11 March (Part 1) - Bexley’s budget. The facts and the fights
After
councillor Craske’s flight of fantasy it was the turn of councillor
Sharon Massey (Conservative, Danson). Her first words were “the Looney Left are alive and well in
Bexley” and the second sentence included the words, “the Looney Left have
returned. All she had heard was the politics of envy. Councillor Borella was on
his usual hobby horse of criticising any woman”. Where did she get that from?
Councillor Borella rose to make an objection but the chairman didn’t want to
hear it. Massey said that Stefano had been patronising. Apparently he had made a
passing reference to the Home Secretary’s passion for shoes which nobody with
any sense wrote down in order to deliver a pathetic feminist accusation. The
mayor then allowed councillor Borella to defend his comment so long as it was kept brief.
Councillor Massey considered that the objection to her comment was a “rude
interruption” and continued her diatribe about the politics of envy. Councillor
Hackett was “sad” to have referred to Gareth Bacon running off with £108,000 of
taxpayers’ money and it is “really sad that we cannot actually speak about the
policies”. A fine example she is!
She said that council tax had been frozen for six years when everyone else had been
saying five and she objected to the term ‘bin tax’. She complained that Labour
had suggested “it was the youth of today who caused vandalism in Danson Park”.
The police, who she had met, had not referred to youths being responsible. “It
is certainly not the youth of Bexley in there.”
Councillor Ferreira was next on Massey’s hit list. “You cannot blame the council
because people are getting fat.” (Councillor Ferreira had linked playground
closures with obesity.) Sharon said “that if people are getting fat they need to
exercise more and eat less”. The food banks will be serving a useful purpose then.
“Honestly Mr. Mayor it has been a sad night for politics in Bexley.” True, and
councillor Sharon Massey had done nothing whatsoever to alleviate it.
Councillor John Husband (Labour, Lesnes Abbey) who has been an economist for a
financial newspaper, objected to the “financial illiteracy shown here tonight”.
Gareth Bacon had blamed the Labour party for the present financial situation but
“there are books in the library which fully explain who was responsible. The
world economy had almost collapsed because bankers and financiers around the
world were”, and we shall never know because his voice tailed off into
inaudibility. However by 2008 the Labour government had reduced the national
debt to a 100 year low, at which point mayor Marriner decided he had heard
enough expert opinion and shut him up.
Councillor
June Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) stood next and my hopes for some relief from political
mud slinging were immediately dashed. Her first words were “I hope you will
forgive me if I wonder what parallel universe members like Danny Hackett
inhabit”. The parallel universe is better known as the North of the borough.
“Members on this side will not take any lessons in financial management from a
party that left saying there was no money.”
“It was wholly reasonable that taxpayers should pay for the services which they
choose to use. An awful lot of nonsense has been talked about the garden waste service”.
My turn for nonsense… Yes June, I agree but the fact remains I will not be alone in paying
more than 5% extra to Bexley in the coming year than in the current one and whether you call it
a tax or a charge, your administration has made a service cut and there are no winners.
Like all your fellow members you appear to have forgotten that the charge is introduced
at a time when processing costs have fallen by £444,000 a year (your council’s figures).
No one wants to mention that in case voters think the council is both having and eating
its cake and guilty of deliberate misrepresentation.
At least a 5% increase is a lot less than the 33% imposed on those on
benefits, another thing your party is keeping very quiet about.
Councillor Slaughter was a bit of a let down as a source of insults and soon
returned to her seat.
Alan
Downing (Conservative, St. Mary’s) was next, surely
the pen jabber could do better? Libraries were his
theme. “Labour had not read the paper work. We are offering six core libraries.
Libraries are not somewhere you go to borrow a book, they are the hub of the
community.” When Labour members murmured discontent Downing told them to “shut up
and please be quiet“. The chairman remained mute.
Getting into his stride, Downing said Labour “spoke nonsense”. “Who closed two
libraries when they were in office?” he said referring to “the members over
there”. It turned out that the two libraries were North Cray and
Picardy Street, Belvedere and it was the Conservatives who had closed them.
Labour was only responsible for a closure in Barnehurst. Councillor Seán Newman
remembered the two mobile libraries withdrawn on the same day bringing the Tory score to four.
Downing said he would carry on. He said that Labour had closed both Barnehurst
and Blackfen libraries and realising he was making another big mistake, promptly said he
would “leave libraries there” which is precisely what he is not going to do in Blackfen.
He moved on to obesity which is “a serious problem” and referring once again to
members “over there” asked, ”Who sold off the school fields?” and complained
about the blocks of flats built in their place.
Isn’t that exactly what his party wants to do in Old Manor Way and Old Farm
Avenue? He objected to Labour’s criticism of the £18,000 bonus being handed out
to Tory vice-chairmen this year and claimed that Labour in office had done the
same thing. Downing was trying to have things both ways. Labour was wrong to
award themselves extra allowances but Conservatives are right when they do it.
In his final moments he said that Labour members were not even able to read
properly from their own notes. Another case of the pot calling the kettle black
and another mute and worthless chairman.
Councillor Alex Sawyer (Conservative, St. Mary’s) was invited to speak next. Surely this would be the end
of small minded squabbles? But no, not entirely. Councillor Downing’s lack
lustre and largely inaccurate speech on libraries came in for early praise. “Community
libraries are the beating heart of a local community”.
“If a community group does not come forward or their business plan does not
stack up, the reality is that libraries will close.”
Councillor Amaning’s point
about the practice of leaving parks open at night was
rubbished because councillor Sawyer had seen people get in while they were
locked. (There are burglars in town so you may as well leave your front door open.) He
accepted that the vandalism had been “very serious”. Apart from the cases of
arson memorial benches had been smashed.
The selling of some parks and open spaces was a good thing because it would
allow the others to remain open. What happens when that money runs out was not
explained. Not selling them was “a recipe for disaster”. Protest groups give up now!
The Splash Park barely got a mention but “Bexley is better under the Conservatives” and on
that high note it is time to leave Bexley’s budget for another day.