Bexley is Bonkers - Bonkers blog July 2023

30 July - A murky month

A couple of days off while I make a new computer for my sister. The component prices are up around 40% on 15 months ago when I last made one. Some bits may have improved a little, we shall see if it’s any faster when Windows is installed. While we shelter from the rain, put the lights on in the middle of the afternoon and wonder if the heating should go on an email said this is the worst July the sender could remember. I agreed but what do the records actually say?

As mentioned before my solar panels have recorded their accumulated output power every 15 minutes since January 2011. That equates to the amount of light falling on them which is not the same as sunshine hours but it is likely to follow a similar pattern.

Taking this month’s lousy figures as the reference point and assuming that tomorrow is about the same as today, 2012 put on an identically bad show.

2015, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021 were all poor too with the best of them only 5% better than this year. 2011 and 2016 managed to be 8% better than this year but the best by far was July 2013 (27% up) with 2014, 2018 and 2022 not too far behind.

Sun worshippers should not holiday in the UK in July.

Note: In the event the 31st July was even worse for light levels than the average of the 30 previous days so that the month as a whole was the worst July of the past 12 years by a margin of 2% and 24% worse than last year.

29 July - There are worse boroughs than Bexley

It may have been a mistake to allow @tonyofsidcup to preach about the wonders of ULEZ without dissecting every statement but in general BiB prefers to let people have their say rather than, in Twitter parlance, block them. It was surprising to find when constructing an Index to ULEZ blogs just how many there are and most being against the ULEZ charge because it is quite clearly nothing but a tax raising measure. If the issue was air quality Khan would have banned all petrol and diesel powered cars or done the same as in Glasgow; ban all non-compliant cars.

Sadiq Khan is not an honest man and four London boroughs sought to overturn his ULEZ consultation in which he disregarded some 5,000 valid opinions and still failed to find majority support. The boroughs’ Judicial Review failed but even if it had not Khan would most likely have ignored it because that is the way he is.

There have been outrageous claims that a million pounds of taxpayers’ money was flushed down the legal plug hole while the known figures point to the cost being no more than a few pennies per household.

Why am I drifting towards defending Bexley Council’s leadership when its democratic record is so abysmal? Beyond doubt, vindictive and criminal at times.

Two reasons right now.

@tonyofsidcup has shown me his latest letter to Teresa O’Neill and he wants you to see it. I do not like it very much, but sending it is his prerogative and ‘cancel culture’ is something else I do not like.

Taking, as I do, an opposing view on ULEZ, I find @tony obsessive in his support for it on Twitter in particular. He never fails to contradict anyone, high profile or not, who thinks otherwise and repetitively flings mud in the direction of the Conservative Mayoral candidate Susan Hall. Now there is a letter to the Leader of Bexley Council in another attempt to put her on the spot.

I have every reason to criticise Teresa O’Neill whenever possible but in practice it is her spiteful nature rather than her political leanings which earn the criticism.

Her “moral judgment” has often been in doubt and @tony thinks it is again for not acknowledging “the health hazards of air pollution” and he goes on to cite ְ“Imperial College London’s estimate of excess deaths” without reference to the statisticians who have poured scorn on those estimates.

Referring to the premature death of James Brokenshire MP from lung cancer and implying that ULEZ would have saved him looks like quite a stretch to me and perhaps in rather bad taste.

The other reason is that compared to Greenwich, Newham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Enfield, the only other London boroughs I know reasonably well, Bexley is a rather green and pleasant land where the Council is not too obviously setting out to spread misery as widely as possible.

The relative freedom from 20 m.p.h. speed limits and roads restricted by excessively wide 24/7 bus lanes makes Bexley a more pleasant place to be where road accidents remain among the very lowest in London. Quite a lot lower than in Enfield, Greenwich, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest despite the lack of Safe School Streets which even the Labour representative at the most recent Transport Users’ meeting said were unnecessary and the Cabinet Member confirmed that no school is requesting them.

There are lots of reasons why I would like to see the back of Teresa O’Neill but fighting ULEZ which makes it one of the few manifesto promises she has ever kept is not the reason why she should go - as @tonyofsidcup has told her she should. Comparing her to “a schoolboy who has failed to do his homework” is the sort of language that one might get away with on a blog not noted for its political correctness but may not be appropriate in a formal letter which one hopes to be taken seriously.

Maybe mine is a minority view but I am not inclined to let @tony go completely unchallenged. His letter to Teresa O'Neill is here. (PDF) Will she respond? Will @tony let me see it if she does?

28 July - Greasy Pole Time

I am wary of messages purporting to come from senior Council sources but when an equally well known senior Councillor confirms it is true maybe it is OK to make an announcement without too much fear of egg being deposited on my face.

It seems that Bexley’s Chief Executive Jackie Belton resigned today with her deputy Paul Thorogood in line for a promotion. If so congratulations Paul who appears to have successfully steered Bexley away from the financial rocks.

Could the resignation possibly have something to do with the recommendation to go to law against ULEZ which failed today?

Resigning is a lucrative business.

26 July - In praise of ULEZ

While observing the commuter cars parked in my road by those without £75 a week to throw in Bexley Council’s direction I gained the impression that quite a high proportion were not very new vehicles and wondered if we might get a parking respite come 29th August if the Dictator of London’s abuse of statistics and the consultation processes is not stopped by the High Court.

This morning I conducted a survey.

In my road 13 cars were parked and five were non-compliant according to https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicle/.

However around the corner in Carrill Way twelve vehicles formed the usual dangerous chicane and all were ULEZ compliant.

Overall 20% of commuter vehicles may be off the road in only five weeks time.

Have I changed my mind about Sadiq Clown? Definitely not.

25 July - Compassionate Conservatism

I suspect, based on the lack of feedback, that very few people are interested in the Motions that the Bexley Labour Group puts forward at every Full Council meeting. They tend to suffer one of several fates; if they are worthwhile the Tories will make a minor amendment and claim them as their own or if they are less than enthusiastic will change them out of all recognition with a bit of self-praise added for good measure. Sometimes they will simply vote them down.

Last week the subject was temporary accommodation for which the Conservatives chose their second option. Councillor Mabel Ogundayo (Labour, Thamesmead East) said the Council “owed it to residents to ensure a decent and non-demeaning home” and called on Bexley Council to “raise and enforce basic standards”. Recently we have seen people dumped into houses with no roofs, no toilets, no electricity and no furniture but with the benefit of rodent droppings.

The photos below were taken in a flat in my own road after a single and mentally damaged lady was unceremoniously dumped along with all her worldly goods such that it was next to impossible to get through the front door let alone sit down, cook a meal or sleep.

One of the disadvantages of relying on webcasts for information is that the inevitable Tory Amendment is not made public. It fell to Councillor Davey (West Heath) to derail Mabel’s motion but what it may have said must remain a mystery apart from his spoken comments on the night.

He said it was an improvement on the Labour Motion because “it highlights the fantastic work of our Council staff” (the mandatory self-praise) who dealt with 2,915 homeless approaches last year. The Housing Associations are good and some private landlords are better. “Nearby Labour Councils” provide “a concrete forest not fit to bring children up in”.

“Households in temporary accommodation in Bexley continues to decrease month on month. [Are they turning even more applicants away?] Greenwich overspent on temporary accommodation by £2 million, Lewisham £6·5 million and [sheer desperation] ULEZ will cause more homelessness”.

The Amendment was seconded by Councillor Chris Taylor. “All Bexley properties meet national standards” while Greenwich provides “substandard, dirty cramped and verminous accommodation”.

Labour Councillor Chris Ball (Erith) objected to the Amendment being about Emergency Accommodation while the Motion was on Temporary Accommodation but was over-ruled by the Monitoring Officer who said “neither the removal of words nor the insertion of words amount to voting against the Motion”.

Councillor Daniel Francis obviously thought that was nonsense as indeed it must be. Change any number of words you like but it remains a simple Amendment not a new Motion.

Councillor Ogundayo regretted that the debate had become one of semantics and not people’s lives.

Cabinet Member Sue Gower said that Bexley was a “compassionate Conservative Council” and the Labour Motion was defeated.

The photographs above were made available to Bexley Council which, after being chased, telephoned me at home to explain that the occupant had not been very helpful to them and was therefore being “actively punished”. The words are burned into my memory. Email
It will be noted that the events portrayed above are 20 years old which puts it firmly within the Labour era. It is to be hoped that the staff employed then are long since gone.

