30 November - Buses due and Due Diligence

A quiet end of the month. With one exception the mail box this week has been entirely concerned with poor, that is, very irregular bus services and traffic congestion. The single exception is our old friend @tonyofsidcup who has asked the Cabinet Member for failed cinemas exactly what his ‘vigorous due diligence’ entailed. There is also an implication that “closed for refurbishment” was not truthful.

I doubt that there will be a satisfactory reply.

 

29 November - Leaf on mute

David Leaf’s first Cabinet meeting was a banger. We were four minutes into the webcast before the audio kicked in when someone rapped on the microphone and it was seven minutes before any intelligible speech came through; but not for long. It lasted 45 seconds, the “minor technical issues” had not been resolved. The meeting had been on air for 13 minutes before someone found a portable microphone and we were told that the Children’s Services budget was overspent again. Exacerbated by the fact that our generous caring government has removed the children’s personal transport grant and the Bexley Council taxpayer must pay in future.

Three million of loan debt has been paid off this year.

The meeting began with a bang.

Cabinet Member Cafer Munur declared himself a cinema buff and spoke about the StoryTeller setbacks. It was allocated a further £78,000 from a contingency fund to purchase the equipment already in place - so nothing is going to be refurbished after all - to make transition to the new operator easier. They will in time have to pay it back.

Despite the former operator going belly up he said that the Council had done a great deal of “vigorous” due diligence beforehand. He claimed that The StoryTeller had improved footfall in Sidcup by 33% when comparing its first year with the year before, Frankly I don’t believe that a tiny cinema could ever have that sort of effect. Maybe it was the banking hub or cheap beer in Wetherspoons. Cafer said that the number of empty shops had halved. Did he not consider that that night be the reason rather than The Nightmare on Elm Road?

The StoryTeller failed because of the writers’ strike in Hollywood and a dearth of blockbuster films.

Councillor Diment who (re)announced he would be standing down next May, said that recycling is a big success and thanked his staff for improvements in every department. Next Friday a reuse shop will open at the Foots Cray recycling centre which seems to be some sort of attempt to rob charity shops of donations.

Councillor Borella (Labour Leader) said that residents say the StoryTeller library is too small - my only avid book reader friend says the same - and the cinema doesn’t look like a cinema. To blame Hollywood for its demise is “astounding” and of course Stefano is right. Stating the obvious, “the due diligence could have been better.”

Council Leader David Leaf said that Councillor Borella has no knowledge of the film industry and Councillor Munur got very upset about the suggestion that StoryTeller due diligence could have been better. “An insult to the officers who carry out this work.” and “there are very few movies out there which are making a song and dance.” (Where’s Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers when you need them?)

Then to undermine his own argument he said that the StoryTeller was not a blockbuster cinema, it specialised in niche special screenings. Japanese animations etc. The cinema will reopen in December.

The Prime Minister has not yet responded to the new Leader’s letter informing him of Daniel Francis’ misinformation on potholes and Councillor Diment reminded the Labour Leader that the money he said should have been spent on individual potholes could not because it was designated for Capital Projects. i.e. larger areas, added to which, Sadiq Khan has given less money for road repairs during his entire term of office than Boris Johnson gave in any single year.

The Leader concluded by thanking his Labour counterpart for "his silly political commentary." Maybe we will elect grown ups next May.

 

28 November (Part 2) - 7 m.p.h. to Sidcup

Today’s trip to Bromley was the worst in recent memory. Bexley Council, only three weeks after reopening Sidcup High Street, has allowed the junction outside the closed StoryTeller cinema to be dug up and coned off. The roads were gridlocked for miles around. Including the Brampton Road diversions I clocked 6·9 miles to the cinema in exactly 59 minutes.

The whole journey was 10·7 miles in 77 minutes. The cost to the economy of Bexley’s rubbish roads must be enormous.

On Monday I was forced to a standstill about 80 yards north of the A2 flyover on the northbound carriageway of the Danson Underpass and couldn’t help noticing a two inch deep pothole. It was still there today. Where is Daniel Francis MP when you need him?

Another feature of my trips to Bromley is that every journey is marred by a broken down bus. This evening it was an 89 outside the Crook Log sports centre blocking the lane into Brampton Road. The 89 is diesel powered but the electrics do not appear to be any better.

 

28 November (Part 1) - The 301 bus again

A few minutes before 5 p.m. yesterday I arrived at the Market Place bus stop and was a little disappointed to see there was a predicted 17 minute wait for a 301 but not too despondent because the arrivals board habitually lies. Sure enough one showed up right on the hour and cruised to a stop. As it did so I was overwhelmed by ten or more black schoolgirls with not a thought for anyone but themselves. I wasn’t quite pushed over and wasn’t particularly upset by it; black female hooligans are pretty much the norm in Bexleyheath. Not just in Bexleyheath perhaps. When I used to travel on the DLR to West Ham four times a week, it was generally black females who would barge everyone else out of the way to grab the last seat.

