Bexley councillors

Not long ago the council’s own website used to advertise for new councillors with a slogan about being able to earn £9,000 a year for just two hours a week, anything else is up to you. £180 for a two hour week doing pretty much nothing has attracted a motley crew with a strong affinity with money. Many of them have managed to place themselves in council funded or council sponsored positions which attract extra income. The letter suffixes below relate to the extra responsibilities allowance which boost many councillor’s incomes to more than £20,000…

(A) Leader of the Council (B) Deputy Leader (C) Leader of the Opposition (D) Cabinet Member (E) Committee Chairman (F) Committee Opposition Spokesman (G) Planning Committee Chairman (H) Planning Committee Vice-Chairman (I) Planning Committee Opposition Spokesman (J) Licensing Committee Chairman (K) General Purposes Committee Chairman (L) Pensions Committee Chairman (M) Audit Committee Chairman

Married couples are linked by coloured backgrounds. Addresses were extracted from the register of Members’ Interests on 20th May 2011 and may not be home addresses. Addresses annotated by Members as not being home addresses are excluded.

Councillor	Ward	Party	Drain on taxpayers 2010/11	Personal details and misdeeds
Teresa O’Neill Leader	Brampton		£9,418 £26,391 (A)	Address : 125 Church Road, Bexleyheath, DA7 4DN Address : 39 Brunswick Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 8EL Leader of the council and adviser to the London Mayor, Boris Johnson on matters concerning the Outer London boroughs. Not a firm believer in the council’s slogan “Listening to you, working for you” (she fails to turn up at scheduled meetings with the public) and keen advocate of high allowances for councillors and salaries exceeding the Prime Minister’s for her favoured fat cats. After the former leader, the disgraced Ian Clement, abused his expense account and council credit card, various Freedom of Information requests indicated a massive cover-up including an email giving instructions on how to hide things from the auditors. Teresa O’Neill refused all requests by those pursuing the truth to meet them or otherwise respond to their enquiries. Draw your own conclusion as to whether the Leader of Bexley Council is harbouring an explosive secret and whether she is honest or not.
Colin Campbell Deputy Leader	St. Mary’s		£9,418 £17,595 (B)	Address : 25 Camden Road, Bexley, DA5 3NS The councillor so concerned that the dirty secrets the council attempts to protect might leak out through Freedom of Information (F.O.I.) requests that he proposed that those making such requests should have their details posted on the council’s website as a deterrent. I managed to interest a Radio 4 producer in making him and his anti-democratic stance the subject of an item within one of their consumer affairs programmes, but he was made to see sense before the programme could get off the ground. When faced with a police investigation into his department, involving paedophilia, allegations of drug importing and the theft of six figure sums of money, Campbell restored the accused manager to his job while on bail, approved the sacking of a whistleblower and then upheld the sacking at the appeal hearing he chaired. Is it any wonder he wishes to suppress F.O.I. requests with a track record like that?
Chris Ball Leader of Opposition	Erith		£9,418 £13,197 (C)	Address : 18 Thwaite Road, Erith, DA8 1DP Former leader of the council under whom local taxes rose by eye-watering amounts each year. His contribution towards Bexley’s council tax rate being in 8th position on the list of London’s highest taxing councils is considerable. He once wrote to me that he was proud of his 17% per annum tax hikes and would like to spend more. In the present financial climate he seems to have changed his mind and compared to many others listed here comes across as a a decent sort of chap. But then he is not currently in the governing party.
Sandra Bauer Deputy Leader of Opposition	Thamesmead East		£9,418 £2,661 (F)	Address : 30 Heath Way, Erith, DA8 3LY Made a statement to the police in the hope that a blogger critical of Bexley council would get a criminal record. Her accusations failed to stand up in court.