24 July (Part 2) - What the Leader said

The first thing Councillor Oְ’Neill said when last addressing the Council (19th July) was to “thank Councillor Craske for his service over the years”. That’s it. That’s all he got for God knows how many years of reputational damage to Bexley Council. 15 at least if no deduction is made for the time he spent under the watchful eye of the law. Whatever did happen to the £4 million he handed over to the consultants Parsons Brinkerhoff who allowed its offices to be used to send me abusive emails? (Checked from the server logs and the recorded IP address.)

From one sort of law breaking the Leader immediately transferred her attention to another, the High Court challenge to Sadiq Khan’s dubious ULEZ consultation practices. She hoped for a resolution by 28th July. She was “humbled” by the number of her supporters and the stories of the dramatic impact on people’s lives. Council staff too.

Thanks to Teresa I too have been lauded during my weekly session in a North London pub, although as yet it has not translated into free beer.

There is particular concern for the impact of the £12·50 a day tax on care workers and “the Mayor does not get Outer London”. There was initially no intention to run the Superloop into the North of the borough and definitely no DLR extension to Belvedere. The Mayor is failing to pass on Government LIP funding grants to the boroughs. “He top slices it.” (Local Implementation Plans.)

In contrast Bexley Council has secured the Welling Banking Hub.

Councilor Borella thanked the Deputy Leader David Leaf for his attendance at the Erith Pride event where he very obviously “immensely enjoyed the refreshments and food”. He went on to ask the Leader “to apologise for soaring interest rates” and for Boris Johnson who damaged transport infrastructure in the borough by cancelling the bridge (which would have opened nine years ago) and has as his legacy the shared space scheme in Bexleyheath. “Where is the criticism for the loss of the loop line rail services or the support for the Elizabeth line introduced by a Labour Mayor?”

The Leader acknowledged her Deputy’s liking for food and thanked Councillor Hinkley for her litter picking skills. She confirmed that it was Councilor Cameron Smith who championed the cause of Abbey Wood to get a Superloop service.

She (correctly) said that it was Mayor Khan who was the latest Mayor to scrap a river crossing but totally wrong to imply that Boris Johnson had not done the same. “Please do not change history there because there is plenty there that I will put right”. They simply cannot stop lying can they? Johnson cancelled Ken Livingstone’s bridge because Teresa O’Neill told him to. She bragged loud and long about it at the time. Am I the only one to remember the posters she plastered all over her ward?

She said it was Boris who kick started the Elizabeth line which is certainly a bit of history rewriting. It might never have come to Abbey Wood if it was not for the efforts of our Labour MP. There was no support from Bexley Council at the time as it was still in its isolationist phase which eventually lead to its flirtation with bankruptcy. The Leader admitted to never having ridden the Elizabeth line.

Deputy Leader David Leaf said that interest rates had soared to much the same level as Labour thought was normal whilst in office.

A Labour Councillor, for the second time in the same meeting, adopted a sarcastic tone and this time earned a a suitable retort from the new Mayor. It was totally unnecessary and marred an otherwise perfectly valid, indeed welcome comment.

Note: The Crossrail bill dates from 22 February 2005 and received Royal Assent two months after Boris Johnson was elected. Ergo, it is Teresa O’Neill who is rewriting history.

24 July (Part 1) - Recycling issues

What was I saying a few days ago about playing a straight bat? The new Cabinet Member for Places clearly stated at the last Council meeting that the recycling rates are not as good as they used to be. 2022/23 was 43·8%, significantly lower than the 50% achieved in 2020/21 but better than the 42% of 2021/22. Residents appear to have changed their habits during the bin strikes and “it will be an uphill task to get them to revert to previous habits.”

Not one spinning, and not entirely correct, word about Bexley being the top recycling borough which made Councillor Diment’s predecessor sound like a stuck record. Instead, an admission that it no longer is accompanied by plans for improvement.

Food recycling rose from 5,187 tonnes in 2021/22 to 5,567 tonnes last year.

Note: Speaking of cricket metaphorically at least, the Surrey Club eventually admitted that their bad accounting and failure to acknowledge a warning email caused my membership to be cancelled mid season but have given me a free pass for next year’s games in compensation; which is more than generous.

23 July (Part 3) - Scraping the Transport meeting barrel

Apart from the main rail and bus presentations at last week’s meeting a few possibly interesting snippets came to light.

• The 486 bus from North Greenwich to Bexleyheath is to become a 24/7 night service from 29th July. Half hourly between the times of the present last and first buses.
• Councillor Diment regretted that the new contract for route 89 does not mandate low emission vehicles.
• He also said that terminating the 269 away from Marketplace which the 229 serves will effectively halve the choice of buses to Sidcup.
• The regular police representative failed to show up and his substitute knew next to nothing. Various questions were taken away.
• Councillor Slaughter asked if there were stats on e-scooter accidents but there were none that distinguished scooters from bikes.
• The Highways Manager chipped in that there had been an accident in Hook Lane back in December 2020 and another with “a powered two wheeler” in June 2021 in Faraday Road.
• A pedestrian crossing survey has been conducted at both locations but the need scored “quite low” on the calculations.
• Bexley has fallen from 6th best to 7th position in the table of accident prone London boroughs.
• No school has pressurised Bexley Council towards the installation of ‘Safe School Streets’.
• Residents have shown no enthusiasm for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. “It will not go down well with Bexley residents”.
• There appears to have been “a dip in cycle ownership” as measured by Cycling Proficiency Tests and school travel.
• Network Rail has ignored Bexley Council’s latest objection to the long distance and three month long diversion of pedestrian traffic that will be caused by the planned replacement of the Mitchell Close footbridge in Belvedere and the closure is imminent. 1·2 miles necessitating a crossing of Bronze Age Way.

23 July (Part 2) - Lies and Khanned lies

The Labour party has finally admitted that Londoners cannot afford ULEZ but expects to see it spread to every town (Angela Rayner on Sky TV “You have got to remember that ULEZ is coming to every town and city across the UK.”) and continue to say it was all Boris Johnson’s idea. Like most things political that is not actually true. London’s first Low Emission Zone was introduced on 4th February 2008 (Wikipedia) which is well into the Ken Livingstone era. A year later Johnson as Mayor announced his intention to defer Livingstone’s plan to extend the restriction to vans pending a public consultation.

On 4th April 2011 at a press gathering in Erith and accompanied by his then partner in crime, the Leader of Bexley Council, Johnson announced the inclusion of vans. It was not the first ULEZ, it adopted a lower standard and was still called, LEZ.

A few years later - when did Boris first come under the influence of Carrie Antoinette? - he proposed extending restrictions to within the South and North Circular roads by 2020 but in 2016 along came the clown Khan who had other ideas.

By October 2017 there was a £10 toxicity surcharge (T-Charge) for driving within the Central London Congestion Zone and Johnson’s ULEZ ideas for 2020 were brought forward to 8th April 2019. The price increased to £12·50.

But some people continue to spout that it is the Conservatives and Johnson in particular who pushed Khan into a London-wide ULEZ. But that is to ignore the fact that in 2011 Johnson was only advocating Euro IV for commercial vehicles. At no time has he advocated Euro V for all vehicles across all of London.

That is solely Khan’s idea which he justifies with false statistics. 4,000 people a year are not dying in London from air pollution each year; that is to abuse the computer modelling. One could equally say that ten million people are dying on a Tuesday afternoon instead of Wednesday morning.

Neither did the Conservative government insist on the ULEZ extension after Khan bankrupted TfL. They specifically told the spendthrift that “HMG funding must not be used to cover the costs of your policy decision to charge road users. If you choose to implement it you must fund it yourself”.
DfT letter to TfL
It is being said that the Labour Mayor is trying to make the poor even poorer; but hasn’t that always been the party’s principal purpose? Traditionally their support has come more from the poorer members of society than the better off. The more they can impoverish people the more votes they get.

23 July (Part 1) - MilliMayMadness

I am inclined to think that some of the country’s current problems have their roots in the Thatcher era but far more can be traced back to Tony Blair; followed by Cameron who thought he was his Heir to Blair and Teresa May whose personal mission was to wreak havoc by first thwarting a referendum and then making the Blair era Net Zero a legally binding commitment.

Whoever you blame for setting the course that has led to the present disastrous situation there can be no doubt whatsoever that the Conservatives have twiddled their thumbs Nero-like for 13 years and let it all happen.

Far too late in the day they may have realised that the Net Zero business created by Ed Milliband is one of many things that is killing their poll chances and there is pressure from within to maybe think it out again.

Forcing electric cars on everyone, banning gas boilers and relying too much on wind turbines and solar panels is the sheerest nonsense, especially with all the green taxes needed to pay the subsidies to investors.

