Councillor Peter Craske. A catalogue of untruthful statements

Councillor Peter Craske is the hot-headed Conservative representative of the Blackfen & Lamorbey ward of the London Borough of Bexley who draws very nearly twenty three thousand pounds a year in allowances. He currently holds the title of cabinet member for Public Realm. He is the councillor primarily responsible for the constant attacks on motorists so that he can, in his own words maximise the “value for money” of the fixed CCTV and mobile surveillance systems.

He is not afraid to confuse, bamboozle and obfuscate any statistic or fact he can get hold of and for that reason has frequently been referred to here as a liar. That is not something done lightly and when he is so labelled an example or two has been given. Doing that is both repetitive and a bit of a chore, so to make it simpler this page has been created to list examples of councillor Peter Craske’s constant divergence from the truth.

Here are some statements and actions by councillor Peter Craske which are either totally untrue or illustrate his willingness to say one thing and do another…

• Stating that there is no £4m. contract between Bexley council and the transport consultants, Parsons Brinckerhoff. An FOI, the local press, Bexley council’s website, their quarterly magazine and PB themselves all said otherwise. Link

• In reply to a a member of the public at a council meeting claimed that answering FOIs cost more than the revenue from parking penalties. Link

• At a council meeting said that a survey of attitudes towards CPZs had been conducted in Bexley. A council official and an FOI stated this was entirely untrue. Link

• Associated his name with the comment on the Conservative Party’s website that said that councillor Sean Newman (Labour) said there was no railway station in Bexleyheath when he only said (correctly) that Barnehurst station was closer to the Civic Offices. Link.

• Claimed that the total cost of issuing each Residents’ Parking Permit was more than £240 per permit, a figure that the accounts department could not justify. They admitted the underlying figures were the result of guesswork. Link.

• Stated on the Conservative party’s website and repeated at every oportunity in the local press, that Bexley had “the cheapest parking, and the most parking in South East London”. Both statements are untrue. Blog Link. Parking costs in Bexley and adjacent boroughs.

• Boasted on a Conservative Party website that he had voted against raising the level of parking fines when in fact he had quietly re-zoned Bexley’s parking areas to ensure the penalties were increased. Link

• When the subject of a Standards Board complaint made up an excuse for his behaviour that was untrue and proved to be untrue by the council’s own minutes of a meeting. He had to make up a new excuse. That wasn’t true either. Link

• When asked questions about the certification for the council’s parking spy cars was unable to respond truthfully for fear of incriminating himself preferring the dishonest statement “Your allegations against me are 100% false”. There were no allegations. Link

• Stated in a press release and on the council's website that a reference to the increase in the cost of parking permits would be included in all renewal notices. No such outbreak of honesty and transparency occurred. The renewal notices merely demand the new price.

• Claimed that the cost of refurbishing the Hall Place car park was one million pounds (Strategy 2014 Report). The true cost was £3,605,000. (Capital Expenditure Report). Link

• Claimed on the council's website that the new parking contract was “value for money“ (weasel words) when the published budget showed the cost to have risen by £55,000.

• Claims that Bexley council froze council tax in 2010/11 and 2011/12. It did not. Council tax was increased by 1% in 2010/11 when almost all other London boroughs managed to freeze theirs.

FOI - Freedom of Information
CPZ - Controlled Parking Zone