Ray Sams Mayor	St. Michael’s		£9,418	Address : 18 Vicarage Close, Erith, DA8 1ET Address : 15 Sussex Road, Erith, DA8 1JB
Kerry Allon	Belvedere		£9,418	Address : The Bungalow, School Lane, Welling, DA16 1TT
Roy Ashmole	Christchurch		£9,418	Address : 39 Churchfield Road, Welling, DA16 2AA
Cheryl Bacon	Cray Meadows		£9,418 £8,802 (E)	Address : 104 Hurst Road, Sidcup, DA15 9AF
Gareth Bacon	Longlands		£9,418 £13,197 (D)	Address : 104 Hurst Road, Sidcup, DA15 9AF Address : 29 York Avenue, Sidcup, DA15 7LJ If you thought that £40,000 a year from Bexley council was quite sufficient for the Bacon family, think again. Gareth is also a Greater London Authority Assembly member for which he was paid £53,439 last year. On top of that he claims a travel card at taxpayers’ expense worth another two grand. Nice work if you can get it eh? Close to £100,000 a year for a few hours a week, which is all he can comfortably fit in given that he holds a full time job as a financial recruitment consultant; he has certainly given himself good advice. It may not be illegal but to fleece the public purse of £100k. a year is some going; do you think that he is on the council for the benefit of the public or to put his snout in the trough? Bacon by name, piggies by nature. Despite all that his management skills may make him better value for money than any of his colleagues.
Linda Bailey	Danson Park		£9,418 £13,197 (D)	Address : 45 Brunswick Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 8EL
Aileen Beckwith	Sidcup		£9,418	Address : 5 Bladindon Drive, Bexley, DA5 3BS
Brian Beckwith	Blackfen & Lamorbey		£9,418	Address : 5 Bladindon Drive, Bexley, DA5 3BS
Nigel Betts	Falconwood & Welling		£9,418	Address : 59 Faraday Road, Welling, DA16 2ET Address : 12A Bellgrove Road, Welling, DA16 3PU Connives with council deputy leader Campbell in his campaign to stop residents using the Freedom of Information Act to expose council dishonesty, incompetence and wastefulness. By definition not a democrat and probably has something to hide.
Brian Bishop	Colyers		£9,418	Address : 3 Lessness Road, Belvedere, DA17 5JT Address : 76 Danson Crescent, Welling, DA16 2AS
Edward Boateng	Erith		£9,418	Address : 19 Emes Road, Erith, DA8 3EL
Stefano Borella	North End		£9,418 £2,661 (F)	Address : Cedar Wood Place, Maylands Drive, Sidcup, DA14 4BF
Pat Cammish	Blendon & Penhill		£9,418	Address : 21 Wellington, Bexley, DA5 1DH Address : 90 London Road, Crayford, DA1 4BT (Address above from Register of Members’ Interests but number not recognised by Royal Mail) Address : 4 Grace Avenue, Bexleyheath, DA7 4NN
Sybil Camsey	Brampton		£9,418	Address : 2 Herbert Road, Bexleyheath, DA7 4QE Address : 33 Tyeshurst Close, Abbey Wood, SE2 0D2
Peter Catterall	Falconwood & Welling		£9,418 £13,197 (D)	Address : 117 Mount Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 8JS Address : 80A Gravel Hill, Bexleyheath, DA6 7PT In November 2010, suggested that severe traffic problems in Erith might be alleviated by removing an idiotic roundabout rather than by installing more impediments to progress. Could it be true that there is a lone advocate of common sense within this talentless council?
Val Clark	Falconwood & Welling		£9,418 £2,661 (H)	Address : 43 Standard Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 8DP Former mayor - 2010/2011; and God’s gift to chairmanship.
Peter Craske	Blackfen & Lamorbey		£9,418 £13,197 (D)	Address : 26 Ellison Road, Sidcup, DA15 8BL Where does one start? Craske is indirectly responsible for this site existing having reigned over a network of lies, deceit and incompetence in connection with a road redesign that adversely affects me daily. According to a local newspaper he personally intervened to ensure that a local resident who had offended him was put to an unnecessary extra expense of £550. Currently he has imposed a doubling of local parking charges and later a tripling of it while refusing all requests to justify the increase with detailed figures. The man is a disgrace and regularly brings the borough into disrepute.
Graham D’Amiral	Blendon & Penhill		£9,418	Address : 108 Welling Street, Bexleyheath, DA16 7QQ (Address above from Register of Members’ Interests but is not in any way recognised by Royal Mail or Bexley council)
John Davey	Lesnes Abbey		£9,418	Address : 5 Pinewood Road, Abbey Wood, SE2 0RR The man who named this website by telling me that council road planning was “completely bonkers” but don’t run away with the conclusion he is an honest man. Duplicity is his name; he thinks the planning is bonkers but was vice-chairman of the Road Planning Scrutiny sub-Committee at the time; a committee which seems to have strangely disappeared since. He also walks away when shown evidence of council malpractice and dishonesty. He has no great need to fleece the tax-payer with inflated expense claims as he has a similar sinecure with the health authority. No sense of right or wrong. Has politicised the Arts Council website by slipping in links to the Conservative Party on it and wrote to a local newspaper to say he was proud of what he had done.