Having invested a little in the past, I am a beneficiary. Nice at the personal level but it is impoverishing the average Joe.

In the month to 8th May my electricity bill was £21·10. In June it was £25·14 and in July £12·96, all including the standing charge. With 4kw of solar panels, a sunny June helped keep the July bill especially low and the panels, though three times the price in 2011 compared to now, paid for themselves long ago. It’s all profit at someone else’s expense.

The nonsense arises because of Mr. Milliband’s generous, inflation linked and guaranteed for 25 years, subsidy. (Feed in Tariff.) The bacon sandwich eater caused £905·51 to be deposited into my bank account three days ago for those same three months. Free electricity and £840 in the bank paid for by people who cannot afford it. A crazy form of socialism by a crazed politician. Imagine that on tens of thousands of roofs across the country but it pales into insignificance compared to the subsidies available to wind turbine owners.

Note: Octopus Energy has never been able to explain why they recommend a monthly payment of £172 which is approximately double my normal winter bill. I reduced it to £120 in June and taken it down to £50 for July.

22 July (Part 2) - The party divide

One of the questions at last week’s Council meeting came from Erith Councillor Nicola Taylor who had organised a Pride event on Erith Pier. She asked the Council Leader if she was in favour and would support it becoming an annual event.

Councillor O’Neill congratulated Nicola on her successful initiative and said she was absolutely in favour of events at which the community, not the Council, takes the lead.

Councillor Taylor regretted the fact that there was no Council involvement and no Officer time expended. She then went on the offensive in both senses of the word. “There was cross party support but it was without any funding. Do you think that the LGBT Community are not worthy in which case you are morally bankrupt or could it just be that you are financially bankrupt?” Catty or what?

Quite rightly the Leader objected to the tone of the question. “The Council publicised the event and it was in line with our policies on diversity. There has been an abundance of community events in Bexley this year and none received funding.”

The exchange neatly summed up the difference between Labour and Conservative rule in Bexley. Should taxpayers be forced to pay for every minority interest and see Council Tax go up by 40% again?

22 July (Part 1) - Railway Ticket Office closures

The Transport Users’ Sub-Committee is almost certainly the most interesting of meetings to Bexley residents because its subject matter affects everyone. Bus issues, a report by whoever is running the railways on the day, policing of the networks, accidents, potholes and utilities with their constant endeavour to bring the borough to a standstill. It should be webcast.

But if it was I would miss its friendly atmosphere. The three Conservative Councillors, Richard Diment, June Slaughter and Cameron Smith all greeted me by first name and no one complained when my phone audibly alarmed at 9 p.m. because I had forgotten that Alarms take precedence over Mute.

Probably I would have spoken to Labour Councillor Sally Hinkley too but she was in Uxbridge to watch her party being defeated in the Uxbridge by-election by Sadiq Khan.

After the ritual of choosing Cameron to be Chairman - which is odd given that he is listed as such on the Council website - the first item discussed was the plan to close railway ticket offices. I should perhaps declare a small interest here because not long ago I needed to buy a ticket to Cambridge and my research said the price would be £19 from the Freedom Pass boundary.

In the event I didn’t get around to buying in advance and found myself at the ticket office at Liverpool Street station. “Two returns from the the boundary to Cambridge please.”

“You don’t want to do that.” “Why not?” “Because that would cost £38 but there is a special offer for couples. From Liverpool Street to Cambridge is two for £22.”

A couple of years ago the ticket machine at Paddington wanted to charge me £50 when there was a one day only special offer at the ticket office and I saved £30.

However, having listened to the Southeastern presentation I began to think things may not be too bad. The various managers on Zoom were keen to point out that every Train Operating Company is doing their own thing and one should not assume that the bad things highlighted by the news media would apply locally. They are collecting all the worst aspects and lumping them together to frighten people.

The present situation at Bexley’s various stations is that between 81 and 87% of journeys are paid with Contactless/Oyster cards with between 3 and 7% at the ticket office. Ticket office sales across the Metro network vary from 13 to 29 a day. There will be no staff hours reductions, in fact a few increases. At stations due to lose their ticket offices, former ticket sellers with their wealth of expertise will be redeployed to help passengers at the Ticket Vending Machines (TVM) and elsewhere.

I did wonder for how long that wealth of expertise would exist as the specialists were gradually diluted into the general station staff which includes cleaners.

Unlike some other TOCs, Southeastern will not employ roaming teams staffing stations on a rota system. Their staff will be permanently allocated to their station and some of the larger stations will be provided with Travel Centres providing a full range of services. (London Bridge and Dartford.)

Passenger assistance, 42,000 requests last year, will be available by telephone 24/7 in order to book a two hour support window for vulnerable travellers.

Councillor June Slaughter asked how many stations are unstaffed and was told it was 27 permanently unstaffed and 142 staffed which does not include places like Belvedere which currently has vacancies. The 27 will not be increased.

Councillor Chris Ball for Labour pressed further on the matter of staff reductions and was told that only the very largest stations will see any. “Would refunds and warrants be handled by TVMs?” No, except perhaps at London Bridge but Delay Repay can be done on the App. He was content when assured that displacing ticket staff to other roles would not cause anyone else to lose their jobs.

Councillor Richard Diment asked the Freedom Pass boundary question which might have affected my journey to Cambridge. A TVM software upgrade will allow any station to any other station fares to be purchased. Quick thinking Richard asked how a traveller would know the name of the boundary station on any route to which Southeastern had no answer.

“What is going to happen to the disused ticket offices?’ No decision yet. Could be shops, Network Rail store rooms, community space or staff welfare rooms.

A series of consultations by London Travel Watch is underway and the first is for a batch of 40 stations (orange on the map). The consultation will close on 26th July with more to come later. If the 40 Ticket Offices are closed it will happen in the new year.

Abbey Wood is a TfL managed station and for the time being at least, is safe.

A few minutes were devoted to railway performance figures but Southeastern is easily pleased. Last Saturday I returned from Dartford on one of the two remaining Southeastern trains per hour. It sat for about six minutes at Slade Green and still arrived at Abbey Wood dead on time. They take us for mugs.

21 July (Part 3) - Institutional Corruption

For repeatedly saying the police in general and the Metropolitan Police in particular are thoroughly corrupt and have been for many years has occasionally got me into hot water but thankfully that view is now widely recognised. Recognised even by the current Commissioner who has belatedly apologised to the family of Daniel Morgan who was a private eye murdered in 1987 because he knew too much about their dishonest ways.

Several people have asked why recent events have not been mentioned here in view of my family links - through my daughter - to the Morgan family. It is mainly because I do not know much more than has been reported in the newspapers etc. and the family are looking forward to a quieter life.

Daniel left a wife, two children, a sister and his brother Alastair. His mother did not live to see the Home Office report due to the crooked interference and consequent delay by one Cressida Dick.

The impact on Alastair has been devastating, mentally definitely and physically, probably. He is no longer the man with whom I used to share a beer or watch a rugby match.

The shared monetary compensation will not bring his life back and his solicitor who has worked tirelessly on the case for 25 years or more will presumably have to be paid so that he can afford to fight his next police corruption case. Never trust a policeman.

21 July (Part 2) - Cheap parking

As I returned home at 1:30 yesterday there were two pavement parkers nearby. I would probably have snapped them with the mobile except that I was on a very rare incoming call, they may have been residents’ visitors, reporting them is a pain and they may well have been gone by the time the ticket lady showed up. Probably they were visitors as they were both still there after 10 p.m. with PCNs on their windscreens.

Why people park on the footpath when a fine is almost inevitable is beyond me. The rules are not difficult to follow and by doing so my 60 year old driving record is unblemished. A PCN is an expensive mistake and so is Bexley’s outrageous £15 a day commuter parking fee.

However right next to the £250,000 Felixstowe Road car park is a more secure and more accessible car park.

It is called Sainsbury’s and boasts free electric car chargers.

You can book on line for a fiver a day. A no brainer!

I knew that you could book a space at Sainsbury’s but had not checked out what was involved. Thanks to Sharon for the tip.

21 July (Part 1) - Super Loopy

Later today - it is 6 a.m. and the the by-election results have not yet been revealed in 20 minutes of listening to my news radio station - TfL will announce a six week consultation on their proposed Bromley to Thamesmead bus service to be numbered SL3 and branded SuperLoop. (The map omitted Thamesmead before the Bexley Council intervention.)

Old timers might say that is to restore the 229 of the 1980s which used to run through to Bromley North railway station.

The 229 was divided into two routes because road congestion and Bexley’s ever narrowing roads made operating to a reliable timetable impossible.