Yesterday however was a little different. The young black bus driver came to the front door - at first I thought we were going to get a repeat of last week’s fiasco - and pointed his finger at me. He told the girls that he had seen what they had done and no one was getting on to the bus before me. Just a little embarrassed I thanked him profusely and got on an otherwise empty bus.

 

27 November (Part 2) - The real Clown Show

• Full term babies aborted and killed.
• Experimental genetic drugs given to children.
• The elderly and disabled encouraged to kill themselves.
• Trial by Jury abolished for anything less than murder and rape.
• ID cards.
• Violent Anti-Semitic protests permitted and assisted.
• Jewish man arrested for waving a placard outside a synagogue.

Who does that remind you of?

 

27 November (Part 2) - TfL Clown Show

Yesterday I took a 301 bus to Bexleyheath which observed the timetable; well Brampton Road diversion excepted! The internal destination indicator said it would terminate at Market Place and it did! Something which no bus ever does according to the Customer Service adviser at Transport for London.

On Tuesday my journey was somewhat longer. Abbey Wood to Liverpool Street; 16 minutes. Overground Liverpool Street to Chingford 29 minutes. 97 bus from Chingford bus station to Ridgeway, eight stops. 43 minutes, most of it sitting waiting for a bus to show up.

 

26 November - Bexley Council does not have the monopoly on cretins

Until recently my driving pretty well always began with a quick dash to the A2 and the M25 or a few hundred yards into Greenwich and the Blackwall Tunnel. I don’t think I have ever paid to park in Bexley so my knowledge of its road problems is not as intimate as it might be; but in the last couple of months I have had to drive to Bromley several times each week.

It’s the nearer part so exactly ten miles door to door but that assumes no road diversions and there has not been such a journey in the past two months. Nearly all journeys are in darkness and I count fewer than 50 minutes as a major triumph; more often it takes about 65 minutes and most of those delays are unnecessary. Much of it planned congestion by Bexley Council.

To be fair the Bromley section is consistently congested. The same every day in the same places but at least it doesn’t seem to be down to malicious policy making as Bexley’s probably is. (Bromley has blotted its copybook slightly with a new yellow box junction at Chislehurst War Memorial, about which more later.)

Poor driving standards is a factor. A few drivers never use direction indicators but conversely I have twice in the past two weeks been fooled by drivers indicating left at a junction who then go straight on. There was another occasion when I saw the same from the upstairs front seat of a bus.

Unlimited car parking on major through routes can be a problem. A car parked legally in Penhill Road or Bexley Lane will bring the whole area to a standstill. Why does Bexley Council allow it? Why too do they allow traffic, especially buses, on Pickford Lane and Bexley Road to be held up by placing parking bays next to and opposite bus stops? Could it be that the Head of Highways is an idiot?

Why is The Green in Sidcup width restricted in one direction only and why is it at an acute angle to the carriageway so that even small vehicles cannot easily pass; all while allowing HGVs to pass freely in the other direction? Surely only a total cretin allows that?

The current diversion due to the closure of Brampton Road (see video) has taken me to Longleigh Lane but an enormous HGV put me in a ditch literally. I felt the underside of the car hit the ground, so now I always use Bedonwell Road and King Harold’s Way. The latter has a succession of Keep Left pedestrian refuges without any illumination and the footpath reaches out towards them not only with no illumination but adorned with two black painted bollards. Not every one; some of the bollards are missing, presumably because some unfortunate driver couldn’t see black on black.

The LED street lighting does not help. Not much better than a third of the light output of the old sodium lamps. How many accidents have they caused?

People complain about LED headlights on cars blinding oncoming drivers; and I must plead guilty on both counts. Some may be mal-adjusted but any one of them going over one of the innumerable unnecessary speed bumps blind everyone going the other way. Too many motorists try to emulate motorcycles by having only one working headlight.

An obvious bugbear is cyclists without lights but far worse are pedestrians dressed in black overcoats who simply step into the road. Last Monday I had to very nearly stop when one was crossing not 50 yards from the pedestrian crossing in Bexley Lane. Saved only by the fact that his black dog had white lower legs. And speaking of Bexley Lane, why does anyone choose to drive down Rectory Lane? The queue to get into it blocks Bexley Lane and what does such idiocy save? 50 to 100 yards maybe?

Bexley Council as most drivers know installs oversized Yellow Money Box junctions for no reason other than cash collecting. Some years ago they admitted as much at a Council meeting. Their revenue was not coming up to expectations. Bromley Council’s new YMBJ in Chislehurst is minimally sized, stretching only from corner kerb to corner kerb without Bexley’s cheating extension on every exit. Unfortunately it is not working as I would have hoped.

The traffic lights are set back from the junction by one or two car lengths, the exits are inconsistent. It used to be the case that vehicles would traverse the junction more or less nose to tail creating maximum throughput, but not any more.

