Local elections.

With the local council elections now looming, the local political parties are jockeying for position on numerous issues which are of particular concern to residents. From the feedback that I get, the number one local concern is related to law and order, and especially in respect of the motorbike and moped criminals that I have written about extensively in the past, and no doubt will do so again in the near future. A second area of concern is to do with the large number of Homes of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) which are in the area. Data shows a big increase in rented property in Bexley, with a 103 per cent increase in the number of private rented households between 2001-2011; more recent figures are currently unavailable, but it is thought that the number of privately rented properties in the borough will have increased yet further. To monitor and control this, Bexley Council have announced that they are introducing a licencing scheme for private landlords. The scheme will target specific areas in the borough; those initially listed include North Thamesmead, Abbey Wood and Erith - specifically the area in and around Manor Road. These areas are said by the council to be the worst for complaints about rogue landlords. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on April 10, councillor Brad Smith said: “The intention is to address the impact of poorly managed rented properties to improve housing conditions. It requires landlords to come forward and be licensed, rather than being reliant on complaints. This will help improve conditions for our most vulnerable residents by providing additional regulatory control of the sector in problem areas.” The scheme will mean landlords will be monitored and rogue landlords renting poorly managed properties would be targeted and prosecuted if they are not licensed. I applaud the sentiment of the scheme, and the proposals to roll it out to the whole borough, and not just the trouble spots listed earlier; I do however see problems. The kind of landlords the licencing scheme is designed to highlight and control are the very ones who won't register, not just because of the considerable fee involved - but also because the unscrupulous landlords operate "under the radar" and don't want to be noticed by the relevant authorities.  It will be a real challenge for Bexley Council to identify and bring the unscrupulous landlords to heel. I get the feeling that this story will develop further over the next few months.

Further to the forthcoming local government elections, which take place on Thursday the 3rd of May, some important news if you are a resident of the Slade Green and North End ward of the London Borough of Bexley. As you may be aware, some changes have been made to the electoral wards recently, which is reflected in the overall reduction of the numbers of local councillors. For many years the polling station in the Slade Green and North End ward was located in a temporary Portakabin  in Frobisher Road, adjacent to the Frobisher Road housing estate. The council announced a few weeks ago that due to the boundary changes, the location of the polling station was being moved to Aveley Close, off Crescent Road, and very close to Morrison's car park. I understand that some local residents objected to this, and subsequently the location of the polling station has been moved again. It will now be located in Reddy Road, off Alexandra Road. Personally I think this is a bad move for any local resident with mobility problems, as it is a lot further away than either of the other locations. The local elections normally have a fairly low turnout, and these polling station changes will do little to remedy this; I would hazard a guess that a significant number of voters will turn up at the old location in Frobisher Road, not having read the letter that has been posted to residents in the Slade Green and North End ward (a copy of which is featured above - click on it for a larger version).  I hope that a sign redirecting them to the new location in Reddy Road will be set up. As much as possible needs to be done to encourage people to vote in local elections; key issues such as recycling, bin emptying, street lighting and funding for the less advantaged in local society are all decided at a local level, and your vote, whoever it is for, can and does make a difference. 

Another property related story is being reported in the local press, but in this case I feel that there has been a degree of misunderstanding which needs to be clarified. As regular readers will be aware, I have covered the planning and evolution of the Erith Quarry housing development in some detail over the last couple of years, from when it was a long unused brown field site, to where it is today, with the first houses about to go on sale to the public. The Bexley Times published an article last week which said:- "As the first of batch of a 600-home development go up for sale this weekend, concerns have been raised over the price tags currently on offer. The Erith Quarry development will bring 470 houses and 130 apartments to the town, with the first 27 going on sale this weekend. Each of the homes on sale from September 2 will be available under the shared ownership scheme, with a 50 per cent share of a two-bed maisonette costing residents £165,000 and the same share of a three-bed house costing £220,000. From September 16, would-be homeowners will have to pay £400,000 for a three-bed home and four-bed homes will be going for £525,000. An online search revealed a three-bed semi-detached house elsewhere in the town was taking offers upwards of £250,000". The claim that a three bedroomed semi detached house can be found in Erith for £250,000 is stretching things a bit, to say the least. Whilst the town is the second most affordable place to purchase property in Greater London after Dagenham, just across the River Thames, to get a three bed semi for quarter of a million would mean that it would need considerable renovation. Secondly I know that several local councillors, including Danny Hackett have expressed concern regarding the lack of affordable housing in the new Quarry development. Whilst I completely agree with the sentiment, from the previous discussions I have had with the developers, the whole aim of the Quarry site is not to aim to sell to existing local residents, but rather to attract people from outside the area to move into Erith. This is one of the reasons the houses on the site are predominantly three and four bedroomed; they are not aimed at first time buyers, rather at people who already have, or are planning on starting a family. I understand that a typical buyer profile at the Quarry would be a young professional couple who currently own a one bed flat in somewhere like Brockley, and are thinking of having children. They cannot afford a large house in somewhere like Brockley or Penge, and instead look further out into South East London - to somewhere which will shortly be close to the Crossrail / Elizabeth Line. This is where The Quarry comes in - whilst the houses on the development are relatively expensive in the local market, they are relatively affordable compared to areas closer to the centre of London. This is one of the reasons that virtually all of the advertising for The Quarry has been done in papers like The London Evening Standard - the developers are not  trying to appeal to local residents, rather they are looking to attract comparatively wealthy middle class people into the area, the thinking being that if wealth moves into the area, it will "trickle down" when the new residents start using local services, and take part in the local economy. The danger for the developers, London and Quadrant, is if people new to the area start to look around at the existing housing market and discover that they can get better value for money in the existing housing market in Erith, Northumberland Heath and Barnehurst. As always, the market will decide. It is without doubt that a greater amount of affordable housing is required in the local area - something that is true for most if not all of the South East. The problem is there is little incentive for developers to create affordable properties when they can still easily build full price housing for those with the ready money - even if these are absentee owners from China or Russia, investing / laundering their money in a "safe" country where the government is extremely unlikely to confiscate it. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Last Tuesday marked a historic moment in computing history; it was the fortieth anniversary of the release of the ground breaking Apple II Computer. It debuted on the 17th April 1977, at the West Coast Computer Faire, positioning Apple at the forefront of the looming personal computer revolution. The company’s first mass-market computer, the Apple II boasted an attractively machined case designed by Jerry Manock (who later went on to design the first Macintosh). It also packed a keyboard, BASIC compatibility and, most importantly, colour graphics. Fuelled by some marketing savvy from Steve Jobs, the Apple II made quite a splash at the San Francisco Bay Area’s first personal computer convention. Right from the start of his career, Steve Jobs realised the importance of a good product introduction. With no special media event to introduce the Apple II, he used the West Coast Computer Faire to perform the same function. Apple occupied the four booths directly facing the building’s front entrance. The strategic positioning made Apple the first of 175 companies at the Faire that customers saw when they arrived. At a time when money was short, Apple splashed out on a backlit Plexiglass display featuring the new logo of a rainbow hued apple with a single bite taken out of it. The eye-catching setup showcased a dozen Apple II computers for visitors’ inspection. Unbeknownst to customers, these were unfinished prototypes, since the actual computers would not be ready until June of 1977. The Apple II, the company’s second computer, and its first mainstream model, became an enormously important product line. The year it debuted, it brought in $770,000 in revenue. That figure increased to $7.9 million the following year and a massive $49 million the year after that. Apple continued producing some version of the Apple II until the early 1990s. Long term readers may recall that the Apple II was the subject of the very first ever "killer app" in the form of the first electronic spreadsheet, called VisiCalc. I wrote at some length about it here. 