However this time it is different, SL3 will be a limited stop service and the slide briefly put on screen at last night’s Transport Users’ Committee in the Council offices suggests it will serve Bexleyheath Market Place (the Clock Tower), Lion Road, Bexleyheath Station, Abbey Wood station and Thamesmead.

With a 12 minute frequency most of the time that is another ten diesel buses an hour on New Road. Electric power has been ruled out for the foreseeable future.

The overall Bromley to Thamesmead journey time is expected to be an hour and a quarter. Getting around the Knee Hill roundabout and over the flyover might in practice take ten minutes of that.

It is now 6:24 and I still don’t know the by-election results except that there is a suggestion that Sadiq Khan has given Labour a kick in the teeth in Uxbridge. It looks like being a good day.

P.S. In other bus news, TfL plans to terminate the 229 and 269 services at stops 300 yards apart, effectively halving the service frequency for passengers heading towards Sidcup. Cabinet Member Richard Diment who graced last night’s meeting with his presence has protested on behalf of residents and TfL has acknowledged the downgrade. I do not recall the former Cabinet Member for Places being sufficiently interested in residents’ well being to attend the Transport Committee meeting.

TfL acknowledged the problem but two or three years ago they did the same in Woolwich with the QE Hospital services. They prefer people to run around three stops but unlike in Bexley, all three are visible from one vantage point. Amateur sprinters can usually manage.

20 July (Part 2) - Royal Fail

A photo reconnaissance to Bexleyheath has been deferred for several weeks because although it is well under ten minutes away by car the report said that it might be impossible to park there. Eventually I found time to get a bus and - silly story redacted - just managed to miss four of them (out and back) and walked the last part of the journey. 57 minutes overall.

When will Sadiq Clown realise that slowing the economy to that extent will kill London as a thriving city? But that is his intent so he will be all in favour.

While waiting for a B11 which never came outside Abbey Wood station - the city saboteur has reduced its frequency - I was able to put a stop watch on the pedestrian crossings that cause excessive traffic delays. From red to red again takes between 30 and 35 seconds.

When will Sadiq Clown realise that slowing the economy to that extent will kill London as a thriving city? But that is his intent so he will be all in favour.

The reader’s comment that prompted the visit was that Royal Mail has reduced its sorting office opening times from 45 hours (first image) a week to 16 (second image.)

The sorting office is literally next door to Bexleyheath station but Royal Mail hasn’t noticed. It says the nearest railway station is 1·7 miles away.

My sorting office is in Dartford and the two regular postmen are excellent, the service never faltering even during Covid but I have friends in other parts of London, Bromley included, who only get mail deliveries at two weekly intervals. My 2023 record of not yet buying a new style stamp currently remains intact - but I have no old ones left now.

The point at issue is that even with the old opening times queues could exceed the 30 minute parking time limit (Photo 1 alongside) and with everyone now being compressed into much shorter time windows the problem has become intolerable. Maybe not anything Bexley Council can put right but I did notice that the station’s all day car park fee is less than half of what Bexley Council charges in Abbey Wood.

The journey home was marred by a bus being taken out of service and the obligatory SGN road works.

At the lower end of New Road there was a six bus jam as three of each route descending met their opposite number ascending. One with its wheelchair ramp extended while permitted parking bays narrowed the road beyond what any bus driver could be expected to manage.

When will Sadiq Clown realise that slowing the economy to that extent will kill London as a thriving city? But that is his intent so he will be all in favour.

20 July (Part 1) - Hot Air Quality

It is not normal for BiB to agree with anything Bexley’s Chief Executive says - on reflection does she ever say anything? - but just before the microphones were switched off at the end of last night’s Full Council meeting she whispered “well done” into new Mayor Andy Dourmoush’s ear. One can only agree, a calm and professional first outing with every word audible, except of course when the automated camera and mic system thinks it knows best.

Mr. Dimitri Shvorob was there to ask his usual awkward questions and one of them was “Please tell me about the financial impact of the decision, made in early 2023, to close the Council’s parking-warden phone line, crippling parking enforcement in the borough?"

Whether enforcement has been crippled or merely made less accessible is obviously contentious but I know of two residents fairly local to me who have stopped making reports following the changes.

Cabinet Member Richard Diment, who did not make the decision, we owe that to Peter Craske, said that there was no impact on revenue as the service was only used a couple of times a day while 150ish penalties were issued every day. Dimitri (usually known as @tonyofsidcup on these pages) did not challenge the answer but instead chose to post on Twitter only a few minutes later.

I made the mistake of responding without having listened to the webcast and my FOI suggestion was unnecessary as Richard had already answered the question.

At only two or three calls a day it probably isn’t worth making someone available to answer the phone. Maybe Dimitri should ask how many web form reports come in daily.

I am particularly pleased that there is no reason to suppose that the new Cabinet Member has already become as slippery as his colleagues because for the moment at least I have found Richard Diment to be straight forward and honest which is something of a rarity in a Bexley Cabinet Member.

They are either chosen because they share the Leader’s dictatorial tendencies, swallow their own principles and bask in the glory or soon resign in order to pursue a successful career in business or become an MP.

But meanwhile the new Cabinet Member for Places seems to be playing a straight bat. (In late news; Dimitri has come around to that view and regrets any contrary implication.)

Dimitri had another question. “Who is responsible for the Council’s failure to develop an Air Quality Action Plan in the 16 years since the creation of the Bexley Air Quality Management Area?”

The Leader said an Air Quality Report (not Plan) had been produced every year since 2015 and reviewed annually by the GLA which is content with everything Bexley is doing. Bexley is designated as an Air Quality Management Area but recent figures do not reach the threshold for designation. “There is no part of our borough which breaches the national objective for air quality. We have some of the lowest readings for NO₂ and particulates in London.”

I wonder if there are readings for Harrow Manorway which took me eleven minutes to traverse at 8 a.m. this morning? (Knee Hill roundabout to Sainsbury’s only.)

In response to a further question from Mr. Shvorob the Leader said she would pursue an Air Quality Action Plan even though there is no longer a legal requirement to do so. The question about not producing one while there was such a legal requirement was ignored.

Mr. Paul McQuillen asked why Bexley Council did not object to the proposal to increase operating hours at London City Airport when they were in a statutory position to do so.

Cabinet Member Cafer Munir (Growth) said that an objection was made on 3rd July. What he didn’t say is that submission was made too late to be included in Newham Council’s report. The best that the Cabinet member could come up with was “We are where we are.” Impressive as usual.

18 July (Part 2) - Fair’s fair. Maybe

As you will understand, @tonyofsidcup is still unable to go ahead with his proposed road safety petition because Bexley Council reserves the right to ignore it on any pretext they might invent at the time. He recorded a summary of the unacceptable situation in a letter to Council Leader Teresa O’Neill and sent me a copy for publication.

I told him that I would prefer to keep it under wraps until I saw what the Leader had to say about it as that way BiB readers can better see both sides of the argument. Tony persuaded me that playing totally fair is not how Teresa works and reminded me that it was her who, according to police records, first contacted them with a request that I be arrested for the heinous crime of “criticising Councillors”.

Maybe two wrongs do not make a right but this is what @tony wrote. It seems fair enough to me. Will I be able to say the same for his reply? If he ever gets one.

Dear Teresa,

I have raised the issue with you in your role as the chair of Bexley’s Constitutional Review panel - but given the lack of enthusiasm you displayed in that correspondence, I feel that I ought to reframe the issue as a council leader matter, and make it public.

Bexley’s Constitution appears to say that a residents’ petition with over 2,000 signatures is entitled to a debate and a vote by the full council. This is not the case in practice. For example, in 2011, a petition mounted by the Bexley Action Group, asking the council to limit executive pay, collected over 2,000 signatures, but was denied a full-council debate and “buried” in a committee.

Examining council rules regarding petitions, one finds two separate documents, pp. 55-56 of “Codes and Protocols”, Part 5 of “Bexley Constitution and Codes of Governance”, and a four page document named “London Borough of Bexley Petitions Scheme”. The two documents contradict each other on key points - for example, one says that 2,000 signatures “would be sufficient” to trigger a full council debate, the other says “may be debated by the full council”. They leave out essential details - for example, allowing a petition to be dismissed as “inappropriate”, without defining “inappropriate”. Where definitions are provided, they are sometimes bizarre: for example, a “full council meeting” is “a meeting that all councillors can attend”.

In correspondence regarding a FOI request, Bexley’s Director of Finance and Corporate Services wrote that “the council has no criteria for officers to follow when administering a petition”. A senior council officer - incidentally, the same one who dismissed the 2011 petition, still in his role - identified as the contact person for proposed petitions, refused to assist with a petition, claiming that it was “hypothetical”.

