27 April (Part 1) - No Right Turn
Bexley council’s plan to penalise motorists for minor traffic indiscretions
was given a few seconds over three minutes at last week’s council meeting and
most of that was taken up by councillor Stefano Borella checking if the mistakes
that littered the original
schedule of affected sites had been corrected.
There had been no debate on the subject at
the Cabinet meeting
either as is to be expected of a one woman dictatorship.
Councillor Borella briefly made the obvious point that the scheme
was a revenue raising exercise and as it was first announced as part of the
budget proposals it would be silly to deny it. Nevertheless council leader
O’Neill protested that it was not.
Councillor Sharon Massey disagreed with councillor Marriner’s chairmanship and called out
guidance - she forgets that she is no longer mayor - but apart from her, no other councillor
spoke during what passed for a debate.
Council leader Teresa O’Neill rounded things off with two
comments, both equally dubious. She said that every resident agrees with (so
called) MICE cars patrolling school entrances - maybe they do but this new
measure has nothing to do with patrolling around schools for which traffic
orders exist already - and that "we are not saying we are going to do it but we
are giving ourselves the option to do it”. Well believe that if you like!
Only the three UKIP councillors voted against the proposal which is scheduled to come into effect in August.