Now that the excellent local micro pub has opened, it is now settling into a routine. Several readers have asked me about its opening hours - hence the poster above. I have visited it on a couple of evenings in the last week, and it has been consistently busy with a wide variety of customers, all of whom seem to enjoy the superbly kept and served real ale and convivial company. The Bird and Barrel has yet to be awarded a "Scores on the Doors" hygiene rating, but I predict it will get a 5 star rating. Bexley Council seem to have done a pretty creditable job of getting the restaurants and takeaways in the borough to improve their health ratings over the last couple of years; there was a point when Bexley came the bottom of "Scores on the Doors" ratings for the entire country, and Erith came bottom in the borough. I am pleased that this has now very much changed for the better. Overall the ratings are improved beyond the expectations of many - there are however a few exceptions to this, which show there is still scope for improvement. Two of the worst offenders are located in Nuxley Road, Upper Belvedere - not a place one would readily associate with poor quality catering or low hygiene standards. Both K's Cafe and the Belvedere Tandoori have been awarded one out of five star hygiene ratings in the council's most recent round of health checks - a rating which I strongly feel should mean that they should be closed with immediate effect until substantial remedial works are carried out.  I don't know about K's Cafe, but the Belvedere Tandoori has been struggling for several years, and has been up for sale for some considerable time. It voluntarily surrendered its drinks licence some while back - something which has further hurt its trade considerably. I have heard rumours (unsubstantiated at this point) that it may become a Turkish restaurant. If you have any information regarding this, please drop me a line in complete confidence to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It is not yet widely known, but British Telecom are planning to replace all existing old fashioned copper line telephones with VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) over the next handful of years. The closure of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) is part of plans by BT toward internet-based voice calls via a fibre network. As such it will be looking to close a chunk of exchanges. The telecoms giant would prefer to provide only internet services, and let customers use them for voice calls. The Telegraph reported that BT wants to move "all domestic and business customers to internet-based voice calls within a decade," but is prevented from doing so by Ofcom, which requires it to offer basic PSTN/POTS voice connections alongside internet ones. Expecting customers to eventually migrate to a portfolio of "all IP" services, including broadband, television, and voice, BT is upping the pressure on Ofcom in anticipation of its once-a-decade review, due later this year. "BT believes all IP services will be used nationwide by 2025 and we think Ofcom's review is an opportunity to roll back obsolete rules in this area to create a level playing field," a BT spokesperson told journalists recently.  Regulation has not kept up with the massive growth in competition and rapid pace of technology change over the last decade, whilst there are many overlaps between British and European laws which could be removed and simplified. Such measures would improve efficiency, stimulate competition, and encourage investment in the UK's connected future.

