9 November (Part 2) - The Leader on Covid and Cabinet Member Leaf on child hunger
I am no doubt weird in some way but I nearly always find Councillor Teresa
O’Neill’s report interesting, maybe not as "fantastic"
as she often claims it to be but certainly worth a listen. She began last
Wednesday’s report with Covid19, we would expect nothing else. Apart from a
brief reference to the Peabody developments in Thamesmead she commented on no other subject.
The Leader thanked her team for “what they have been doing in extremely difficult
circumstances”. After the initial very quick shutdown and ”changing how services
were delivered we then started restoring and a resumption for what we thought
was a new normal for some time. Many of the team had to think on their feet to ensure vital services continued”.
“I am particularly proud of the fact we did not close our parks or cemeteries
during the initial phase but it sometimes proved very challenging especially with the amount of litter being left.”
“Tests were run locally by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and after
months of persistence there is now a proper phone waiting system for
appointments. We understand it will be updated to include a proper web based
booking system in the very near future.”
“After lobbying we have our own testing unit in Bursted Woods.
We may also be getting another in the [disused] Felixstowe Road car park.”
“Nobody
could image the impact [of Covid19] when we set our budget in March.
Covid 19 has hit us as it has hit every other Council. Our challenges have
mainly been around lost income, extra costs and new responsibilities.”
“Government has come up with extra money but is has not covered all of the
impact so far. Greenwich got more than twice the public health grant than what
we got. £6·2 million against £2·8”. Overall the totals were about £26·2 million
and £17·5. Bexley has the worst Public Heath Grant Formula in London.
Cosying up to Boris is not reaping dividends.
“The auditor is nervous.”
Questions did not amount to much but Cabinet Member Leaf said that “earlier this
year” the Council had donated £10,000 to the Bexley Foodbank “and this week
would make a further donation”. Despite that he said that the Labour Leader had
Tweeted just a couple of days later that “This Council is happy for children to go hungry”.
Councillor Leaf went on to say that the message put out by Bexley Labour that
Greenwich is feeding children but Bexley is not was not true. Greenwich’s scheme
(The Healthier Greenwich Strategy) had been in place since 2018 funded in part by Charlton Athletic.
“It provided about a thousand meals last week but there
are 9,000 children in Greenwich eligible for free school meals and this scheme
does not cover all of them and did not provide 45,000 meals during [the five
days of] half term. Different boroughs do different things. Some gave vouchers,
some donated to food banks and some stood by until contacted by those in need.”
“Those in need should get in contact with us. In three months the Labour Leader has not held me to account about it, instead
Labour is trigger happy in misleading the public on Social Media and whipping up anger and hatred.”
“Some people may have believed his falsehoods and as a result they may not have
sought help, that makes me angry and furious. They are nasty, callous and cruel”.
The Mayor indicated that Councillor Leaf was, if you will excuse the pun, labouring the point somewhat.