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It’s time to dust down your flares, hotpants and platform shoes once again Boggie nights goes on the road for a special 10th Anniversary Tour from February 2007.
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CLLR IAN CLEMENT WRITES
Happy New Year! I hope it proves a good one for you.
Unfortunately the year did not get off to the start we hoped for. No sooner was the holiday over than we heard that a judge had decided to refuse our application for a Judicial Review of the decision to give the go-ahead to the Belvedere incinerator.
I was very disappointed by the decision because I continue to believe that the plant is the wrong scheme, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
We have fought hard against the incinerator over many years and we will continue to work on behalf of local residents, whatever the eventual outcome.
Just before Christmas I made a public call for the reopening of the public inquiry into the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge in the light of the government’s plans to increase tolls on the Dartford Crossing.
Tolls were a key issue at the original public inquiry and the increases that are planned are likely to have a significant effect on traffic flows.
I have called on the Government to do extra work to assess the effect of the higher tolls and to give people the chance to resubmit their evidence. Without this, there is a real danger that a decision will be made that will have disastrous consequences for local people and businesses.
December was also when we heard details of the government’s grant settlement to the Council for the next financial year.
Even though Bexley is a highly rated council with a commitment to managing our budget carefully and keeping the Council Tax down, we’ve been given an increase in grant of less than 2%, when inflation is running at almost 4%.
We inherited a budget that would have meant a 10% increase in Council Tax. We’re doing everything we can to get that down to more acceptable level, but with the miserly grant increase and inflation it’s not going to be easy.
Despite these setbacks, we have a lot of good things planned for 2008, including another visit from Judith Armitt, the new Chief Executive of the Thames Gateway. Ms Armitt visited Bexley in December and was impressed by what we’ve achieved. I hope she is going to be a help to us in our continuing efforts to regenerate the north of the borough.
You can rest assured that we’ll continue to work as hard as we can to look after the interests of all the people of Bexley.
Comment on this story
John Austin Writes
On the personal front the most memorable event was the arrival of more grandchildren. Exhausting, expensive but exciting and exhilarating. But also worrying! What kind of world will they grow up in. What will be their future? What most threatens their security? The two political priorities for the coming years must be to tackle climate change and international terrorism.
The Christmas beak was welcome, enabling me to spend some time with family and friends and even find some time for walking and gardening; though probably not enough to burn off those extra Christmas calories – perhaps a New Year Resolution is in order.
It wasn’t possible, however, to escape the News – especially the chaos and carnage that is Iraq. Our thoughts must be with our forces serving there in what is increasingly seen as an unwinnable task. Of course it is easy for those of us who opposed the invasion to sit back and say “we told you so”. But I derive no pleasure from seeing my predictions of civil war and the dismemberment of the country, with potentially dire consequences for surrounding countries, unfolding before our eyes. There is no easy answer. To withdraw may only lead to greater chaos, but in the long term, the continued presence of British and American troops will hinder a solution to that country’s problems and also place us here in Britain at greater risk of terrorist attacks. We must withdraw, in an orderly fashion with a gradual handover to Iraqi security forces, and hopefully all our service men and women will be home with their families by next Christmas.
On a local level, it was a bad year for my Party. Labour lost control of Bexley Council in May. There is no doubt that national issues largely determined the result. Bexley’s Labour Council had been one of the best, receiving accolades and national awards for good service. It must have been very galling for those Labour councillors who had lost their seats to see many of those acknowledgments of achievement and awards being made in the months following the elections and for the incoming Conservative council to take the credit. We wait with some concern to learn what cuts in services might follow in 2007.
Another area of concern locally is the health service. But before people get the wrong impression, let’s cast our mind back to 1997 when the NHS was in crisis, when 18 month waits for hospital appointments were the norm; where people did wait 7 or 8 hours or longer in casualty; when corridors were filled with patients on trolleys – that was the legacy left by Virginia Bottomley. Waiting times are down drastically; the extra money that has gone in has made a dramatic effect especially on services for cancer and heart disease. There is no doubt that the NHS is better and fitter than it was ten years ago and still provides an excellent service, particularly for those with acute needs. Much more still needs to be done to improve services for those with long-term conditions.
The extra money is welcome. But I am not convinced of Tony Blair’s demand for more reforms. We need to let things settle, with less interference from Whitehall on local and clinical decisions and I believe our NHS staff can and will deliver.
Finally, my other local hopes for 2007 – a decision to have a CrossRail station at Woolwich and a reversal of Charlton’s fortunes so that they remain in the Premiership.
Comment on this story
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It’s time to dust down your flares, hotpants and platform shoes once again Boggie nights goes on the road for a special 10th Anniversary Tour from February 2007.
Click here for for more details |
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