Now for the weekly safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association:- Firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "An excellent week for Barnehurst Ward with no burglaries to report. On the morning of Friday 13th Police acted quickly following reports on social media of a bike that had been stolen in Martens Grove Park. The victim was contacted and a detailed description was given of the bike. Whilst on patrol Barnehurst Officers spotted the bike being ridden not far from Martens Grove Park. The bike was seized, youth detained and the bike returned to a very happy and grateful owner. On 14th April 2018 a robbery took place in Pelham Road between 06.30am - 07.00am. Victim was walking home after visiting a friend and was approached by 5 to 6 black males. An Armani bag containing a mobile phone and travel card was grabbed from the victim. Unfortunately the victim was too shocked at the time to get a detailed description of the males involved. Good news after a lot of door knocking this week Barnehurst Officers have nearly achieved 100% Neighbourhood Watch coverage with only two more roads to go. We aim to achieve this by next week, update to follow. Join a member of the team at Barnehurst Golf Club on Wednesday 25th April 2018 at 11.00am to discuss any local issues that may be concerning you or simply come along and say hello". Belvedere ward:- "We are continuing to receive reports of anti-social behaviour in Draper Close. Youths are reportedly causing a nuisance to residents, shouting swearing etc. if anyone has suffered or has any information please get in contact. There is a particular off road motorbike, red and white, being ridden by a white male wearing a balaclava. He is normally spotted around the Picardy Street area. If anyone knows who this person is please let us know as he is committing several road traffic offences as well as driving dangerously. On the subject of off road bikes the team have issued another Section 59 warning to a male riding in Franks Park. We have not taken over this area yet but we are trying to make an early dent in this biking trend to at least ease it for the upcoming summer months. There was an attempted burglary on 17/04/2018 around 1030 hours on Barnfield Road. A male was reportedly pulling on the door handle of an address. The owner returned and the male ran off towards Nuxley Road. Our upcoming surgeries: 25/04/2018 – ASDA car park, from 1600 hours until 1700 hours. We will be giving out anti-theft number plate screws with the assistance form the AA and 04/05/2018 – ASDA Café, 1400 hours until 1500 hours". Brampton ward:- "Yet another good week on Brampton Ward with only a handful of crimes reported, and only two of those of interest to our residents. Unfortunately, we had a burglary reported in Long Lane where entry was gained by breaking the living room window. An untidy search was conducted and an amount of jewellery was taken. This burglary occurred whilst the residents were away on holiday so now would be a good time to remind our residents to take extra care while away with holiday season approaching. There is plenty of crime prevention advice on the Met Police website. There was also a shoplifting from Sainsbury’s in Brampton Road. Brampton officers are continually patrolling ASB hotspots with vandalism being reported in the Bursted wood surgery area and our off road motor cycle team are also patrolling the woods in an attempt to deter anti-social motor cycling which seems to increase as the weather improves. Only two weeks now until the Ward boundaries change". Christchurch ward:- "Below are some of the things that we have been up to over the last week. We are pleased to say we have no reports of any burglaries on the ward over the last week as well as any motor vehicle related crimes. On the 15/04/2018 - A bag was reported stolen whilst victim was out with friends at Frankie and Benny’s on the Broadway. Also another theft from person was reported on the 14/04/2018. A shoulder bag was taken from an elderly female that was on the back of a trolley. Another report of a purse was taken on the 12/04/2018 from the victims hand bag whilst shopping in Primark. On the 11/04/2018 - There was a report of a bag taken from an elderly female whilst on the Broadway, bag was taken from victims trolley. A shop windows was smashed along the Broadway on the 11/04/2018 with an unknown object. Also fire alarm set off in the Marriot Hotel as youths had smashed the glass to set it off. The team have been recently conducting plain clothes patrols in unmarked vehicles as well as the usual high visibility patrols the team conducts daily, we also recently held our contact point yesterday at the Central Library. If you do speak to anyone who lives on the ward who does not have NHW set up on their street. Please put them through to us if they are interested in maybe joining. If you would like to contact us, please feel free to make contact via email, twitter or over the phone. For crime prevention advice, please look at the Met Police website which does have information that you may find useful". Colyers ward:- "On Wednesday 4th April at 8.40 pm a woman knocked on my door saying that she was trying to raise sponsorship money for a charity football match in aid of a boy who had been knocked down in a nearby road. She was well spoken, smartly dressed with long dark hair, slim, quite short and aged around 30 years. The Colyers Safer Neighbourhoods Policing Team confirmed that there had been no reports of any child having been run over in the area. Over the last week we are happy to say there have been no reported burglaries on the ward. Unfortunately we have had two motor vehicle crimes. One was in Frinsted Road on the 14th April where a car was taken from the driveway but returned the following day. A car was broken into on the 16th April in Mortimer Road, unfortunately we have no further details than that. The team stopped a male with cannabis yesterday in Hornbeam Lane near Barnehurst Train Station. The cannabis was seized and a cannabis warning issued. For our ASB hotspot in Hampton House the team have completed several recorded home visits and ABC’s to individuals we recently stopped there with more to follow next week. Unfortunately our police surgeries in Cupacakes Bakery on Colyers Lane have had to be cancelled as the shop has closed. The team are busily looking for a new venue but until then subsequent surgeries will be held in the Blackberry Patch Community Centre on Badlow Close. The next session will be on Saturday 28th April at 4pm. On a sad note the team held the last ever Colyers Ward Panel meeting last night before the ward boundary changes come into effect on the 4th May. The team would like to wish all our co-ordinators well on their new wards". Crayford ward:- "Some tools were stolen overnight from a van in Festival Close on Thursday 12th April. A moped was stolen overnight from Britannia Close on Sunday 15th April. Fortunately the bike was found the next day in Erith. PC Mark and PC James arrested a suspect involved in a Domestic incident on Monday, this investigation is ongoing. 2 males were stopped and searched close to Erith Town Centre last Thursday and cannabis was found on both resulting in 2 cannabis warnings issued. Last Wednesday we held a multi-agency meeting with Bexley Council, Erith Yacht Club and various companies from the Darent Industrial estate in regards fly tipping issues in Ray Lamb Way as well as off road bike issues out on the Thames Path. The meeting was successful in the fact that all parties are now in full contact with each other plus various means of enforcement and prevention were discussed including CCTV. There are various agencies responsible for various areas of the land and all have agreed to be more responsible in their reporting, prevention and reporting it to the council. Patrols will be continued by officers in regards off road bikes at the location and moves are already underway to secure the main access points to the Thames Path. We have a Community Contact Session on Monday 23rd April from 11am at the café in Forest Road, please come and say hi if you are around". Lesnes Abbey ward:- "Burglaries - Good News - No burglaries this week. However with this glorious weather we’re experiencing at the moment. Remember to close and lock all windows and doors even if you are only going out for a short period. UPVC front doors - Lift it  and Lock it. Motor Vehicle Crimes - Between the hours 10:00pm on Tuesday 10/04/11 and 07:15 am Wednesday 11/04/18 a vehicle locked and secure was taken from Canberra Road. During the early hours of Tuesday 10/04/18 a vehicle parked locked and secure in Wolvercote Road had the rear passenger window smashed and loose change was taken. Between the hours of 07:00pm Sunday 08/04/18 and 09:00am Monday 09/04/18 a vehicle parked in West Heath Road had both door mirror glasses taken. Crime prevention - Did you know your vehicle is like a shop window? If you can see ANY property left on view then so can a thief. Take it with you or put it out of sight. Other News - After the local council elections on 3rd May, The ward boundaries will then be split up, Lesnes Abbey will go and you will be with different wards. Once these have been decided we will let you know". Northumberland Heath ward:- "The team held a crime prevention event at the BP garage in Bexley Road on Saturday April 14th. With assistance from the AA we handed out anti-theft number plate screws. Some were fitted by the AA mechanic and those who were in a hurry took them home to fit themselves. A cannabis warning form was issued to a male following the stop of a vehicle in Becton Place over the weekend. One attempted commercial premises burglary in the Tesco Store in Bexley Road late on Monday April 16th. CCTV shows four males pull up in a vehicle with their faces covered. The four males tried to cut the padlocks from the outer gate and entry was attempted via the fire exit by using a long pole to break the handle on the door. A sledgehammer was then used to try to gain entry but as the alarm went off the males left empty handed. No residential burglaries this week. Two motor vehicle crimes reported to us over the last week. The first incident took place at the Pantiles were the victim has had several vans broken in to previously. The van was left overnight locked and secured on Friday April 13th and was found on Saturday morning when the rear door was open, the lock on the door had been forced but nothing was taken from the vehicle. The second motor vehicle crime reported to us was in Limewood Road, again on the evening of Friday April 13th. The lock was tampered with but entry was not gained. The next drop in Police Surgery will be held on Wednesday 25th April at 11am". Thamesmead East ward:- "One burglary to make you aware of that occurred on Tuesday 17th April between 1700 and 2200 hours, Dexter House, Kale Road. The victim returned home to discover their front door open/damaged and all lights to the flat were on. Not believed that anything was actually stolen. During the early hours of Saturday 14th April, number plates were stolen from a motor vehicle that was parked outside Timothy House, Kale Road. On Wednesday 18th April, during the afternoon, a motor vehicle was stolen from Eastgate Close. The team have recently received reports of two males smoking cannabis, in an alleyway, St Michaels Close. On Saturday 14th April, two males were searched after they were seen to be loitering in the alleyway. No cannabis found, but intelligence gained. Patrols around the area will continue. On Friday 13th April, PC Nana arrested a female for fraud offences. PC Nana interviewed the female who fully admitted that she had done wrong. Due to the female’s previous good character, she received an adult caution. On Thursday 12th April, the team worked with Sam from the AA in fixing anti-theft screws to members of the public car number plates. Although we was only at the BP petrol garage for a hour and half, Sam was kept very busy, with 15 vehicles having new screws fitted. Hugely enjoyable and successful event, which we plan to arrange again in the future".