A driver can go past a green light but stop beyond it because his exit is not clear. While there the lights go red so he cannot go forward but being stuck prevents large vehicles from turning right in front of him so everything comes to a standstill.

I am not alone in keeping three car lengths clear in front of me so the throughput is very much reduced. This regularly causes a queue which extends all the way back to Crittall’s Corner in Sidcup and makes the Queen Mary’s Hospital roundabout over the A20 very difficult.

Bexley Council does not have the monopoly on cretins.

 

24 November - Hammergate

If you ever wondered what became of the police investigation into the hammer that came flying through the window of @tonyofsidcup’s house in July 2024 the answer could easily be summarised as ‘nothing’.

The police did absolutely nothing until leaned upon by a senior Bexley Council figure and MP Louie French and since then the case has ping-ponged ineffectually between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

In my experience, when the motive is obvious and the culprit is pretty much banged to rights by video evidence and written threats, and still nothing happens, then the villain will be known to the authorities. That is, there are reasons for the apparent protection.

Index to Hammergate.

 

22 November - Bus bollocks from TfL

While waiting 25 minutes for a 301 bus at Market Place (The Clock Tower) on Thursday a number of elderly ladies with shopping trolleys were complaining about the same thing. The 301s are very unreliable. Another was going on about the 132 but one had left shortly before she showed up so maybe she was simply unlucky.

How is it these days that old ladies with shopping trolleys think I am a safe bet for a quick moan about life? It happens increasingly often. Fuming females must be something to do with Keir and Co.

Next day another disgruntled 301 traveller wrote to me about his 301 experiences and how TfL failed to answer his complaint. Worse that that, they obviously don’t know what they are talking about.

As every 301 user knows, they invariably terminate on Arnsberg Way leaving passengers to cross a busy road, dodge the buses going into and out of the tiny bus station and then cross the busy bus only lane to get to the shopping centre, yet the TfL timetables etc. tell you a 301 bus will take you all the way to Market Place. (See Image 1 which coincidentally shows another 25 minute delay.)

My correspondent brought this inaccuracy to the attention of TfL who replied as follows. (The complainant’s response is shown in red.)

Thanks for your web form on 27 February to ask about the termination point of the 301 bus. I’m sorry you have concerns about safety when crossing the busy carriageway on Arnsberg Way. Our apologies also for this delayed response to you. We have brought your comments to the attention of our Network Development team who advise that the 301 terminates where it does, at the location of its stand. Market Place is not used for setting down buses and is for boarding and through routes only.

This is incorrect. Buses 401 and 422 both terminate at Market Place. The Transport for London planner states that the 301 bus also terminates at Market Place Bexleyheath. It does not; it stops on Arnsberg Way.

There are pedestrian crossings across both Arnsberg Way and Mayplace Road West to enable customers to get into the town centre safely.

This is not true. There are no Zebra Crossings at those points. i.e. marked by black and white stripes on the road and two yellow beacons on either side of the road.

I trust the above response explains the situation.

You still have not addressed the problem of pedestrians having to navigate their way through a greasy bus stand (where there are moving vehicles) to reach Market Place. In view of the above, I wonder if anybody has actually visited the site in question! Why cannot the 301 stop at Market Place as stated on the Tfl planner? (and then proceed to its stand on Arnsberg Way)

You do not appear to consider the safety and convenience of your customers. I would be happy to meet a Tfl representative on site to explain the problem if necessary.

Thanks again for contacting us. If there is anything else we can help you with, please reply to this email. Alternatively, you can call us on 0343 222 1234 and we’ll be happy to help you.

Kind regards
Alison Hayes
Customer Service Adviser
Transport for London Customer Services

Comments unanswered nearly a year later.

Note five bus icons within a short distance of each other. The 301 terminates at the Arnsberg Way icon in top right corner of map.

Note: As I returned from photographing the 301 terminated on Arnsberg Way this morning, a 301 was departing Market Place at 10:40. I checked the departure board for the time of the next one but none was shown and feared the worst but another showed up unannounced almost immediately. I watched the destination board change from Bexleyheath to; what would it be? Eventually it rolled around to Woolwich. I was on my way home by 10:44. You cannot even rely on a 301 to keep you waiting in the cold!

Study the large version of the 301 bus photograph above carefully. Why is Bexley Council still displaying a New Road Layout warning (left of image) more than ten years after the unsafe free-for-all-junction was introduced? Maybe it is an acknowledgment that the junction is hazardous.

 

20 November (Part 2) - Bexley’s buses are bloody awful

Please excuse a personal rant, but do you find that Bexleyheath is full of near half million pound electric buses but they are rarely going where you want them to? The situation is not helped by the fact that space considerations dictate that there are five separate bus ‘stations’ (three are alighting points only) within 150 yards of each other and the services to Abbey Wood depart from four different bus stops.