Alan Deadman	North End		£9,418 £2,661 (F)	Address : 48 Langley Road, Welling, DA16 1BJ
Alan Downing	St. Mary’s		£9,418 £8,802 (E)	Address : 2 Steynton Avenue, Bexley, DA5 3HP
Ross Downing	Cray Meadows		£9,418 £8,802 (E)	Address : 2 Steynton Avenue, Bexley, DA5 3HP
Jackie Evans	Sidcup		£9,418	Address : 16 Hemmings Close, Sidcup, DA14 4JR
Maxine Fothergill	Colyers		£9,418	Address : 51 Mayplace Avenue, Crayford, DA1 4PQ Address : 44 Columbus Square, Erith, DA8 2PN Address : 120 Frobisher Road, Erith, DA8 2PW
John Fuller	Lesnes Abbey		£9,418 £13,197 (D)	Address : 92 Chessington Avenue, Bexleyheath, DA7 5NR Address : 10 Stevenson Close, Slade Green, DA8 2JL Complicit in the cover up of councillor Craske’s lies and abuse of electors.
Richard Gillespie	Longlands		£9,418	Address : 12 Frimley Court, Sidcup, DA14 6JG Address : 88 Hillingdon Road, Barnehurst, DA7 6LL
Steven Hall	East Wickham		£9,418 £2,133 (M)	Address : 50 Exeter Road, Welling, DA16 3JZ
James Hunt	East Wickham		£9,418 £8,802 (E)	Address : 809 East Rochester Way, Sidcup, DA15 8TQ Address : 17 Park Mead, Sidcup, DA15 9PE
David Hurt	Barnehurst		£9,418 £13,197 (D)	Address : 19 West Heath Road, Abbey Wood, London, SE2 0RU
Eleanor Hurt	Lesnes Abbey		£9,418	Address : 19 West Heath Road, Abbey Wood, London, SE2 0RU Smallest majority in the borough. Six votes.
Brenda Langstead	North End		£9,418 £2,661 (F)	Address : 15 Craydene Road, Erith, DA8 2HR
Geraldene Lucia-Hennis	Crayford		£9,418 £4,260 (K)	Address : 26 Heathview Avenue, Crayford, DA1 3QD Address : 38-40 Station Road, Crayford, DA1 3QG Offender against the councillors’ code of conduct. Twice censured and made to attend training courses. Excuses her aggressive tendencies by claiming she is not a councillor when not on council business. Idiot or what?
Gill MacDonald	Belvedere		£9,418	Address : 85 Grosvenor Road, Belvedere, DA17 5JZ
Munir Malik	Thamesmead East		£9,418 £2,661 (F)	Address : 17 Cambridge Avenue, Welling, DA16 2PJ
Howard Marriner	Barnehurst		£9,418	Address : 14 The Marlowes, Dartford, DA1 4DT Address : 140 Woodfall Drive, Dartford, DA1 4TR Mr. Marriner is another Bexley councillor with a severely warped idea of what democracy means. When officially nominated to be the council’s representative at the Bexley Borough Pensioners Forum he entered their meeting room and saw that one of its committee members was Mike Barnbrook who came close to unseating the Conservatives in a Welling by-election. Marriner rushed from the room yelling “I will not sit in the same room as that man”. Why? The Pensioners Forum is a strictly non-political organisation and Marriner is clearly a man of poor judgement unable to operate beyond his own tight circle of Tory sycophants. For his behaviour, Mr. Marriner was reported to the Standards Board who found him ‘guilty’ and ‘sentenced’ to be monitored for two weeks. What that entails no one seems to know.