The end video this week is a bit of a flash back to last year, when local arts commissioning group The Exchange ran The Erith Lighthouse - promoting local artists and social activities in the daytime, and turning into a pop - up restaurant in the evenings. The Erith Lighthouse was planned to be a "one off" event, but I have heard rumours that more may well be seen of this unique, landmark structure in the future, though the details are still somewhat vague. 

Crimbo.

The information sheet above was published by Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association on Wednesday. The two individuals pictured have a long history of stealing motor bikes, riding them locally without a licence, tax, insurance or a helmet, and then breaking the bikes for parts, which then get sold on. They have been a regular presence on the Frobisher Road Estate, off Manor Road in Erith for some considerable time. I am not aware of what other sentence they have had imposed. The issuing of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) goes over and above any judicial sentence - it is on top of, not instead of. In case you were wondering, a Criminal Behaviour Order (often known as a Crimbo) is a court order that replaces the better known Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO). The Crown Prosecution Service describe the CBO thus:-“On 20 October 2014, new anti-social behaviour (ASB) sanctions were introduced and Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) replaced post-conviction anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs). The CBO is available on conviction for any criminal offence in any criminal court. The order is aimed at tackling the most serious and persistent offenders where their behaviour has brought them before a criminal court. CBOs include prohibitions to stop the anti-social behaviour, and may also include requirements to address the underlying causes of the offender's behaviour. The court may make a CBO against an offender only on the application of the prosecution. For a CBO to be made: The court must be satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that the offender has engaged in behaviour that caused, or was likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person; and that the court considers making the order will help in preventing the offender from engaging in such behaviour. The CBO replaces the Anti-social Behaviour Order (ASBO) on conviction and the Drinking Banning Order (DBO) on conviction. The main differences between the ASBO on conviction and the CBO are: The behaviour (first limb of the test for imposing an order) only need to cause or be likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to any person (removing the "not of the same household" requirement); The "necessity" test becomes a "helpfulness" test (as with that for Football Banning Orders); and the court may impose requirements as well as prohibitions. The police will usually raise the possibility of an application for a CBO against an individual at the point of charge. A local authority may also approach the prosecution directly with a request to consider an application for a CBO without having to go via the police. The police / local authority must provide evidence to support the request for a CBO. Prosecutors should be alert at charging stage and beyond to cases in which a CBO application may be appropriate. Before applying for a CBO for a youth, the prosecution must find out the view of the local youth offending team (YOT). In practice, the organisation preparing the application for the CBO (the police or local authority) will find out the view of YOT. If the views of YOT are not present on the file, the prosecutor must contact the police / local authority to request the information. A CBO may be varied or discharged by the court which made the original order. Either the offender or the prosecution can make an application but if this is dismissed by the court, neither party can make a subsequent application without the consent of either the court or the other party. It is a criminal offence if an offender fails to comply, without reasonable excuse, with the prohibitions and / or requirements in the CBO". It sounds to me as if the CBO is designed to fill in the loopholes and weaknesses of the old ASBO system. Anything that curbs the local lowlives has a thumbs up from me. 

