24 July (Part 2) - The Bexley No Deal
There were about 17 very large rain spots on my patio ten minutes ago and they lasted
all of 50 seconds before being boiled off.
It must be a month since there was last any rain and the footpaths around bus
stops, benches and litter bins are filthy. Bexley Council is presumably waiting
for volunteers with buckets and metered water to do their bit (The Bexley Deal) but in Abbey Wood
some people have been getting quite hot under the collar about it.
Photo 1 was taken on the Bexley side of Wilton Road last Friday. The Greenwich
side was worse, much blacker and more widespread.
The usual Facebook suspects were uninterested in conserving water and complained to Greenwich Council. The
Council had rather asked for it as their then Leader, Denise Hyland, recently posed for publicity photos with
her new street cleaner (Photo 4) at the very spot that has never been scrubbed since and thanks
to the weather and some very messy people had become as black as the Ace of Spades.
With commendable speed Greenwich Council sent out their street washing team.
They were there yesterday and they were there again today. (Photos 3 and 4.)
Bexley Council has meanwhile sat on their backsides despite Greenwich’s claim
that they had tried to get a coordinated response from Bexley.
As you may have gathered, I am somewhat ambivalent about the situation. Yes it
did look pretty disgusting but then so do many other places that are not routinely washed by
Councillor Craske’s street scrubber - and the weather and
water shortage is rather exceptional.
One might guess that street cleaning of this nature is the sort of thing that
Bexley has in mind for #doitforbexley, its latest wheeze designed to absolve
Bexley Council of every possible responsibility.
I spoke to a Wilton Road (Belvedere ward) Councillor today about the fact that
Bexley’s efforts are being contrasted badly with Greenwich’s response. She was unaware and
emailed back to say “the yukky pavement has been flagged up”.
Maybe Bexley Council should appoint a Cabinet Member for Rain.
It worked in 1976.