It has been noted at Transport Users’ Committee meetings that the departure indicators tell lies and this may be, in the case of the 301, because most of them stop for a while in Arnsberg Way and then proceed to the Highland Road roundabout to turn around and return to The Clock Tower stop. The transponder therefore sometimes shows a bus due but in reality it is parked in Arnsberg Way but maybe more often the transponder is off so a bus turns up unexpectedly at The Clock Tower. Some arrive with Woolwich displayed on the front and others say Bexleyheath and usually depart empty to Bus Neverland.

Yesterday I was at Lion Road and there were no SL3s to Thamesmead indicated for 25 minutes - which may or may not be an accurate estimate - so I took a bus to The Clock Tower to test my luck on a 301. I didn’t have to wait at Lion Road and at The Clock Tower there was a 301 waiting with Woolwich on the front. It must have been around 5 p.m. by then.

I trotted along to join the queue but the doors did not open and the lights went out. The bus was slightly short of its stop as is very often the case but the driver was remonstrating from within the darkened bus with the would-be passengers. She wanted them to get away from the edge of the kerb so that she could safely pull forward. Few could hear what she was saying so she came to the exit door and was rather rude to the waiting throng. She then realised that she was getting unnecessarily agitated so made an apology, the excuse being that she had become rather stressed.

It then became clearer what she was trying to do. The ramp was activated for a man in a wheelchair but it turned out that he didn’t actually want to get on a 301, so the ramp was withdrawn and the doors closed on a bus that was still in darkness. Why was a wheelchair user encouraged to get on a bus without lights?

With all doors closed the driver went to the front and fiddled for ages with the driver log-in machine. After keeping everyone waiting for ten or twelve minutes in the freezing cold we set off towards Abbey Wood and Woolwich.

When we got to the Pickford Lane junction the bus was stopped and the lights went out again and we were told to get off. I think it was stress again. We were assured that the next bus was right behind us and the stressed driver set off.

After about five minutes standing on the footpath more than a little numb with cold I checked my bus app. It said the next 301 was due in nine minutes. After what seemed ages I checked again and it said seven minutes and then it went up to eight. Meanwhile three SL3s went by while 15 or so people stood around in the 1° cold.

I got home at three minutes past six. 73 minutes from Lion Road.

Today I got off a 96 from Dartford at The Clock Tower at 1:15 and was pleased to see a 301 was due in one minute. It never turned up. Ditto several minutes later. A third 301 was eventually advertised and one showed up with Bexleyheath on the front but changed it to something else while moving past and did not stop. Not even to let passengers off. 25 minutes after getting to The Clock Tower in literally freezing conditions a bus driver deigned to stop and let passengers on. She drove like the proverbial clappers and the journey home took only 49 minutes. More than twice what it should have done.

 

20 November (Part 1) - The cinema refurbishment that didn’t happen

This month’s Full Council meeting revealed that Bexley Council lost at least £117,000 on keeping the StoryTeller cinema afloat after its owner went bust, partly in subsidies and partly in lost rental income. Then in July Bexley Council said the cinema would “be closed for a short while for refitting” and be reopened in September. The image alongside is from that announcement. The StoryTeller is still shut.

The reason for the delay is said to be that a new operator had to be found but the claimed refurbishment would appear to be the sort of misinformation for which Bexley Council is famed. A letter from the Council to @tonyofsidcup dated yesterday states that the new operator will take over soon and it is they who will then refurbish the cinema. What that entails is unknown but in July the Council said new equipment would be fitted.

@tony’s letter reveals that Bexley Council bought the old cinema equipment and seats from the liquidator for £105,000 and since they would have no need of it except to run a cinema it seems fair to assume that it will stay where it is. In the StoryTeller.

What then is being refurbished? Not a lot presumably and on the face of it, it would appear that Bexley Council is telling massive porkies again to cover their incompetence and waste of taxpayers’ money.

£105,000 is not a lot for three screens. Three projectors obviously but you cannot show a modern film as it is intended without a dozen amplifiers and loudspeakers. They do not come cheap and £35,000 per screen is cheap.

I am beginning to understand why it was that on my one and only visit I found the experience disappointing. My home loudspeakers are a lot better than theirs.

Index to StoryTeller blogs.

 

19 November - The Leader’s last report to Council

Full Council meetings usually allow half an hour for the Leader to make her report and face questions and it is usually an interesting session, maybe even the highlight of the evening. Evdently Councillor O’Hare thinks so too as he moved that it be extended by 15 minutes. This of course being a sop to the Leader who was making her final appearance in that role and encourage her to go into bragging mode even more decisively.

She did so immediately claiming to be the longest serving Leader in Bexley and only the fourth Conservative female Leader in all of history and the longest serving Leader in London. “Staying power” she said.

She claimed to have saved the old Woolwich Building Society HQ and “recycled” it into Civic Offices and built houses in Welling, Bexleyheath and Slade Green (vacated Council sites). “To walk around Southmere Lake in Thamesmead is now an absolute pleasure” and a Labour MP had congratulated the Leader on her achievement.

