28 February (Part 1) - Fallen into bad company
I didn’t always manage to get myself to Northumberland Heath on a weekly
basis to look at the regeneration supposedly going on there but when I did, I was always disappointed.
Work began on 12th January and as the council poster included on the first
blog on this subject proclaimed, we were going to see new trees, granite
benches, foreign language signs, new bins, new bollards, new paving, new
railings and banners hanging from lamp posts.
At the end of the first week Mill Road was blocked while two men worked and by the 24th January
Mill Road was still closed and some
waste bins had been replaced.
The end of week 3
(February 3rd) saw no great change and chaos was still in
charge on 10th February. Last week I didn’t find the time to get there and I was very much aware that I may have missed completion day.
However I was alerted to the latest situation when Anna Firth, the Conservative General
Election candidate for the area, Tweeted late last night (complete with a Mill Road picture) that Mill Road was open for traffic.
I
hitched a lift to Northumberland Heath as soon as I could.
Mill Road was indeed open, the tarmac is a nice rich black and there is a raised table made of Bexley council’s favoured
bus averse red blocks and
(Photo 2) a couple of granite benches by its side. There isn’t a lot to show for the money
and the area has not been dramatically transformed.
The paving has been replaced over a small area either side of the junction and
plastic barriers still abound. Of the decorative historical banners there is no sign.
I
suppose it is a decent amount of work for two men to do in seven weeks but it’s
not nearly as big an area as my own blocked drive which was done in far less time.
Have you been paying attention? From 10th January to 27th February is seven
weeks and the job was scheduled for six.
The would-be MP however has been spending too much time with councillor Philip
Read and fallen for his propaganda, hopefully not into his ways. Her bragging last night
was that thanks to Tory efficiency Mill Road opened on time.
.