Following the terrible fire in Moat House last week, there have been a few developments. It turns out that the fire alarm in the building actually worked exactly as it was programmed to do. The claims that the alarm did not sound were true in a way, but not in another. It turns out that many modern multiple occupancy alarm systems are not designed to sound out loud to the whole block, but only to alert the occupants of flats potentially affected by the fire. Regular reader and occasional contributor Caroline Field, Project Manager with Orbit Housing Association (and unconnected with the Moat House development) explains:- “Interesting to read about the fire - and have of course made mental note to be particularly careful of the wiring sign off on our PVs. However just to pick up on one of your points, it would not normally be fire service advice to have a fire alarm in a block of flats. Each flat would have an individual (these days, mains wired) alarm which would go off if the fire was actually in your flat. Firstly of course it would go off every time someone burnt the toast. Secondly the strategy is generally that residents stay put. (unless the fire is in their flat of course) The flats are all built to a high standard of containment and people should stay put until the fire brigade either make safe or rescue them from the building. If you think about it, the last thing you need is people all panicking to leave the building, quite likely leaving their safe flat to blunder into the fire zone. There are also obviously risks to people going down stairs etc (lifts can’t be used) in haste, perhaps when they are drowsy , panicked, disabled, drunk, encumbered with children etc. They will also get in the way of the fire brigade who will be arriving and wanting to get rapidly to the site of the fire. All flat blocks will have automatic opening vents – AOVs – which open in the event of fire and help to ensure that smoke, gases etc. don’t amass in the stairwells. There’s no point giving people an alarm and then telling them to stay put –they won’t!. To put it in perspective, about five years ago there was a fire in Cambria House. The flat where it happened was totally gutted. The landing was very dirty with smoke - presumably when the door was opened for the family to escape or when the fire brigade went in. The old lady in the flat next door was pottering around her flat until a very nice fireman knocked on the door to ask her to leave. Her flat was totally unaffected. Remember that this was a really old flat – and just before they all had fire protection upgrades”. Fascinating stuff – and to be honest, it does make perfect sense. I guess that the new residents of Moat House were unaware of, or had forgotten how the alarm system operated. Moving into a new home could well cause "information overload".

The upper photo was taken by Pier Road based professional photographer George Gilbert early in the morning of Sunday the 17th of July 1966. It shows what Erith High Street looked like fifty years ago, including L.B Stevens the Butcher. The only buildings still in existence in the photo are The Cross Keys, which can just be seen to the extreme right of the photograph. Slightly to the left of it you can just see Erith Post Office, which is still open as well. It was only a very short time later that the whole of the centre of Erith was demolished to make way for a horrendous brutalist concrete shopping centre, which was universally loathed (and as a child, my main recollection of which was a strong smell of stale wee and Jeyes Fluid). I don't know a single person old enough to recall the old town centre who would not have it back if it was possible. The lower photo shows the last day of trade for L.B Stevens - Master Butcher, photographed on Saturday the 27th May 1967, just before the shop was shut for good and demolished. By the look of things, the immaculate shop, with Len Stevens in his bow tie, spotless apron and straw boater hat was a real credit to the area. If the redevelopment vandals had not come in and demolished things, I do wonder if Stevens the Butcher would still be running today? With the increase in popularity of traditional suppliers, with high end butchers Carnivore opening in Sidcup, Erith could have become a haven for foodies. How things might have been different if wiser heads had been in control.

Back at the beginning of July I wrote a piece about a long dead recordable music format called Elcaset, which was developed and marketed by Sony. It was designed to offer reel to reel recording and playback quality in an outsized cassette case, Whilst technically the Elcaset analogue format was very clever, it was very expensive and it never really took off. In fact, the manufacturer Sony ended up killing off Elcaset with another of their own formats – Minidisk. A couple of readers have asked for more history on Minidisk, so here goes. The MiniDisc format began as a research project in the labs of electronics giant Sony in the early 1990s. In those pre-iPod, pre-flash memory days, engineers were struggling with the problem of how to make music portable. Sony was riding high on the success of their Walkman analogue cassette players, which had come to dominate the market in the 1980s. But they were bumping up against the limits of the media: both cassette tape and CD Walkman devices really could not get any smaller, because the medium itself was the limiting factor. Devices like the cassette tape Walkman WM-EX88 and the CD D-J50 were not much bigger than the cases that the cassette tape and CD were stored in: they literally could not get much smaller and still hold the tape or CD. What was needed, Sony decided, was a new way to store music. This new format was the MiniDisc. This development was spurred by two inventions: a new audio compression format called ATRAC and a storage system called the magneto-optical disc. The Adaptive Transform Acoustic Codec (ATRAC) was developed by Sony engineers who figured out an important fact: your ears are good, but not that good. They are attuned to picking up certain sounds better than others. Specifically, if there are two sounds at similar frequencies, your ear can’t separate the two. This is especially true of high frequencies: our ears are more attuned to picking out low frequencies like the rustle of a tiger in a nearby tree. At higher frequencies, your ear is not able to pick out the details. So, what ATRAC does is to effectively lump these frequencies together, losing the specific details that your ear can’t hear anyway. (That’s the theory, at least; audiophiles will argue otherwise, but let’s leave that aside for the moment). ATRAC breaks the sound down into 24 frequency bands, and selectively compresses the sound, with smaller bands (that preserve more of the detail) at lower and middle frequencies, but losing a lot in the high bands. There is much more to the process than that (you can read all of the details here - trust me, it is extremely technical), but the end product is that it compresses the sound down so that the ATRAC version is one fifth of the size of the CD version. Each disc could hold 74 or 80 minutes of music, although this could be expanded with later models that could compress the music more to hold up to 320 minutes. The first MiniDisc players were launched in 1992, accompanied by a large advertising campaign touting the benefits of the new format. Initially, Sony tried to pitch it as an alternative to CD, a new format where you would buy albums on a MiniDisc. The first pre-recorded album was Emotions by Mariah Carey, which was perhaps indicative of the state of mind at Sony after the launch was a spectacular failure, with Sony reportedly selling less than 50,000 players in the first year. The MiniDisc never caught on as a pre-recorded music format, as CDs were the music format that everyone used. Never ones to admit defeat, Sony decided to try again in 1996. This time, they decided to play up the recordable and reusable aspects of MiniDisc, touting their new discs and portable players as being tougher, better and cooler than CD or tape, because you could easily move tracks from CD or tape to MiniDisc, then skip or shuffle tracks on the player. This relaunch met with some success: the MiniDisc players were lighter and more flexible than CD players, and they offered the skip protection and shuffle play features that cassette tape players were missing. Other manufacturers (such as Aiwa and Sharp) supported the format and started offering recorders and players. The new breed of portable MiniDisc players could record music directly from the digital output of a CD player, so the quality was great. You could also sacrifice quality for more music, storing up to 320 minutes of audio on those that supported the higher compression levels. One niche market that loved the MiniDisc were radio journalists. The aforementioned ability to write to MiniDiscs meant that you could record to them with many portable MiniDisc devices, and the ATRAC compression worked extremely well for voices and ambient sound recordings. It didn’t have quite the premium audio quality of DAT (Digital Audio Tape), but it was cheaper and more reliable than the notoriously mechanically finicky DAT recorders. The game was soon up, however, when Apple announced the iPod. The benefits of the iPod over the MiniDisc were obvious: the first iPods offered 5GB of capacity that meant up to 1000 songs, or hundreds of hours of music, while each MiniDisc held just 320 minutes at most. And the iPod didn’t ask where the music came from, or limit how you could copy it: it accepted most MP3 files without complaint or limitation. This caused a seismic shift in this industry: the iPod went on to sell millions, while the MiniDisc remained a niche product that was loved by some, but ignored by most. The writing was on the wall. The MiniDisc format lost ground over the early 2000s as MP3 players got better and better. Even the uniqueness of MiniDisc being able to record audio on the player was lost, as solid state recording devices started offering more flexible recording and editing features than MiniDisc ever could for professional users. The Minidisc format was discontinued by Sony in early 2013, though many fan sites and third party resources are still available for a product that never really made it out of a niche.