Bexley’s Petition Scheme is broken. Is it broken on purpose, to let the council leadership dismiss unwelcome petitions, and discourage would-be petitioners in the first place? I think Bexley residents deserve to know.

Will you commit to bringing transparency to the Petition Scheme rules, or pretend that there is no problem? It’s time to step up, Council Leader.

Regards,

18 July (Part 1) - Privileged people

The Treacherous Weasel Khan (© Simon Webb) took his revenge on me last night following my decision to block his spamming political emails. He closed the Overground with no bus alternative causing me to be on the second to last Elizabeth line train home after a mile and a half race through the back streets of Whitechapel.

Once indoors flopped in front of the TV I checked what Simon had been saying in my absence. He like many of us is concerned by certain people wanting to turn this country into the one they recently left behind. His specific subject this time was how Muslims are allowed to dodge Stamp Duty on property in an entirely legal way because the alleged war criminal Blair had helpfully changed the law to allow them privileges not available to anyone else. It involves buying a house and immediately off loading it to an offshore finance house.

By coincidence, when checking my email I found a reader keen to ensure I didn’t miss Mr. Webb’s report. However with his brain more firmly engaged than mine he pontificated on the possibility that it offered an explanation for several Bexley houses being bought and sold again on the same day which was reported here in August 2020 with a further reference 18 months earlier. All HMOs.

Land Registry guidance.

17 July (Part 2) - Desperation

This man is a menace to democracy who appears to be lashing out in every direction in a desperate bid to cling on to and abuse his powers. It’s not quite four weeks since he was prevented from spamming my tfl@ email address with political claptrap contrary to the conditions offered when I signed up for the Congestion Charge exemption. Despite cancelling that email address he has returned to exploit the BiB Contact form - see menu above.

It is tempting to change contact@bib to something rude but there is not a lot of point as I would be the only person to see it. I could simply blacklist noreply@email.london.gov.uk so that I don’t see any more of Khan’s nonsense, but he won’t realise he is blocked which is not ideal. As of a few minutes ago the Contact form address is changed, but no user needs to know it. Just use the form as usual. The direct email facility remains a vulnerability and is suspended until I think of a better solution. In practice all new contacts seem to prefer to use the Web form so the loss of a visible email address should not be too serious.

London’s foul air. (16th July 2023)

17 July (Part 1) - Heads we win, tails you lose

In order to avoid the confusion that may arise from providing only a summary of his correspondence; viz. yesterday’s now deleted comment that Bexley Labour had not been particularly helpful to him, @tonyofsidcup has sent me several PDF files relating to his seven month struggle to get a straight answer on the rules relating to 2000+ signature Petitions from the slithering nest of vipers who make up Bexley Council’s legal team.

As the extract below makes clear, they can do what they like. There are no criteria. They make something up, as required, to ensure that every Petition is rejected, as every large one has been.
No rules
For the record, @tony says that Labour doesn’t advocate Petitions for exactly the reasons outlined above. “What is the point if they bury it?” (@tony’s summary again.)

16 July - Vexed

It has been obvious for some years that BiB readers prefer reports on a lying Bexley Council to those that merely record the mundane because since it apparently cleaned up its act the number of web visits has fallen to no more than 25% of peak levels. But an alternative view is that the Leadership is just as bad as it ever was (†) and the reduced number is due to less scrutiny. Most of the scrutineers were elderly and I can immediately think of seven who have died in recent years.

@tony’s tussle with “vexatious” FOIs maybe proves the theory given the amount of interest it aroused. BiB readers may love a scandal but the Leader of Bexley Council is not so keen.

She has told @tony that he has already been given a clear response to his questions and politely asks him to go away. “I understand you have been advised that our Petition Scheme is in accordance with statutory guidance.”

Maybe it is time to report @tony’s complaint more fully. He has a daughter who has to cross a busy road to get to school but his request for a pedestrian crossing has been refused. Hence him thinking that a petition might help his cause. This is how he described the situation to me…

The 2011 Bexley Action Group petition is, of course, an inspiration and a warning. I am trying to get clarity on the rules before I start collecting signatures - my pedestrian-crossings-for-schoolchildren hobby horse again - and I encounter resistance from Mr Fox and Ms. Narebor. They won’t say in advance if a petition is “admissible” - go collect signatures, then find out.

They won’t promise a Full Council debate if there are 2,000-plus signatures. It isn’t even clear what the full council meeting is. According to them it’s just a “meeting that all councillors can attend”, which would also cover a pub quiz. The Information Commissioner may get them to clarify the rules, but should they break them, the complaint will go to the hopeless Local Government Ombudsman, and perish.

Overall, for all the effort, I am none the better prepared than the BAG musketeers were.

This was the set of questions that earned @tony the vexatious tag.

Page 56 of “Codes and Protocols”, Part 5 of Bexley Constitution and Codes of Governance, says: “Petitions which are considered to be vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate will not be accepted”.
Can you please provide the full list of reasons why a proposed petition could be deemed “inappropriate”?
Page 56 of “Codes and Protocols”, Part 5 of ”Bexley Constitution and Codes of Governance”, says: “If a petition has more than 2,000 signatures, this would be sufficient to trigger a debate at a Full Council meeting. This means that the issue raised in the petition will be discussed at a meeting which all Councillors can attend”.
Can you please confirm that “Full Council meeting” refers to a meeting of the Full Council. (“A meeting which all councillors can attend” is a broader concept).
Page 56 of “Codes and Protocols”, Part 5 of “Bexley Constitution and Codes of Governance”, says (emphasis added): "If a petition has more than 2,000 signatures, this WOULD BE SUFFICIENT to trigger a debate at a Full Council meeting".
Page 3 of ‘London Borough of Bexley Petitions Scheme’ document says (emphasis added): “If a petition contains more than 2000 signatures it MAY be debated by the Full Council unless it is a petition asking for a Council officer to give evidence at a public meeting”.
Can you please confirm that a petition with over 2,000 signatures - not deemed “vexatious, abusive or otherwise inappropriate” (cf. a related question about what “inappropriate” is) - will be debated at a Full Council meeting if requested by the organiser, or provide the full list of reasons why it could not be debated at a Full Council meeting.

Those are the questions which Bexley Council does not want to answer and Teresa O’Neill has emphasised the same in her email to @tony. (Should I be jealous? She has never emailed me; not even when I provided her evidence of criminal activity for which a Cabinet Member was arrested.)

What is difficult about saying exactly what constitutes a meeting at which Petitions will be heard?

Maybe I am confusing two issues but three month old correspondence with @tony suggests to me that the ICO has already pronounced on the subject of contradictory publications.

† It still needs to be said that ten years ago I would have been unable to name more than one or two Conservative Councillors who I regarded as trustworthy and in recent years the number has climbed well into double figures - party loyalties excepted. The party always comes first.

@tony subsequently explained that the comment included in the first version of this blog to the effect that Labour Councillors have not been of any help, is a misreading of his correspondence. That is good to know.

15 July - Judge, Jury and Executioner

I hate to say “I told you so” but the day after suggesting that @tonyofsidcup might be labelled vexatious for daring to ask Bexley Council a succession of probing FOIs, he was!

@Tony has been considering organising a road safety petition and is well aware of what happened to the last borough-wide attempt to surpass the 2,000 signature threshold. Bexley Council refused to accept it, saying that the statement on which it was based, the excessive level of senior staff salaries, was incorrect.

Although I was not directly involved with the petition; that honour goes to Elwyn Bryant and Michael Barnbrook, it was me who insisted that the figures they quoted were lifted directly from Bexley Council’s website, and they were. So unless Bexley Council was lying on its website the salary figures were 100% correct. Bexley Council’s immediate reaction when caught out is always to lie.

@tony is very aware of Bexley Council’s proclivities and does not want to risk falling foul of Bexley Council’s less than clear, in fact contradictory, protocols on petitions. Needless to say Bexley Council does not want 2000+ people to support a statement that might embarrass it and has been busy erecting barriers.

The protocols refer to rejecting vexatious or inappropriate petitions. @tony asked what sort of thing would render a petition “inappropriate”.

The same protocols state that a 2000+ signature petition will be “discussed at a meeting which all Councillors can attend”. @tony asked if that meant a Full Council meeting.

He also noted that a separate publication, ‘London Borough of Bexley Petitions Scheme’ only said that the petition MAY be debated at Full Council but with exceptions. @tony asked for a list of reasons why a petition might not go before Full Council.