Don Massey	Cray Meadows		£9,418 £8,802 (E)	Address : 55 Camden Road, Bexley, DA5 3NZ
Sharon Massey	Danson Park		£9,418	Address : 55 Camden Road, Bexley, DA5 3NZ
Sean Newman	Belvedere		£9,418 £2,661 (F)	Address : 146 Bexley Road, Erith, DA8 3HQ
Caroline Newton	St. Michael’s		£9,418	Address : 107 Oakhampton Crescent, Welling, DA16 1DQ
Nick O’Hare	Blendon & Penhill		£9,418	Address : 164 Axminster Crescent, Welling, DA16 1ET Address : 8 Church Road, Welling, DA16 3DY Address : 79 Cricketers Close, Erith, DA8 1TX Address : 284 Broadway, Bexleyheath, DA6 8AJ Complicit in the cover up of councillor Craske’s abuse of electors.
Margaret O’Neill	Erith		£9,418 £1,068 (I)	Address : 34 Garden Avenue, Bexleyheath, DA7 4LF
Eileen Pallen	Crayford		£9,418	Address : 25 Three Corners, Barnehurst, DA7 6HF
Katie Perrior	Blackfen & Lamorbey		£9,418 £13,197 (D)	Address : 74 Sidcup Hill, Sidcup, DA14 6HY Address : 14 Hillingdon Road, Barnehurst, DA7 6LW Pleads poverty to a local paper claiming she works part time when in fact she is full time director of the prominent PR company ‘Inhouse’.
Harry Persaud	Thamesmead East		£9,418	Address : 42 Darwin Road, Welling, DA16 2EG
Joseph Pollard	St. Michael’s		£9,418	Address : 46 Harcourt Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 8AQ
Philip Read	Northumberland Heath		£9,418	Address : 53 Myrtle Close, Erith, DA8 3PT Owner of the web domain www.bexley-is-bonkers.com
Peter Reader	Northumberland Heath		£9,418 £8,802 (G)	Address : 62 King Harold’s Way, Bexleyheath, DA7 5QZ Address : 62A King Harold’s Way, Bexleyheath, DA7 5QZ
Alex Sawyer	Northumberland Heath		£9,418	Address : 54 South Gipsy Road, Welling, DA16 1JB Address : 90 Maldon Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 1HR Married to Conservative MP for Witham, Essex, Ms. Priti Patel, one of the few true Conservatives in the Commons. Ms. Patel employs Bexley Conservative ex-councillor David Leaf as her research assistant. Intimately involved in the dishonest scheme to deprive residents of the opportunity to ask questions at council meetings, a corruption of democracy.
Melvin Seymour	Crayford		£9,418 £8,802 (E)	Address : 29 Glebelands, Crayford, DA1 4RY Address : 27 Iron Mill Lane, Crayford, DA1 4RS Address : 14 Love Lane, Bexley, DA5 1RJ Reports bloggers to the police for harassing councillors. Charges subsequently dropped because there was no evidence that would stand examination.
June Slaughter	Sidcup		£9,418	Address : 21B The Drive, Sidcup, DA14 4ER
Michael Slaughter	Longlands		£9,418 £8,802 (J)	Address : 21B The Drive, Sidcup, DA14 4ER
Brad Smith	Christchurch		£9,418	Address : 28 Freta Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 8NY
James Spencer	Christchurch		£9,418	Address : 68 Sunland Avenue, Bexleyheath, DA6 8LP Address : 77 Bexley High Street, Bexley, DA5 1JX Address : 249B Broadway, Bexleyheath, DA6 8DB
Colin Tandy	St. Mary’s		£9,418	Address : 5 Meadowview Road, Bexley, DA5 1HP
Michael Tarrant	East Wickham		£9,418	Address : 17 Hurst Road, Sidcup, DA15 9AE Address : 303 Bellegrove Road, Welling, DA16 3RH Thinks it is sensible to prosecute residents who have their rubbish stolen and dumped elsewhere.
Chris Taylor	Colyers		£9,418 £8,802 (E)	Address : 37 Warren Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 7LU
John Waters	Danson Park		£9,418 £2,133 (L)	Address : 47A Knoll Road, Bexley, DA5 1AY
John Wilkinson	Brampton		£9,418	Address : 43 Buxton Road, Erith, DA8 3BJ
Simon Windle	Barnehurst		£9,418	Address : 12 Adams Square, Bexleyheath, DA6 8BX Address : 34 Mark Close, Bexleyheath, DA7 5JX

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