The photo above was taken by one of my local anonymous sources. It shows the rear of the K Spice African restaurant after a kitchen fire back in July. My source writes:- “I refer in particular to K`s Spice African restaurant which used to be a takeaway, since 2010 became a licensed sit in restaurant causing much noise and disturbance to us all and the anti-social behaviour when it closes at around 11pm drunken customers proceed to their cars in the Pier Road car park, frequently using it as an outside toilet. We have been complaining to the council and police for the last 6 years but nothing seems to ever improve. It has recently been granted planning permission to be knocked through into Mumbai curry house and will become twice the size. I just wanted to mention and publicise that we had a fire here too, Thankfully not anything like the scale of the one that occurred last Monday, but just as scary. It happened on Wednesday 20th July `16 (a really hot day) at 4.50pm. The cooking oil drums which K`s spice stupidly store in their ` rear fire exit` exploded, melting the plastic roof setting fire to the huge piles of cardboard and rubbish also regularly stored here ! The fire brigade said it was `Very poor housekeeping`”. I have to say that I too witnessed the fire; it was only the very rapid arrival of the Fire Brigade that stopped the minor conflagration from turning into a major blaze that would have seriously threatened the flats above the block. K Spice have had brushes with the authorities in the past; they unsuccessfully applied for a very late night licence, which only got refused after strong protests to the council from local residents. You can read the story from back in 2014 here. As I have previously mentioned, I get the impression that several businesses are engaged in a mini "land grab" over Electricity House and the block next to it in Pier Road. I think several savvy local business people are buying up as much of the place as possible, prior to a large developer coming along to buy the entire site for redevelopment. The snooker club recently got sold for £305,000, and as it only brings in £28,000 a year in rent, something is definitely happening. I think that property speculation is going on, and it will not be very long before an offer is made for the entire site - the land is now worth far more than the buildings on it. What do you think? Do you have any information concerning this? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It would seem that Bexley Council have now belatedly taken action regarding Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO). At present only HMOs with three or more floors, containing five or more people in two or more households and with shared facilities need a licence – Bexley has 22 of these properties, although there are thought to be around 1,400 smaller dwellings that under current Bexley rules do not need to be registered. Now, later than most London boroughs, Bexley is finally adopting an “Article 4 Direction” It means that in the future, all HMOs would need planning application approval – and this should come into force early next year. Leader of Bexley Council Teresa O'Neill said in an interview with Bexley Times "We understand residents’ have some concerns around HMOs and it is unfortunate that on occasion these properties are used simply to maximise profits by a small minority of private landlords. We must recognise however, that there is also a need for well managed HMOs in the borough. Many are used by students or young professionals, some are there to ease the enormous housing pressure that we are currently under. But we must have some better local regulation in place. This new licensing scheme is being proposed in the current absence of any nationally applied rules.” The decision to proceed with the new licensing scheme was taken by Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Cllr Brad Smith on the 12th of August. The decision will now be subject to a seven day Council 'call-in' period. Following that the next stage will be a ten week consultation period on the new licensing schemes, during which the Council will engage with tenants, landlords, managing agents and other interested parties. Following consultation the licensing schemes could be introduced from early in 2017.The 'Article 4 Direction' means that in future all HMOs would need planning application approval. The nature of the legislation means that this would come into place late next year. Houses of Multiple Occupancy can be a great success. The former Homeleigh care home in Avenue Road, Erith is a case in point. I have described Avenue Road before as “The Beverly Hills of Erith”. It is a very desirable location, with some lovely detached and semi-detached houses, mostly built in the 1930’s. The former Homeleigh care home now houses a number of formerly homeless people. It was unable to continue as a care home due to changes in planning regulations which meant it was no longer suitable for use as a care home, but there was nothing wrong with the building in itself – and just for once Bexley Council took the pragmatic decision to re-purpose the otherwise functional building. There was initial wariness from local residents about the move, but the feedback I have had recently seems to indicate that the arrangement is working very well indeed. HMO's are not automatically bad - it all depends on how they are set up, managed and regulated.

