23 May - Bexley’s Grand Plan. 7,000 more families on your GP’s waiting list
Bexley Council took 20 minutes to nod through their plan to turn the borough
into something resembling a money generating concrete jungle. Leader O’Neill
and her Deputy David Leaf merely asked for immediate approval but the opposition Councillors were having none of that.
Labour Councillor Daniel Francis (Belvedere) said he was in favour of
more housing and regeneration but it needs to be the right sort of housing.
Housing for everyone. He therefore supports part of the plan but not all of it
and his party’s views had been made clear in the past sometimes with abstentions from votes.
Some Conservatives appear not to understand the document or maybe even not
support it but ultimately it is the result of Government policy, he said. Development of
industrial sites is accepted. Planning applications are currently showing
housing densities between 50 and 75% above recommendations. In Belvedere there
are seven sites designated for more than 2,000 homes but it looks as though more
than 3,000 will be squeezed in and BexleyCo will build even more right next
door to two of them. “Where is the new infrastructure?”
He reminded Councillors that a month ago at a Planning Meeting Conservatives spoke against one of the site
developments which is part of the Local Plan as “a face saving exercise for residents
and a Cabinet Member was forced to say he was disgusted by what Planning
Officers had put forward in dereliction of their duties”. Another Conservative
said the Plan was “a cover up of facts”. “Conservatives do not understand what is in their own document.”
Councillor Francis said he had concerns about the Plan and the Labour Group could not support it.
Conservative Councillor Kurtis Christoforides (St. Mary’s & St. James) said he voted against the quoted
planning application but Labour Councillors chose not to follow his lead but
went on to say “the Local Plan is as good as it could possibly be”. (If Kurtis has you confused, join the Club.)
Councillor Wendy Perfect (Labour, Northumberland Heath) was not in favour of
turning the Mill Road car park in her ward into yet more flats, The high street
is already struggling and the plan will likely force the closure of more businesses.
Councillor Borella (Labour, Slade Green & Northend) said that even BexleyCo fails to provide the required level
of affordable homes while Bexley Council presses on with more and more homes on
green spaces with no doctor’s surgeries, no dentists and no transport facilities.
Cabinet Member for Growth Cafer Munur sounded close to tears at the thought of
Labour voting against his Plan to change the north of the borough beyond
recognition. He was “shocked and disgusted. Councillor Francis usually annoys me
but this time he has made me extremely… extremely sad and it is no laughing
matter. To say at this stage that you are not voting for the Plan is a disgrace,
You had ample opportunity to feed into this plan. You did not previously raise any concerns
about social housing. You are absolutely disgusting and let yourselves down. £500,000 was spent on specialist advice to support
good growth, protecting the borough’s characteristics and climate change
mitigation and bio-diversity. I am really sad about it.”
Such is the calibre of Cabinet Members in Bexley today.
The Plan was approved.