Short and sweet leaving Councillors plenty of time to have their say. A voice from the dishonest past was chosen to speak first. Councillor Peter Craske thanked the Leader for her service over 27 years (17 as Leader) as well he might.“The Leader has a record of creating opportunities. It was she who had the 96 bus extended to Darenth Valley and delivered the Bexley Box scheme.” He ended in the age old way of reminding everyone that Labour voted against everything.

Labour Leader Stefano Borella responded to the praise heaped on the Slade Green Community Centre by the Leader by saying that she won’t find anyone there who speaks highly of it. Most don’t even know where it is. The Council sold the old Community Centre for 14 million and spent only 3·2 on its replacement. He reminded the Leader that the Labour Group wanted to build a new Civic Centre in Erith, it would have been slightly cheaper than the refurbishment in Bexleyheath, and now they struggle to get any investment into Erith.

He complained about flags being flown in Bexley. They are put up by drunken vandals who should be condemned.

BexleyCo should have different objectives and should not be building on green field sites.

Conservative Kurtis Christoforides (St. Mary’s & St. James) heaped praise on the Leader who ended up a Baroness. He picked out improved roads, protecting green spaces, investment in Queen Mary’s Hospital and Bexley’s railway station, better SEND provision in schools and improved Adults’ Social Care for special mention. “A good record.” Despite that no one trusts politicians any more was another of his themes.

Andrew Curtois (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) climbed on the Praise the Leader bandwagon too.

Labour Councillor Larry Ferguson (Thamesmead East) suggested that everything wrong with policing today is due to the years of Conservative austerity. They made the poorest in society pay the bills and left local authority finances limping.

Labour Councillor Anna Day (Slade Green) said, among many other things, that The StoryTeller cinema in Sidcup was a disaster leaving Bexley Council with a £96,000 bill (£55k. paid out and £41k. lost rental income) which will not be recouped as the operator is insolvent. The total bill is £117,000 plus not including staff time. She too complained about the flying of flags.

The Leader said the cinema drove up footfall so it wasn’t all bad news.

Conservative Councillor Rags Sandhu (Bexleyheath) joked that he mainly likes to talk about himself so he did that for about four minutes. But he quite likes flags.

Councillor Brian Bishop (Conservative, Barnehurst) praised the Leader for keeping all the libraries open and which have become Community Hubs. Former Mayor Sue Gower (Conservative, Bexleyheath) said that the Leader had shown care, compassion and support for colleagues subtlety and sincerely and thanked her for it.

The Leader summed up but strayed from the absolute truth by claiming that she and her colleagues had fulfilled every manifesto promise since 2006. This is an easily provable lie and it is perhaps fitting that she departed in much the same way as her Council has conducted itself over the past 19 years. Lying, especially in the early days, was both blatant and constant. @tonyofsidcup is currently challenging this claim in his inimitable way.

 

18 November - Ugly or what?

This incredibly ugly block of flats was approved by Bexley Council last Thursday and their property company BexleyCo may possibly benefit by a few sales but the nearby West Street development suggests that it may not be the success story BexleyCo so badly need.

The Labour Group has put out a Press Release; not in the usual PDF format but just a few lines of text. Here it is in its entirety.

Post Office Tower block opposed by local councillors.

Erith Councillors Chris Ball and Nicola Taylor told the Planning Committee on Thursday 13th November that Erith deserves better. The plan put forward by Bexley Co to develop the Post Office site into 33 housing units will see the demolition of the grade II listed building with only part of the iconic round wall of the former Post office depot being retained.

Cllr Ball told the committee “The plan lacked imagination; the commercial units were not needed, with the focus needing to be on decent homes, that people can afford with somewhere to park. Shops need to be focused on the shopping centre".

Cllr Taylor said the plans showed that the council is ignoring our heritage and the needs of residents who have expressed their opposition to the plans via social media. She said “We need affordable homes so that residents can live in the area they grew up in and our Heritage assets preserved”. The plan was approved with councillors with only two votes against.

I think they are right. The old Post Office has some character while the featureless brick shoe box has none.

The Planning Committee webcast is at https://bexley.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1023774.

 

17 November - Disgraceful

I have been watching this bin since it was delivered by Serco several years ago. The hinge was damaged soon after delivery and because of that the lid cannot be locked. Useful for taking large boxes but also an open invitation to fly tippers and irresponsible residents.

The cost to the Council of dealing with contaminated bins over the years must have vastly exceeded the cost of mending or replacing the old one but they employ no one bright enough to recognize that.

After being left unemptied for weeks the cardboard was collected at the end of October and rapidly filled with Amazon boxes again. Yesterday someone thought it was the ideal receptacle for debris from a refurbished bathrooom. Massive thick broken tiles and a few plumbing items.

There are some disgusting people around and there are a couple of beds in Abbey Road if anyone is interested.

 

15 November - For one day only

As stated in the original blog relating to the Reform UK expulsion; it was posted here to inform interested readers of why Bonkers avoids identifying names in this case but due to legal threats it was, as always planned, quickly withdrawn.

