2 April (Part 1) - What Localism Bill?
Some
of Bexley council’s constant cock-ups and
self-serving fiddles may eventually be forgotten, the
roundabouts
that buses cannot get around, the
councillors who disappear but remain on the payroll and
residents put to unnecessary expense because of the spiteful nature of
individual councillors, but others are likely to live on for ever as monuments
to their dishonesty, criminality and lack of any semblance of democratic rule.
Among these are the
fraudulent activities of its former leader, the new
restrictive Constitution introduced in response to the
Secretary of State’s wish for fewer restrictions, the two separate
imprisonments of a blogger, both on false charges which a District Judge had to throw out.
A harassment letter issued for reasons which were entirely false,
the obscenities Bexley council allowed to be posted to the web and recently
the refusal to accept a petition signed by 2,219 residents.
The latter provides new insights into the depths of dishonesty to which
Bexley council is on intimate terms. Councillor and magistrate Don Massey abused
a Standing Order which allows a meeting to be interrupted to not allow a meeting
at all proving that even magistrates are prepared to countenance
dishonesty to please their political mistresses and Elwyn Bryant who organised
the petition is still trying to get council leader Teresa O’Neill to see reason. He wrote to
her and included the following…
Bexley Council’s Petitions Scheme states that if 2,000 signatures are presented a public debate
can take place at a full public Council meeting. You should use all your influence to rescind the
rejection of the Petition to allow the people of this Borough to have their say in public. This is
the democratic thing to do.
The recently passed Localism Bill puts great emphasis on transparency and power to local people
and you should also consider the fact that the Secretary of State for Local Government, Eric Pickles, has
repeatedly condemned the excessive level of salaries in Local Government. He said “The gravy
train of local Government must stop now”. The slogan of Bexley Council is, ‘Listening to you, working
for you’. So let’s see this put into action.
And what do you think the Controller said to that? The short version is “Go away”.