6 June - Buses, bridges, bonkers
It has been a nice day for a trip to the races, sadly I spent the day on various photo sorties
locally and didn't get to Epsom to see the Derby. As usual, Bexley’s Conservative
councillors did, I hope they didn’t lose too much of their allowances.
The week’s postbag has been dominated by three subjects;
the bin tax,
stupidly placed bus stops and
the bridge over the River Cray in Bexley.
Bus Stops
It would appear that the new bus stop markings in Harrow Manorway, Abbey Wood,
right next to the new Sainsbury’s roundabout (Photo 1) was not the only new one marked out last week.
Another has shown up in Watling Street, Bexleyheath (Photo2) which is perilously
close to a junction and the picture, taken with a wide angle lens, is exaggerating
the distance between them. As you can see, it is not much more than the length
of a bus, let’s hope that two never come along together.
In Harrow Manorway four different routes serve the stop so blocking the
roundabout is likely to be a frequent event.
It is hard to judge what sort of idiocy has produced the Harrow Manorway
situation, the Watlng Street one is not so difficult to fathom. It is right outside
the new Civic Offices which has lacked its own bus stop until now. One might
guess why safety considerations are way down the list of priorities.
Bexley Bridge
It has become clear that Elwyn Bryant was not alone in
complaining to Bexley council and the police
about the abuse of the Bexley bridge over the Cray without effect.
The police in St. Mary’s come in for criticism, not only for making no effort to
enforce the bridge weight restriction but for a total failure to engage with the
community as they do in Thamesmead and Welling.
The congestion in the village is variously blamed on beer deliveries - which
come over the 7·5 ton bridge - to the centrally situated pubs and to Bexley
council vehicles illegally parked while the drivers go shopping - well that is
what the email said. Photos would be nice but difficult when one is merely
trying to drive through.
I sense that there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the council in Bexley
village but it remains solidly Conservative so presumably only the unhappy ones write to Bonkers.