@tony was not going to trudge the streets of Bexley as Mick and Elwyn did only to be rejected at the hands of one of Bexley’s habitual liars. Twelve years may have elapsed since the last big petition but the same set of advisors is still in place.

As noted by a Councillor at the last Finance meeting, Bexley Council very often does not answer questions fully and @tony suffered that same fate.

And for questioning the response he was promptly labelled vexatious, the defence of a cowardly Council. A Gina Clarke, whoever she might be, has said that his follow up questions are “part of a series of overlapping requests which makes your requests vexatious”.

How can trying to get a straight answer on which of two contradictory Council documents relating to petitions is correct be vexatious? I think I can hear the Information Commissioner laughing already unless of course Bexley Council repeats its trick of telling the ICO that @tony is a racist. A corrupt Council stops at nothing. Trawl BiB and you will find they have stooped that low twice already.

Every time I come around to the view that Bexley Council is not as dishonest as it used to be someone comes along to prove that our Tory led Council remains dishonest to its very core.

14 July - Destruction and death

Ever since Bexley Council admitted in 2009 that Abbey Road, Belvedere, didn’t have a bad accident record and ignored advice that their plans would likely change things - I was told it was “a recipe for collisions” - I have whenever possible taken photographs of the aftermath of various accidents. Sixteen of them so far, one fatal.

When I first saw a wall down again I assumed it was wind damage. The builder back in 1987 was a great believer in lots of sand and a minimum of cement and water such that many have simply fallen down. Then I noticed that it was a concrete wall and some three year old memories returned.

In February 2020 a vehicle took out the brick wall by the bus stop (Photo 1) and the owner rebuilt it with concrete blocks. (Photo 3.) A good idea but not good enough.

It has been demolished again and this time the bus stop has been taken with it. (Photos 2, 4, 5 and 6)

When the property owner sees his house insurance go up again he should perhaps consider making a claim against Councillor Craske.

13 July (Part 2) - The Cost of Freedom

There may be no Children’s Services meeting to report on but fortunately there are still a few juicy bits from last week’s Finance meeting that may be worth an airing.

Councillor Rags Sandhu (Conservative, Bexleyheath) was interested in the number of Freedom of Information requests which is rising. 110 on Adults’ Social Care, 224 on Children’s, 474 on Finance in 2022 and as one might guess, the Places Directorate topped the list at 616. How many man hours is that the Councillor asked.

He was told that many can be answered in just an hour or two but the average is not known. The difficult ones are those that span more than one service area. Very few reach the charging threshold and even fewer people are willing to pay.

In the dim and distant past Bexley Council under a different Deputy Leader used to object strenuously to answering FOIs and famously told the Information Commissioner that one enquirer was a racist in a successful bid to stop him submitting any more. Thankfully everyone concerned in that shameful episode has gone and the comments made by Council officers and Deputy Leader David Leaf last week were entirely reasonable.

Councillor Daniel Francis (Labour, Belvedere) was not quite so happy. He echoed the complaints that I used to hear regularly. If Bexley Council gave complete answers to FOIs there would be a lot less need for follow ups which leave residents liable to the vexatious tag.

Someone else who could be labelled vexatious is @tonyofsidcup, London’s premier ULEZ supporter. His latest FOI is “Can you please supply all emails sent from the Council Leader’s work email address between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023 that have ‘ULEZ’ or ‘Ultra Low Emission Zone’ in the message body or subject, and have ‘bexley.gov.uk’ in the recipient’s email address?”

I am not sure what his strategy is there. I would have thought that the final stipulation would rule out some of interest.

13 July (Part 1) - Another Bexley Council IT failure

Today’s plan was to provide a brief report on Bexley’s Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee where new Chairman Lisa Moore officiated. Alas it is not to be. I can stream an Ultra High Definition video with Dolby Atmos from Amazon Prime but once again Bexley Council cannot do better than webcast a succession of still pictures accompanied by seriously broken audio with periods of total silence thrown in for good measure. On two different devices over two days.

The Agenda suggests it would have been a very brief and probably uninteresting report.

That other IT failure of sorts, the censoring of two Planning Applications on a property some wrongly attributed to Leather Bottle Man has been partially corrected. 23/01420/FUL is back and it doesn’t amount to much. An outbuilding is to be incorporated into an already approved rebuild of 2 West Heath Road.

I’m not sure why there has been so much correspondence over such a long period about that address. Presumably it demonstrates the fear that residents to the north of the borough have that they may be living next to the next Leather Bottle or 238 Woolwich Road.

12 July - Teething problems with Council Tax Direct Debit reminders

I don’t often look at Facebook but I suspect that is where I saw people complaining that Bexley Council had sent out Council Tax payment reminders at the end of June and scared a good few people. I haven’t seen how it was worded and maybe it was not as clear as it should have been but surely payment reminders are almost the norm in business these days?

I get a countdown from my domain name registrar over about six weeks but my mobile service, a car ‘club’ which supposedly provides cheaper insurance - but doesn’t - Octopus Energy and my Council garden waste service and probably others all send text reminders with a few days notice.

My credit card provider recently extended their pre-warning email with a follow up text message to confirm that they have successfully taken the money which seems a little OTT but I don’t see it as a problem.

Maybe not sending reminders is more of a problem. Surrey Cricket Club failed to send me a warning or to take my Membership fee in January while other Members of the cricket gang were warned and debited; one of them twice!. I emailed an enquiry and was told that I was not Direct Debited because I had paid in full on October 24th. I definitely hadn’t and told them so. There was no reply and I assumed that when they eventually checked the records properly they would get in touch.

They did not but last month I was hauled out of the queue for the Oval and told that my Direct Debit had been declined six months earlier and my Membership cancelled with immediate effect.

Since then my bank has confirmed that SCC made no debit application and their Commercial Director has told me that they have all sorts of problems with their Direct Debiting system. You would think that they might belatedly ask for the money and restore my Membership with some compensation for the lost matches; but no. 2023 membership is no longer on offer so I am out.

I doubt I will be going to the Oval again. But back to Bexley Council’s Council Tax reminders. Believe it or not the procedural change was considered to be sufficiently important to merit a short debate by the Finance Committee.

Councillor June Slaughter (Sidcup) was the first to raise the issue. She said a “constant stream of texts and emails was extremely irritating” and maybe she is be right but it is not difficult to ignore them. She must have had similar thoughts and ruminated about people simply ignoring the messages and whether a warning would make any difference to people who have insufficient funds.

More directly she asked what the experience of other Councils that had adopted similar systems was. “Does it cost money? Can residents opt out?”

The Council Officer said it was a new initiative to try to reduce the DD failure rate currently standing at 3%. It would be kept under review and take account of residents’ comments. There is no cost to Bexley Council but there is no opt out facility currently.

Labour Leader Stefano Borella said he received two such warnings which caused him to panic momentarily. “Old people mighty think it is a scam.” (Isn’t that ageist Stef?)

He was told that the text message had been sent to people due to pay on the first of the month for whom a mobile number was on their Council Tax records. The duplication was caused by the initial messaging being flagged as failed and then someone or something pressed the Rerun button twice! It won’t happen again and the message text will be simplified for 15th July and next month.

Councillor Francis (Labour, Belvedere) was concerned by the lack of a text opt out facility and asked what the procedure was for unsubscribing. If it cannot be done quickly would there be a breach of GDPR? Deputy Council Leader said it was being looked into.

One Councillor planned to opt out. You’d think there might be better ways of expending one’s energy.

11 July - Taking the pee

While I belatedly listen to Council meetings to see if anything worthwhile has been debated a fall back on that old faithful; parking issues. It must be of some interest, one man manages to write a successful blog on only that subject usually highlighting the dishonesty and stupidity London’s 32 boroughs.

Two days ago his theme was never believe a word that Councils say unless it is corroborated by irrefutable facts. Barnet Council had fined someone for pavement parking in a road which that Council had listed as being free from that particular restriction and had never before fined someone for the ‘offence’. Yet despite their own list of roads showing pavement parking to be OK they refused to consider an appeal against the fine.

Idiots.

But it is not just Councils which take the pee. There are some very stupid motorists around too.

On Sunday there was a market at Lesnes Abbey and the legal parking spots soon filled up. Whatever the difficulty in finding a space only a very special sort of idiot risks being fined for two and arguably three offences at the same time. Parking on double yellows, parking on the footpath, obstructing a cycle path.

I don’t know if the driver was given a PCN. It is a pity that Bexley Council’s email reporting system is not further automated to signal back to the reporter the result - or would that too often reveal a failure to attend?

Another driver thought it was OK to park at the bus stop opposite.

