£100 Controlled Parking Zone charges.
Bexley council announced
it would rob them of more spaces a couple of months ago and yesterday it began the installation
of Parking Ticket Machines in Abbey Road.
Residents and commuters will be left to fight over spaces while Bexley council
cashes in, either through extra fines or the £3.80 flat rate charge for use of
the space. Gradual reduction in the number of residents bays is not confined to
the area around Abbey Wood Station, exactly the same has happened around the
centre of Bexleyheath where residents who are forced to pay £120 a year for a
permit find themselves unable to park because people are shopping seven days a week.
Police FOI response
A Freedom of Information request seeking the time the police received a request
from Bexley council to attend the Civic Centre on the evening councillor Cheryl
Bacon decided to hold a public meeting in - her words - “Closed Session” was initially
rejected because it might reveal personal information.
An appeal resulted in a long email - four pages of A4 when printed - saying the same
thing. It stated that there is a danger that saying anything at all might reveal who made the
call so they confirm their original decision to say nothing.
What a load of nonsense. Everyone involved knows who asked for the police to be called and I could tell
you the name of the man who made the call - the doorman. The names of all the councillors present is
a matter of public record and all the names of every member of the public
present can be found in previous blogs. The police, for some reason best known
to themselves, are determined not to upset Bexley council by co-operating
with a simple request by a critic of Bexley council.
Mick Barnbrook has sent all the correspondence to the Information Commissioner.
It is by no means certain they will rule in his favour. When I asked for the
date the police made enquiries about Bexley council’s obscene blog, the ICO
ruled it wasn’t in the public interest to tell me. Some might agree that was in
fact true because it later transpired that the police had lied; they had not made the enquiry at all.
Even if the ICO overrules Bexley police’s FOI officer and asks her to provide an
answer, it is not difficult to imagine there will be a quick call to Bexley
council to ask them what answer they would like the police to give.
Police SAR request
I didn’t mention it before, but I made a Subject Access Request to the police
three months ago. The law says they must respond within 40 working days. I am
still waiting. But that is nothing, it is nine months since my complaint about
Chief Superintendent Stringer’s failure to investigate Bexley council’s obscene
blog was acknowledged by the IPCC. Result? Total silence.