Over the last week you may well have noticed a number of people on the river front at Erith, and on the Slade Green Crayford Marshes; they were equipped with binoculars and cameras. If you wondered who they were, and what they were doing, then I will explain. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) conducted its fourth annual seal survey. Combining aerial surveys of the Essex and Kent coastlines, as well as sandbanks in the outer Thames Estuary, with more traditional boat and land-based studies, ZSL’s conservation scientists have been counting latest numbers of the marine mammals, as well as looking out for any emerging health trends. Data collected from the research will reveal any change in harbour seal populations and also highlight the ratio of harbour seals to the larger and more dominant grey seals, which increasingly compete with harbour seals for food and territory. Last year’s ZSL seal survey counted 451 harbour seals and 454 grey seals in the Thames Estuary. The 2016 edition will provide the latest update on these figures and also inform future conservation and management of seals in the region.This will be done through implementing the Greater Thames Seal Action Plan, providing scientific evidence during any planning applications that may impact seals, as well as generating comprehensive population data to inform future research in the region. As I have previously mentioned, the seals swim in the River Thames and often into the River Darent; they often float in the water with their heads above the surface in and around Anchor Bay, and well-meaning passers by on the shore sometimes mistake the seals for swimmers who appear to be in trouble in the water. Indeed, the average survival time for a person in the water is estimated to be eleven minutes, due to the extreme currents and undertow in the river in and around Erith Pier. Obviously the situation is somewhat different for seals – the water is their natural habitat, for which they are perfectly evolved. I understand that at least one RNLI callout recently has been as a result of a misidentified seal mistaken for a swimmer in distress.

This weekend has been the first outing for the limited overnight operation of certain tube lines in London. The end video this week shows the behind the scenes final preparation for the 24 hour tube which were made last weekend, when trial runs were made, and the last safety testing was undertaken. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

£1.90 for a wee.

The photo above shows the Wind, Wave and Sail sculpture which is located on the small triangle of land that separates Erith Riverside Shopping Centre from Morrison's car park. It was erected in 1998 and funded by Morrison's. It is meant to represent the connection between Erith and the River Thames - to be honest it is not bad, but pretty unimaginative - too literal in my opinion, but nevertheless the town is better for it. 

You may recall that two weeks ago I covered a story involving a break in and burglary at The Cross Keys Centre in Erith High Street. I published a series of still images taken from the high definition CCTV cameras that surround the building. Well, due to some excellent work carried out by Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, and the Erith and North End Safer Neighbourhood Police teams, I am extremely happy to say that three youths have now been arrested for the offences. Thanks to everyone who helped identify the youths; it is somewhat ironic - the youths were caught partly through the actions of the local community, and when the renovation and conversion work to The Cross Keys Centre is completed, it will become a great asset and resource to the local community. I think we can chalk this one up as a victory for the good guys. 

You may recall that I gave extensive coverage to the 2016 Erith Fun Day last week, with its first appearance on the large field behind Erith Sports Centre. It has been relocated from its previous location in Erith Riverside Gardens, as the Fun Day had outgrown the original venue. The new Sports Centre site is much larger than the old venue, and this reflected both in the increased number of stalls and stallholders at the event this year, and the number of visitors compared to the past. I only became aware of one shocking fact this week, well after the Fun Day had concluded. One of my regular local sources of information dropped me a bombshell. It turns out that the new venue for the Fun Day is not quite as welcoming as had been thought. My source writes “I was shocked to hear that the nearby Leisure Centre run by Parkwood Leisure was charging £1.90 for use of their toilets, at Saturday's Erith Fun Day, when our members said they were volunteers and ask if they could use them for free they were told NO as were the Police;  I think this is a disgusting rip off. Are they not able to enter into the spirit of the local community fun day and even if they charged a nominal fee say 20p it would not have been so bad, I have emailed them directly and will write to their head office if I don't get a reasonable reply”. This is utterly disgraceful – there were only three portaloos on the Fun Day field, and these were heavily used by the visitors to the event, leaving it very difficult for the organisers and volunteers when they needed the lavatory. Bearing in mind that Erith Sports Centre plan in being the venue of choice for future Fun Days, one would have thought that they would have been more welcoming and encouraging of a long – term relationship, but it would appear not. How the sports centre can even contemplate exploiting local volunteers by charging them £1.90 each and every time they needed to use the loo is both exploitative and utterly outrageous. My contact subsequently wrote to the leisure centre, and got the following reply:- Thank you for taking the time to put in writing your comments about the toilet facilities here at Erith Leisure Centre. Unfortunately everyone who is not a member of the site needs to pay an admission charge to use the facilities, which would include the use of the toilet facilities. The Erith Fun Day was nothing to do with the centre, but the management here had a meet with the organisers beforehand who assured us there was toilet facilities available for people to use on the field, as we would be charging anyone who wanted to use our facilities on the day. I can only apologise that this wasn't communicated to you by the Fun Day organisers. Going forwards we will not be changing our admission policy for non members using the site. I hope this clarifies the situation. Regards, Lara Butler Senior Duty Manager Erith Leisure Centre". I cannot say that I am surprised by the response - and it shows just how little the management of the sports centre care about being part of the local community. My source responded with:- "Thank you for your reply, I realise that access to some leisure centres toilets are not always easy but I thought that charging £1.90 to volunteers and members of Bexley Police is harsh and not community minded. It would have been easier to have said something like "due to our facilities being available for members only we are unable to offer use to these facilities to volunteers and police officers". The other option had you wanted to enter into the spirit of the occasion would have been to have had a stand at the event and offer tours of your leisure facilities and handed our membership forms therefore possibly benefitting from increased membership and you could have perhaps also offered a 20p surcharge to volunteers and police officers for the use of your toilets. It's sad this was an opportunity lost in building better community relations and in fact in some areas you have managed to do the opposite, your PR obviously needs a rethink!" If anyone can think of a suitable (and legal) method of practical protest at this policy, please do let me know. And before you suggest it, we are not going to do a mass wee - in - the - swimming pool protest!