Note: Well that didn’t work; someone I’d not spoken to for a year phoned and carried on for half the meeting. Now I have to find the time to listen again.

9 July - MP or Men in Pink?

Yesterday I was presented with a choice of two local events but never having owned a pink outfit I decided that the 100th anniversary celebration of the Old Bexley Ex-Servicemen’s Club was more suited to me. I remain unsure why 1·5% of the population (2021 Census figure) who thank goodness have exactly the same rights as everyone else should regard themselves as in any way oppressed and in need of a whole month (June stretching into July) of events, exhibitions, parades and support from Bexley Council but it does no one any harm, so why not?

Down in Bexley their MP Louie French accompanied by Deputy Mayor Nigel Betts officiated with a speech in support of everyone who served their country and finished with a spot of plaque unveiling.

To his credit Louie was still there chatting to club members when I left two hours after he pulled the curtain string.

I learned that the Club grounds were purchased 100 years ago for the princely sum of £175 which is exactly 20 times the price of a hot dog from their snack wagon. My gang went down to the local chippie and bought enough for the three of us for under four quid.

8 July - A nice letter and a nice little earner

After Bexley Council at long last proposed to paint six sets of double yellows around corners at nearby junctions I immediately emailed a letter of support to the traffic department but also brought to their attention the probable further commuter displacement to already congested roads. I didn’t expect to get a reply but yesterday I received one which I thought was pretty good. It clearly set out the formal position but was friendly and far from being dismissive of my suggestions.

This might not be worthy of comment except that I have previously been told “see you in court” when I complained that Abbey Road parking bays were too narrow for my not very big Rover 45 and I have an explanation of why yellow lines are put in before the traffic order is signed. It is because to do it the other way around risked losing PCN revenue. Money comes before the law.

Maybe Bexley Council really is more honest than it was 20 years ago

On a slightly related note the Abbey Wood CPZ proposals from last April included getting rid of the remaining Free parking bays which at first sight is another cash grab, but I am beginning to see the rationale.

I asked a friend who can keep a closer eye on things, to see if he could confirm my suspicions. Let’s keep things very generalised.

If a house has two or three off street parking spaces and the resident owns two little used cars it is possible to keep one of them more or less permanently in a nearby Free space. Then you can rent your drive to an Elizabeth Line commuter and shuffle one of your two cars into the Free space like a German tourist on a poolside sun lounger.

Now why didn’t I think of that first?

7 July - What should we make of this?

One of the emails which commented on yesterday’s Leather Bottle blogs included the words “widespread ignoring of all rules and regulations plus corruption. Am I allowed to say that?”

I don’ְt see why not; it is just one man’s opinion isn’t it? Saying it might result in your bank account being closed or get you banned from a woke coffee shop but even with a cretinous PM in charge of the country I don’t believe it is actually illegal to say that yet.

Whether the rest of us should make similar assumptions based on Bexley’s rogue property developer being such close mates with several Bexley Councillors and its most senior MP is up to individuals.

Personally I think he has to be nuts to applaud investments from Kulvinder Singh but if his judgment is that poor it is up to him - and the electors of Bexleyheath and Crayford at the next election.

This former Conservative Party Member with a 59 year old 100% G.E. voting record is hoping that his party will be totally destroyed in 2024. And God help us all when that happens but the Tories are asking for it.

6 July (Part 2) - The known unknowns

Well that was quick, or was it?. A planning application on the Council’s website (18/03247/FULM03 44 Erith High Street) dated 4th May 2023 includes a reference to a building start date of 30th November 2021 (18 months earlier) and completion last March. Was the application really that retrospective? Who knows? I suspect I must have missed something but the permission letter dated 30th June 2023 and addressed to a Mr. Singh approves everything proposed - or should I say already built? - just as you might imagine and with no reference to it being a revision of an older approved plan. Weird.

I suspect someone will soon tell me where I have gone wrong.

Simpler to understand is 23/01508/FUL which refers to site of The Drayman public house in Crook Log, (Closed in 2009 following drug misuse.) That application makes it clear that it is retrospective for a scheme started ten whole years ago! Three additional flats requested by yet another Mr. Singh.

There is remarkably little useful information on either planning application. I suppose that is one stage short of suppressing publication altogether as happened last month.

Bexley Council may not be bent but it would like you to think it is.

Earlier today BiB referred to the Heron Hill Hell Hole which reminds me that I was sent some news, or maybe it is tittle-tattle, about it a little while ago.

It was not especially complimentary towards the role played in Ye Olde Leather Bottle saga by Belvedere Councillor Daniel Francis. Maybe not entirely fair because the Tories take very little notice of what Labour Councillors say and both Daniel and I worked with the Health & Safety Executive providing evidence that led to the successful prosecution of Mr. Singh’s company. However the main complaint was against Singh’s associates in Bexley Council.

The allegation - which is news to me - is that they fined Singh a paltry £6,000 for demolishing the Bottle while other boroughs in identical circumstances had enforced reconstruction.

The 2017 plan to build houses on the site probably fell by the wayside because of the affordable housing requirements and with the government grants available a care home can become a relatively risk free cash cow. Approval for a 70 bed care home was given in November 2020. So far only a sick fox has taken up residence.
Associates

6 July (Part 1) - Singh City

Prompted by a reader who has the misfortune to live opposite the vermin ridden drug den that used to be Bexley’s oldest pub I hitched a lift there intending to update my Leather Bottle photo collection and take Footpath 11, mud permitting, as a shortcut home.

Fat chance; it was blocked.

However I had better luck on the drugs and vermin front. I think the fox must have been deaf. I was able to get within two feet of it before it ran off. Maybe that was unwise, it was the most unhealthy specimen I have seen with no fur on its tail. Did I ever get that rabies injection? (†)

Planning permission for a care home was granted on 14th October 2021 with Astoria Healthcare and its Director Amarveer Singh Dhatt appointed to run it but absolutely nothing has happened since.

How does Kulvinder get away with blighting Bexley and Belvedere in particular? I think we need only look at today’s fixed BiB banner. Friends in high places.

Index to Leather Bottle related blogs.

† I am joking. I have a friend who is a veterinary surgeon so I know it is mange.

5 July (Part 2) - The Great Escape

Well that was a close shave. On the very day I decide to go to a Bexley cinema for the first time ever the Council Leader and the Mayor decided to celebrate my attendance.

Last time our paths crossed in similar circumstances was the day the Bexley Village bridge was reopened. The Leader and Mayor saw me and ran away - literally.

I suspect the Leader would have done the same yesterday had I been able to go to an evening performance but probably the current Mayor would have come over, shaken my hand and maybe posed for another photograph.

It’s what he used to do when I attended Council meetings. Good bloke.

5 July (Part 1) - Neglect is the norm

It is often said that Bexley Council doesn’t care about the North of the borough because no Conservative Councillor lives nearby (and neither do recent Labour leaders) but probably Southern residents see similar neglect.

The rain last night was especially heavy and while driving home circa 11 p.m. I had to go very slowly because I couldn’t see the edge of the road. The Abbey Road footpath was once again under water but it had receded by eight this morning.

Abbey Road has flooded during heavy downpours for as long as I can remember and first mentioned on BiB in 2011. It was another year before it made its photographic debut. FM Conway installed a drain in 2012 but it obviously didn’t have the desired effect.

The New Road Layout sign under the flyoveer was erected in 2007 when the cycle lane which at that time went down the middle of the road - yes really - was moved to a more conventional position. It first featured on BiB twelve years ago.

The faded Shops Open As Usual banner is a mere youngster. It was put up in 2016 in an attempt to alleviate the problems created for the Wilton Road shopkeepers during Crossrail construction. A bit late in the day for a project that began in 2013 but welcome at the time. There is an identical one on Knee Hill.

The shops never did recover from Crossrail. I heard Bexley Council told them they were “sitting on little goldmines” but a chat with the Chairman of the Traders’ Association last week told a different story. Commuters jump in a waiting car and go straight home. Gridlock permitting.

All photographs taken early this morning.

4 July - Telling Stories

I am afraid I have always been a techno-nerd. As a teenager I would blag my way into the projection box of the local Odeon to thread projectors with film and adjust the arc lamps while school mates blagged their way on to the footplates of steam locomotives. Petty fogging rules have since taken all the fun out of life.

My interest in cinema technology stayed with me and in the 1960s helped make a short film which had a one night screening at the National Film Theatre. More recently I wangled a ticket into BAFTA to see the first digital film presentation in the UK, although even that is rather a long time ago now. However I more or less stopped going to the cinema 30 years ago. A combination of smoking, audiences who could not stay quiet or still for a couple of hours and mediocre quality sound.