 

14 November - Comeuppance

Regular readers will know that following last year’s General Election the unsuccessful Reform UK candidate for Old Bexley and Sidcup asked me to sign a gagging order under threat of High Court action. Almost by definition she must have believed I knew of something which she did not wish to be known more widely. The demands gradually escalated to the point I was being required to remove every blog relating to the candidate even those which were favourable towards her.

Some readers may remember the aforesaid candidate, while a Bexley Tory Councillor, cut up very rough indeed when Bonkers reported factually on certain events of 2017 when she was dragged through the Courts by two business associates. Factually reporting Court proceedings is something that cannot be challenged in law. Two leading media lawyers offered their support when I was, one offering to take the case pro-bono to the European Court if she persisted.

Whilst being taken to Court myself and being able to legitimately exhibit the more interesting parts of the 2017 evidence bundle; the forged letter, encouraging staff to commit fraud, making false allegations etc. has its attractions it can be a very expensive process so I chickened out; withdrew the blogs and didn’t let anyone see my files or listen to my recordings. Fighting legal challenges is traumatic and I would rather spend my money on other things.

However that didn’t mean I couldn’t talk about the issue and I have several friends within Reform UK who I meet once in a while; one frequently. Maybe my ramblings fell on fertile ground, I don’t know. Somehow or other Reform UK HQ got wind of things without me having to open my files to anyone. All those expensive solicitor’s letters will have been a big waste of money. Maybe I should wipe the big grin off my face!

The foregoing is also reported on Kent Online and the BBC and several other news websites.

 

13 November - Council first. Residents second

Fifteen years ago Bexley Council made a deal with Siemens to equip the borough with a state of the art CCTV system. I assumed it was digital but recent comments from the Council have spoken of replacing an analogue system. Whether it was digital or whether the Council was sold an analogue pup is largely immaterial now. Fifteen years of CCTV development will have left either seriously outdated.

The grand idea had been that Siemens would install a system so advanced that it could sell the facilities and the data collected to other local boroughs and Bexley would profit from it. None of that ever happened of course and the Council lost out on its additional investment. Five years later it stopped monitoring CCTV to save £225,000 and lost the ability to ‘chaseְ’ criminals in real time.

So a disaster all round. What else would one expect from a Council bamboozled by technology?

Apart from being digital what else will a new CCTV system provide? More cameras perhaps? Bexley Council is not sure of the exact numbers but on the face of it there will be far fewer cameras. Precise numbers are difficult because some of the old cameras no longer work. Are the replacements extra cameras or not?

One figure is clear, there will be four mobile cameras but fixed street cameras less so. They will reduce from just over 100 to about 70.

The big change is in car parks which used to have about 113 cameras and their number will go down to just three. The logic of the massive reduction is that in the past the cameras have focused on pay-and-display cash machines and now that most car parking is cashless they are not needed.

And there you have Bexley Council in a nutshell. Their priority is looking after themselves and not as you might have imagined, the residents and their cars.

Note: Information from a Freedome of Information request by @tonyofsidcup.

 

12 November - We have friends

A Community Protection Order was served on the non-developer of the Leather Bottle site on 14th August for action by 26th September. As far as one can judge, nothing happened.

Someone who lives nearby asked Bexley Council if they had done anything at all about the apparent defiance. The answer is that they have done absolutely nothing but are considering the matter.

Whether that includes consulting friendly Councillors is not clear.

 

10 November - A real fighter for justice

Patrick Lee was fined £23,000 by the Institute of Actuaries for social media posts critical of Islam. Today he is in the news for winning his Employment Tribunal case in which the judges ruled that his views were protected under the Equality Act of 2010.

And how does that justify a brief mention on Bonkers?

I have been in contact with Patrick for nearly eight years, at first by email and more recently as a mere follower on X. Mr. Lee was among the very first non-local to offer me support when a lady who doesn’t like to be named and who frequently threatens court action if I do, blatantly lied to the police swearing that she had never been admonished by Bexley Council when anyone could see that wasn’t true, resulting in me being charged with harassment for reporting facts.

I will always be grateful for Patrick’s support; and it has to be said many others who are not in favour of political corruption.

Trivia: My first job was as a trainee actuary for Prudential Assurance. I didn’t last there long.

Daily Telegraph - Daily Mail reports. Photos from Daily Mail.

 

9 November - A Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party

In my view most Motions put before Bexley Council are of little or no interest to residents and generally a waste of time. Last Wednesday’s was a prime example. The retiring Leader was allowed to put a Motion the only purpose of which was to blow her own trumpet loudly. Older Motions were queue jumped. The new Motion aimed to “prioritise aspiration for our residents, ambition for our borough, to be an efficient and effective Council and Make Bexley Even Better”. A grand opportunity for gloating over supposed achievements the principal one being the false claim that Conservatives have seen through every election pledge since 2006. One might concede most of them but certainly not all of them.

