5 October - Stupidity is not corruption
My
belief that there is nothing provably corrupt
in the close and apparently inappropriate relationship between Bexley Council and its favoured property
developer did not go down especially well in some quarters. One in particular
reminded me that the Planning Committee Chairman and his wife both voted to
approve the Care Home proposed for the Heron Hill (Leather Bottle) site.
My recollection is that the
application was rejected by the Head of the Planning Department in July 2020
on the grounds that Bexley had more than enough Care Homes already, and six months later the same plan was approved with both Councillors Bishop
sitting on the Planning Committee as ordinary Members; Mrs. Bishop a substitute. no one
voted against the plan. I have to admit that is a strange
one but maybe Bexley Council is simply incompetent. Never rule that out.
Having caused puzzlement over the off-on Care Home, Councillor Christine Bishop thought it was wise to use the inside of the developer’s home as the
setting for her 2022 election publicity shots. But stupidity is not corruption.
I have been informed, but yet to see the evidence which is promised for later, that Singh has been on
the receiving end of several planning infractions and we know that he has been
taken to Court by Bexley Council at least a couple of times, yet he apparently
remains a favourite with them. He has repaid their gullibility with spending
many thousands on trying to wriggle out of the Metropolitan Open Land
restrictions at the VCD athletics ground while
the Mayor
feels obliged to honour him with her presence.
He needs to build houses on that site or it is £1·2 million down the
drain. I suspect Mr. Singh knows exactly what he is doing. The former Planning
Committee Chairman is now the Cabinet Member for Housing.