As a result I view a lot of films at home but I have recently felt the need to remind myself how the two experiences compared and the new StoryTeller in Sidcup provided the incentive. My first visit ever to a London cinema south of the Thames.

I resisted the temptation to buy a pack of Maltesers at a 247% mark up on Sainsbury’s price - I diverted on the way home to check - and instead paid an extra £1·05 to watch the latest Indiana Jones. No complaints on Tuesday’s ticket price.

What follows is a review from a techno-nerdְ’s perspective. It may appear critical but StoryTeller is probably every bit as good as any other modern cinema - IMAX and the like excepted.

Screen 2 is a nice little 35 seater and the staff were friendly enough. The lady sitting next to me complained that the back of the seats reclined too much and she found them uncomfortable and I agreed but soon forgot about it. Some adjustment may have been nice.

As expected the programme began with 20 minutes of adverts and to be honest the presentation can only be described as poor. A relative postage stamp of a picture on a bigger unmasked white screen. If I had allowed that at the Odeon I am sure I would not have been invited back.

Fortunately when the main feature began, things improved considerably but the image lacked the contrast of a high spec OLED screen and the black levels were pretty awful. Whether that is a feature of digital projection I simply do not know because I have nothing recent to compare it with. I saw 1917, Dunkirk and Midway in an Enfield Cineworld a few years ago and do not recall black levels being an issue but maybe I have become even fussier.

What was less than brilliant was the audio quality which is why I stopped going with North London friends to their local cinema in Enfield. That and Covid of course. I clearly remember saying to them as we exited how disappointing the audio quality was and they probably sighed having heard it all before.

It was the same in Sidcup today. I felt the sound could have been turned up a notch but one shouldn’t be too critical of that. Some people do not like things to be played at a realistic level and a compromise must be struck.

There were ten visible loudspeakers on the walls and probably three more behind the screen. I counted six brief occasions during Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny when the side speakers became active and the rear ones never. Very little in the deep bass department either. This may be as good as the source material gets, the film was running from a hard drive and Disney is notorious for inferior digital encoding, I will have to buy the 4K disc when it is released to check how good it is and compare.

Throughout the film I felt I was listening to Dolby Digital on a DVD which can be OK but several steps down from Dolby Atmos on a Blu-ray. Nerds can easily hear the difference on decent equipment. Overall the sound simply lacked the impact of my home system. Never did it thump me in the chest and the aural definition simply wasn’t there. A blurred round the edges sort of effect. Maybe the visible loudspeakers being nothing special and far cheaper than my own is a factor.

Overall I was happy enough with the outing because it confirmed that spending too much money on a home system was not quite as mad as I sometimes think; but at a real cinema the downsides remain as they always were.

There was no smoking obviously but the four young people in front of me occasionally slightly obscured the view and several times got up for more supplies of fast food. Gone for at least 15 minutes on one occasion, what is the point of doing that during a film show?

The moment the visuals finished the lights came on, everyone headed to the exit and the cleaner came in (lights because of Health & Safety I suppose) but I am afraid I sat there for ten minutes or more reading the credits to see who did what and where. The New York scenes were filmed in Glasgow.

Right at the end it said Dolby Atmos. I am not sure I believe it unless the Blu-ray turns out to be the worst ever disc.

Thank you to the cleaner who left me undisturbed.

I probably won’t be in a hurry to go back but that is just me, I am not your typical film enthusiast. You will probably enjoy StoryTeller and with luck you won’t have Jack-in-the-Box sitting in front of you.

With no loop line train and no parking that I know of Sidcup is not very accessible to me. I allowed an hour and a half for the bus journey but with a total waiting time of about 15 seconds the connections could not have been better. 65 minutes for a 15 minute car journey and one of Khan’s diesel buses - a 301 - nearly choked me to death spewing fumes into the cabin throughout the journey. And he has the gall to drive the rest of us off the road.

3 July - Let another battle commence

Now that residents are on the cusp of winning their 20 year tussle with Bexley Council over yellow lines in Carrill Way its next phase must be renewed because their belated acceptance of Highway Code guidance does not go far enough.

Roads will continue to be blocked if the Council does not go quite a lot further than its current proposals.

The red van (Photo 1) is parked at the end of the layby shown at the top of the map (Image 2) and tonight when I left home at 6:45 p.m. I just managed to squeeze my two metre wide car through the gap but by the time I returned it was dark and I was not prepared to take the risk.

Instead I used the dropped kerb outside Number 1 to mount the pavement and continued to that outside No. 2 which is a much longer distance than the numbers imply.

Well if it is good enough for dust carts…

1 July - Bexley Places

The report on last week’s Places Scrutiny meeting has been hampered by Bexley Council’s failure to provide a full Agenda which is illegal but they plead technical problems. Some segments have since become available, the Dog Walking proposals for example.

At last week’s Places Scrutiny meeting L&Q the housing provider attempted to bore the Committee to death with a presentation which is of course preferable to making the attempt more literally as they did with an old friend in Blackfen who has disappeared off my radar and I fear the worst. It was confirmed that 4,400 L&Q homes in Baxley have been reported (including multiple occasions) as suffering damp and mould which L&Q should know can prove fatal.

By the end of their address to Council, Sue Gower remained wide enough awake to ask a question which included comment about “pulling the state of the area down and people are weary [of it]”.

The blame was dutifully passed elsewhere in the manner perfected by our illustrious Mayor Sadiq Khan. “A solution is not on the table.” and damp is often caused by condensation and too many people in the house. “If water is gushing someone will go out the same evening.”

Simply untrue.

Chairman Cheryl Bacon moved on to road maintenance, potholes and poor workmanship by the utilities. As you might imagine utilities should operate on a like for like reinstatement basis but can be “rather slack”. There should be a two year warranty on their work but it is difficult to enforce.

BT are “quite good” but others are not and therefore inspected more often. Thames Water has been mentioned at previous meetings. There are about 12,000 holes dug in Bexley’s roads each year which will surprise no one who has to drive across it regularly. Around 4,000 of them are subsequently inspected by Council staff and 300 of them were found to be inadequate.

Potholes have to be 40mm deep and 200 wide before they are dealt with promptly. 1,600 of them last year but even so the budget was underspent. The number of potholes that do not meet the criteria is about four times larger.

Total resurfacing is programmed twice a year and reviewed in the Spring with reference to weather damage and known utility plans.

Councillor Sally Hinkley (Labour, Belvedere) asked if Bexley was being targeted by SGN (gas) as they are disrupting things right across the borough at the moment. The Highways Manager could only guess at the reason and the Chairman asked him to look further into things.

Councillor Slaughter (Conservative, Sidcup) complained that utilities block roads with cones and temporary traffic lights and promptly disappear. Are they falsely claiming urgent status for their work? The Highways Manager implied that the utility companies have an excuse for everything.

Chairman Bacon recognised the difficulties “but our residents do not think we are on it”.

Bexley Council not only proposed to restrict the number of times you can visit the refuse dump but is in the early stages of considering restricting the number of dogs you can exercise at the same time - which may be a good idea if there is evidence of widespread dog minding issues. Councillor Slaughter thought that “anecdotally there maybe is a problem” especially as neighbouring boroughs have introduced restrictions.

It was revealed that other boroughs had seen up to 1,500 dog incidents as evidence for dog walking restrictions while there was next to none in Bexley. Greenwich has introduced a four dog limit while Bromley had four but is in the process of reducing it to three dogs. Councillor Hall representing East Wickham on the Greenwich borough border had seen one person exercising 16 dogs in his local park. Drone footage has shown up to 25 dogs out of control and people are migrating to Greenwich parks for safety reasons.

Bexley Council would welcome such evidence before considering PSPO restrictions in parks - but would displacing dogs from parks to footpaths create a worse problem?

Councillor Ball (Labour, Erith) said there are already all sorts of restrictions on dogs and none are enforced and a dog PSPO should not be top of any priority list. The Chairman was inclined to agree as were a number of other Councillors. Councillor Slaughter thought that residents should be encouraged to report dog problems, perhaps on FixMyStreet but my guess is that nothing is going to happen in the immediate future.

Note: On a Monday evening two weeks ago on an Elizabeth line train at Abbey Wood a couple sat next to me with eight small dogs in tow. While no enthusiast for the constant attacks on personal freedoms I did begin to think a decibel limit on yapping might be a good idea.

News and Comment July 2023

Index: 2018 – 2019 – 2020 – 2021 – 2022 – 2023 – 2024

News and Comment July 2023

Index: 2018 – 2019 – 2020 – 2021 – 2022 – 2023 – 2024