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News and Comment September 2023

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22 September (Part 1) - Diesels, Dames, DVDs and Disposals

Arbuthnot LaneIs there any Bexley news worth reporting right now? Probably not. There is no significant Council meeting to report until 5th October and BiB is reduced to noting that crime levels in Bexley have fallen to the point where the police who park illegally have nothing better to do than arrest van drivers who park perfectly legally next to TfL ULEZ cameras. Presumably if you report a burglary or stolen car they will respond immediately and shoplifters will no longer loot stores safe in the knowledge that they are immune from prosecution.

Yesterday I buckled to Khan’s ULEZ tyranny by arranging a lift into Bexleyheath for a diesel driver and, separately, a Councillor reported how he had to sell his Euro 5 car and unnecessarily spend money on a second hand Euro 6 compliant diesel. That’s the second such Councillor I know of who has had to dispose of a perfectly good car and thereby save 4,000 lives a year.

I briefly considered debunking some of the nonsense that circulates about electric cars. It is really annoying to be told that I am polluting the air with my brake dust while the truth is that I rarely use the brakes. It is fun to demonstrate to sceptics how one can travel across town and beyond while never touching the brake pedal. The motor in regeneration mode is good enough for all but an emergency stop. After five years the brake pads show insignificant wear and the battery health still registers 100% but the naysayers would have you believe I will be shelling out £15,000 for a new one any day now.

There have been no fuel costs at all (solar and Sainsbury’s powered) over the last 3,000 miles but unfortunately the rip off insurance companies more than offset that saving so I fully accept that EVs are not for everyone.

What else for a rant?

Not being well up in the realm of popular culture I did not really know who Russell Brand was but he is in law an innocent man. Yesterday Dame Caroline Dinenage who is some jumped up Tory MP no one has ever heard of, ignored Magna Carta and told the Media companies to cancel him. That single act undid, for me, all the good Rishi Sunak did with his Green speech the day before. Why has he not sacked her from Chairmanship of his Culture, Media and Sport Committee? As gutless as I have come to expect.

In an attempt to educate myself on this Brand character I grabbed a 2008 DVD off the shelf (†) and watched it last night. From what I have learned of Brand it would appear that he was playing himself. The film was given a 15 certificate but included full on willy waving - literally, but not Brand’s - and titties galore. I am not averse to such things but it was the context and dialogue that got to me. It was cringe inducing and embarrassing to watch even though I was alone. (My mother once told me off for showing her Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise’s Rain Man on tape.) If that is Brand’s life he is likely to be guilty. But it was fiction; at least I assumed it was.

Can we get to the point now?

Why are the housing associations flogging off their property at a rate of knots? What do young renters think about it and why are all our Councillors silent about it?

Three more to add to the six already reported over the past four weeks.

Rightmove web page Rightmove web page Rightmove web page

Image 1 - Rightmove website
Image 2 - Rightmove website
Image 3 - Rightmove website



List of auctioned Housing Association addresses with links to original blogs. Hover over address for date. (Revised 1st December 2025.)

 

Bexley
30 Bourne Mead - £165,000
2 Eynsford Crescent - £190,000
15 Marden Crescent - £300,000
Pengarth Road - £160+,000
34 Pengarth Road - £300,000
53 Pengarth Road - £310,000
Rye Close - £320,000
44 Stansted Crescent - £170,000
44 Stanstead Crescent - £140,000
Bexleyheath
Grove Road - £145,000
94 Halcot Avenue - £195,000
121 Halcot Avenue - £210,000
33 Oakhouse Road - £360,000
Parkside Avenue - £260,000
80 Pelham Road - £260,000
Crayford
Crayford Road - £270,000
Dale End - £139,000
1 Dale Road - £295,000
38 Dale Road - £270,000
65 Dale Road - £295,000
60 Heath Road - £249,000
83 Heath Road - £260,000
22B Iron Mill Lane - £275,000
179 Iron Mill Lane - 155,000
187 Iron Mill Lane - £135,000
235 Iron Mill Lane - £320,000
176 Maiden Lane - £255,000
191 Maiden Lane - £160,000
191 Maiden Lane - £160,000 (2nd auction)
206 Maiden Lane - £250,000
230 Maiden Lame - £250,000
234 Maiden Lane - £250,000
234 Maiden Lane - £175,000
4 Medway Road - £210,000
4 Medway Road - £270,000
4 Medway Road - £225,000
Russell Close - £155,000
44 Stansted Crescent - £170,000
20 Stour Road - £205,000
Erith
21 Athol Road - £220,000
Hilden Drive - £285,000
52 Jennington Road - £250,000
Springhead Road - £255,000
Sidcup
Burnham Road - £190,000
11 Diana Close - £275,000
Ellenborogh Road - £149,000
Ellenborogh Road - £155,000
Ellenborough Road - £269,000
5 Ellenborough Road - £210,000
63 Foots Cray Road - £325,000
2-48 Heron Crescent - Not priced
Ladbrooke Crescent - £220,000
Maddocks Close - £255,000
50 Mallard Walk, £180,000
Maylands Drive - £320,000
56 Maylands Drive - £200,000
56 Maylands Drive - £180,000
17 Partridge Road - £300,000
Pembury Crescent - £129,000
Pembury Crescent - £135,000
30 St. Andrew’s Road - £240,000
Welling
29 Beal Close - £250,000
19 Berwick Road - £275,000
39 Burnell Avenue - £300,000
18 Burnell Avenue - £280,000
79 Darenth Road - £275,000
47 Denton Road - £145,000
17 Ridley Road - £235,000
77 Tyrell Road - £290,000
2 Wycliffe Close - £310,000


Index to related blogs.

 


† For the perverts, the film was Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Rain Man contained one use of the F word.

 

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