10 November - Bexley Council has a plan…
…and
at the last Council meeting the Leader was loudly proclaiming it, beginning with
the somewhat exaggerated boast that Bexley residents overwhelmingly chose a
Conservative administration at the last election. The truth is that
they gained
only 47% of the vote against Labour’s 41. Nevertheless that is first past
the post democracy; she is in charge and determined to impose her will on the borough.
“We set out our ambitions and aspirations for the borough to make it even better
and they voted us back in.” Very carefully chosen words.
Bexley Conservatives don’t make well defined Manifesto promises any more. There must be no repeat exposure of
the ‘every Manifesto promise since 2006 has been fulfilled’ lie. Now we make do with
aspirations which included increased investment in services “like street
cleaning, recycling, road repairs and parks”. ‘Like’ being beautifully vague. “Push for” is another one.
“The Corporate Plan shows how we will deliver
that Manifesto within the four
year term just as we have done previously.” Just to remind you, it promised
little that was definite and as if to reinforce it Councillor O’Neill would only say that “the Plan
contains many aspirational deliverables”.
She has “visions” for town centres, recycling, health, CCTV and better policing.
She “champions” volunteers and is “mindful of the climate but it is not an emergency”.
“The plan is a living document which will be updated and amended as needed and
in 2026 will show residents that we delivered what we promised.” That is, nothing tangible.
Deputy Leader David Leaf was “delighted with the Plan. It is bursting full of
policies which we are working to deliver. The ULEZ objections and recycling
promises are already delivered and we celebrated the Jubilee.”
He is working on more housing and healthier lifestyles and cutting carbon with
an electric vehicle fleet and is heading “towards Net Zero in a sensible way”.
Labour Leader Stefano Borella said residents were fed up with “managed decline
(and that is surely the Conservatives’ gift to the borough over their 16 years in
office) so why should he support the embedding of the Tory Manifesto into the
Corporate Plan?” His Corporate Plan would have had totally different priorities.
“More cuts are coming forward and efficiencies always mean cuts and the Council
always moves towards providing only minimum service levels.”
Councillor Borella accused the Tories of playing political games. Up until now the Corporate Plan
and Climate Change have always been debated separately and now they are combined
so that when the Labour Group votes against the Plan they can be labelled
climate deniers too. It was the Labour Group, he reminded the game players, who
had pushed the Climate Change Motion in 2019 which the Tories did not debate
until this year. They still have no Cabinet Member with responsibility for Climate Change.
Councillor Daniel Francis (Labour, Belvedere) challenged the procedural honesty of
voting at a Council meeting on things that are already approved - Climate Change
policy - but the Monitoring Officer knows on which side her bread is buttered.
Cabinet Member Craske said a vote against the Plan was a vote against saving our
futures, the new Barnehurst golf course, the collection of unwanted clothes and
electrical items and new libraries - as Labour has done before. The opposition
“is the nasty party but there we go. They are misery guts who wonder why they only get 40% of the vote”.
The webcast then muted but it was evident that Cabinet Member Cafer Munur and Councillor Caroline Newton spoke in support of the Plan.
Cabinet Member Seymour said that health is a priority and he is working towards
75% of GP consultations being face to face and GPs will be monitored and held to account.
He is actively working on the obesity, smoking, drug use and mental health problems all of which are bad in Bexley.
During the course of his speech Cabinet Member for Education Richard Diment said he was working
towards bringing the standards of the Academies up to those of the maintained schools all of which are either Good or Outstanding.
The Plan was approved by the Conservatives alone.