The 2022 Manifesto said that a Conservative Council would fight against Khan’s ULEZ con, and they did. Work to reverse police reorganisation. Did they? If so they failed. Make town centres more friendly especially in the afternoon as schools close. That is an obvious failure as anyone close to the Clocktower last Thursday would know. Even as late as 6 p.m. there was a noisy mob of school children surrounding the wrecked William Morris fountain and jostling old people out of the way to get on buses. I am not particularly frail but it was just a little bit frightening.

The Leader’s list of accomplishments included lobbying Governments for fairer grants (no change as yet), being very efficient, so much so that if Bexley received a grant comparable with Inner London boroughs, Council Tax would be negative. FixMyStreet was upheld as an example of more efficient working but Daniel Francis MP abused it to "waste taxpayers money". 99·9% of waste is collected on time. Two new libraries opened. New digital CCTV. Queen Mary’s Hospital improved. “We have delivered.” and Labour voted against us.

Not so much a Motion as a Party Political Broadcast. It was seconded by her successor David Leaf who said that Bexley had become the UK’s leading local authority. He too said that all the 2022 Manifesto promises had been fulfilled, presumably while hoping that no one would check it to see.

Cabinet Member Caroline Newton reeled off a long list of educational achievements including new schools, more in the good and outstanding category, expanded the local SEND facilities etc. all of which would appear to be true.

Labour Leader Stefano Borella said he voted against the budget based on the Conservative Manifesto because it was theirs and his would have had different priorites. The Conservatives stopped funding Sure Start Centres and replaced them with Hubs. It is the Labour Government which has provided new funding for them. Why is there no Bexley Box scheme this year?

Bexley Conservatives have failed on housing he said. “The delivery is abysmal.” BexleyCo is not delivering affordable housing and has not been building on brownfield sites. Sadiq Khan has improved bus services with the SL3 and electric buses. (An electric SL3 was causing traffic chaos on Friday having broken down at Bexleyheath station.)

On libraries Stefano reminded us that they have very much reduced hours and are no longer open every day of the week and 14 years of failure to secure fair funding is nothing to be proud about. Whilst not disagreeing with the aspirations of the Motion he would not be voting for it.

Cabinet Member Cafer Munur said that Bexley had “gone from strength to strength” under Leader Teresa O’Neill and whilst the numbers are disappointing due to many adverse financial factors it had achieved a higher percentage of affordable homes than Mayor Khan has in London overall.

The Motion was passed, presumably without the support of Labour Councillors. Neither the webcast audio nor the video revealed the detail. It showed only a close up of the Mayor. A total failure of the webcast system.

 

8 November - Several questions, rather fewer answers

Unusually I listened to the Full Council webcast live and the initial impression was that it was a longer than usual meeting which contained little of interest, apart from David Leaf becoming Leader and referred to as such before he was actually approved by Full Council. Understandable while the Conservatives have an overwhelming majority.

Next day I bumped into a Councillor in Broadway and he agreed with my assessment; let’s see if there is anything significant that can be dragged out of my audio recording.

Inevitably Dimitri Shvorob had a question. What is the total area of parks bulldozed or about to be bulldozed by Bexley Council in the past 17 years? A question addressed to the outgoing Leader. In three minutes and 20 seconds of waffle no answer was forthcoming at which point the Baroness switched to attack mode by admonishing Dimitri for “his obsession with Members’ enquiries”. She said his statistics were worthless and Councillors often help residents in ways which are not recorded as enquiries. Indeed she has personally helped Dimitri in such a way. (She has, and I know what the help was, but if she wants to keep quiet about it then I will have to leave you to guess.)

Mr. Shvorob said that neither Bromley nor Greenwich has sold parks; why does Bexley have to be different? The weasly answer was that Bexley had not sold any parks, it had instead “invested” in them. How did BexleyCo get its mits on our parks if Bexley did not sell them to the supposedly independent loss maker?

Dimitri then posed a sarcastic question to the Cabinet Member for Places congratulating him on his last place in the Healthy Streets initiative and School Streets league table. I’m surprised the Mayor allowed the question and Richard Diment wisely didn’t bother answering it instead saying he was proud of his Highways Team.

The next question came from resident Stephanie David who was aggressive from the outset and we have heard much the same question before. She is aggrieved by Bexley’s pension fund investing in Israel. Specifically “What is being done with a legal opinion that was sent in August to all local councils by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign detailing culpability with respect to pension fund investments in companies complicit in Israel’s apartheid, occupation and genocide in Gaza?” And “Why were the requests to support Palestine and other black majority countries denied at the full Council meeting last April, whereas every support and political argument that could be mustered was given to white-skinned Ukraine?

Howard Jackson who chairs the Pension Committee said that contrary to that assertion, nothing had been heard from the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. Howard suggested that the constant reference to white-skinned people and the unspoken implication as to his character was unwelcome. He was very diplomatic and I am not sure it was deserved.

Councillor Steven Hall put a question about the Crayford MP’s juvenile game of bombarding FixMyStreet with politically motivated pot hole reports. 150 of them in fewer than ten days. Richard Diment responded with pretty much a repeat of what he said in Cabinet and what he wrote to the News Shopper. The word “misled” featured many times. Official statistics show that Bexley’s roads are in a very much better state than other London boroughs despite Sadiq Khan, in contrast to Boris Johnson, providing maintenance funds in only two of the last seven years.

Labour Councillor Anna Day couldn’t see what the problem is with bombarding FixMyStreet with reports (70% of which were unjustified according to Councillor Diment) and thought that Daniel Francis MP had done Bexley a favour.

7 November - Bexley’s roads are nothing to be proud of

They may be better surfaced than in some other boroughs but nevertheless the roads appear to be managed maliciously.

Changed personal circumstances require me to drive to Bromley during rush hour four times a week. It provides a good insight into how poor Bexley’s Highways department is. Cabinet Member Richard Diment may be proud of it but I have no idea why.

In the past week and a bit we have had Brampton Road and Sidcup High Street both closed. The diversionary routes have been plagued by temporary traffic lights. I have also seen Penhill Road effectively closed by the work overflowing from a side road.

Innumerable side roads from Erith to Sidcup are closed by Thames Water.

Whilst Sidcup High Street was scheduled to be shut until 7th November work commenced on resurfacing Station Road which is the signposted alternative on 6th November. It wasn’t totally shut but passage was difficult.

Journey times have been between 45 and 70 minutes and to some extent explain why BiB has been neglected of late.

Driving standards are very variable and the failure to use direction indicators at roundabouts is potentially dangerous. I followed a car from New Road in Abbey Wood to Foots Cray Lane where I turned off to avoid Sidcup High Street and the indicators were only used once. While in the turn left only lane with a filter light at Crook Log.

Bromley Council has been totally closing a road near Bickley Station seemingly at random. One day closed, next it is open. My destination has three schools within half a mile and another within a mile. Watching mothers bringing everyone to a standstill while trying to park can be amusing. Often they give up after three or four attempts but judging journey times around school times and traditional rush hour is not easy.

Next Monday Greenwich Council is going to close its part of Brampton Road for four weeks. The bus diversions take them all the way to Belvedere Village but what car drivers will do is yet to be seen. The traffic stream heading to Abbey Wood station in the morning may be interesting.

Why do all Councils prefer to shut long lengths of road totally instead of restricting them to one way working with traffic controls? Ten to one it is ’Elf and Safety.

 

6 November - David’s the man

It was never really in doubt, the new Leader taking over from Baroness O’Neill as Leader of Bexley Council is David Leaf. The Baroness bowed out at last night’s Full Council meeting. Easily the most consistently impressive performer at Council meeting David appears to possess the aura necessary to represent the borough among London Councils and hold his own among fellow Leaders. Against some of course that will not be too difficult. More important is that he is a proper Conservative. Nothing Limp Dumb about him as is too often the case nationally.

The only downside I can see is that future Cabinet meetings may go on for ever.

His Deputy is to be Melvin Seymour (Crayford ward) and among Councillors likely to stand for election next May there was not a lot of choice. To put the best gloss on it, he seems to be well respected among his colleagues and a decent enough, feet firmly planted on the ground, sort of bloke. Former Crayford resident John Kerlen may well disagree strongly with that comment and readers with long memories will remember why. The documents in my possession are more than a little damning - but it was all a long time ago when Bexley Council was expected to be less than honest and rarely disappointed us.

 

1 November - Ta-Ta To Teflon Tess

October saw the last Public Cabinet chaired by Baroness O’Neill of Bexley who has been the Leader of Bexley Council since 2009. What can one say? She took over from a crook and headed a Council largely comprised of dishonest people, elected and otherwise, who have for the most part, thankfully gone. Bexley Council continues to be dishonest far too often but probably no more than every other Council in the land.

In those early days it was clear that the Leader knew of the wrong doing by a few of her colleagues but was, as far as I know, never closely associated with it. So that has to be a plus point of sorts.

Bexley has been starved of money by Governments both blue and red as a result of which it has had to put up Council Tax by 66% in 18 years on top of the 40% imposed by the previous administration in only four. As has been remarked here before, it is hard to find any aspect of the borough which is obviously better than it was 20 odd years ago and the financial situation is obviously not. But bankruptcy has been narrowly avoided.

At the last Cabinet meeting the Conservative whip, a former Labour Leader and the Chief Executive all paid tribute to her achievements in their various ways. It must be hoped that by parking her bum more often on the red benches she can play a small role in slowing the systematic wrecking of this country by the majority party in the Commons.

Conservative Councillor Nick O’Hare.

Labour Councillor Chris Ball.

Chief Executive Paul Thorogood.

Another lasting memory of Baroness O’Neill. (Police document.) She cannot abide criticism.