Housing seems to be the number one issue in and around London and the South East at present, and looks like this will continue for the foreseeable future. The inescapable fact is that there are too many people chasing too few properties. Erith and Slade Green have had a reputation as being the most affordable places to live that are located with an acceptable commute of central London. With the advent of Crossrail, and the strong likelihood of a new river crossing at Lower Belvedere, the profile of the local area with potential new residents has never been higher. House prices are now rocketing. My own house, Pewty Acres has increased in value by nearly six and a half times the original purchase price in the last twenty years – most of it in the last five. I have said it before – even though I earn substantially more money than I did twenty years ago, I could not afford to buy my own house nowadays. I am sure that this is true for a great many people, and it does not bode well for those looking to purchase their first home. The London Chamber of Commerce have recognised this, and have released a report that states key workers such as those in the health service may be priced out of working within commuting distance of their work. Currently more than fifty percent of London’s emergency service workers live outside of the capital. Just over half of police, fire and paramedic staff now commute to London, adding to the stress of shift work, The London Chamber of Commerce (LCC) said. Travel and housing costs in London have soared by around a third in recent years.  Meanwhile, pay in the NHS has increased by up to 4 percent in recent years, the report stated, sparking concerns have been raised that workers are being priced out of London. Erith is seeing the largest amount of residential accommodation construction since the 1950’s, with Erith Park, Erith Quarry, Tower Hill, and the forthcoming Riverside Baths site development all either under way, or about to begin. All of these sites are primarily aimed at commercial tenants or owner occupiers, with the exception of Erith Park, which is a mixture of new social housing and for – profit sales. The proposed redevelopment of the Arthur Street Estate is as I understand it solely for the exising social residents, rather than to accomodate many new residents. The only existing “key worker” accommodation is Tramway House, which is located on the corner of West Street and Walnut Tree Road. On top of this lack of affordable accommodation comes the increasing problem of Homes of Multiple Occupancy (HMO) – a term which fifteen or so years ago used to nearly always mean student accommodation. Nowadays that has very much changed; the market has expanded for a number of reason – including that HMOs are popular with buy-to-let investors because, it is believed, they have higher income-generating potential than ordinary or ‘vanilla’ buy-to-let properties (though, according to industry statistics, the earning potential of HMOs has recently become outclassed by that of multi-unit freehold blocks (MUFBs)). By splitting single properties into multiple bedsits that are each let out on separate tenancy agreements, landlords can also reduce their exposure to loss of earnings through rental arrears or voids.  Due to the additional legal requirements placed upon HMO landlords, not every buy-to-let mortgage lender will agree to finance HMO properties. This has led to the emergence of a specialised HMO mortgage market, catered for by a smaller subset of lenders. Because the choice of products is narrower, HMO mortgage borrowers are often subject to stricter criteria. Often they need larger cash deposits, as the average loan-to-value ratio is slightly lower than for an ordinary buy-to-let mortgage, while the minimum property value tends to be higher. Borrowers who are financing unlicensed HMOs may also be required to prove that their local authority has no intention to license the property in the future. It is also common for HMO mortgage lenders to stipulate the number of rooms permitted, the type of tenancy agreement and tenant demographic permitted and even the type of lock installed on internal and external doors. All this being considered, Bexley as a borough has pretty much turned a blind eye to HMO landlords until relatively recently. In October 2010 the Coalition Government amended the legislation. They included a ‘Change in Use’ from C3 to C4 within the General Permitted Development Order (GPDO). This allowed landlords to change their properties from a C3 Dwelling House to a C4 HMO without the need for planning permission. They also gave local authorities the power to remove permission for the C3 – C4 ‘Change in Use’ by means of an ‘Article 4 Direction’. Councils have used this to designate whole areas and limit the number of HMOs in a geographical area. Bexley Council somewhat unwisely opted out of the article 4 direction, thus leaving local residents at risk of an HMO springing up next door at very short notice indeed. The reason that Bexley Council did not sign up to the article 4 direction has been debated by Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers. His analysis of the situation (with which I concur) is that if they did sign up to article 4, they would have a statutory obligation to inspect HMO properties to ensure that they complied with the law; as they would not be able to charge a fee for this, they opted out of the arrangement – something which looks like it has already bitten them on the bum. A FaceBook page “Say No to HMO” has been set up to protest against the spread of HMO’s in Bexley. Sky News held an investigation into illegal houses of multiple occupancy earlier this week; they featured a single house in Kingsbury, in the London Borough of Brent, which had a total of seventeen men living in it in utterly squalid conditions, and paying a total of £3,400 a month in rent to an absentee landlord. This kind of thing is happening all over the place with many “beds in sheds” being discovered by local authorities. The situation is only going to get worse locally, as Bexley council don’t want to take any of the proactive steps that other councils like Brent have already taken. Nothing new there then!

Currently there is a lot of debate as to where in Erith, and how the £3.9 million development grant should be spent. Suggestions have been made by a couple of readers, one of whom’ s thoughts I published last week. Several people have commented that the retail block facing the infamous fish roundabout could be a prime candidate for redevelopment. The large and nowadays rather run down and scruffy brick building is called Electricity House – though many locals are unaware of this. It was the location of a very early speech by then parliamentary candidate Margaret Roberts (later Thatcher) back on the 17th February 1950. You can read a transcript of her rather boring presentation here. It was built back in 1938 and opened in November 1939 as a showroom and offices for the local electricity company, which at the time was run by the council. Pre – war services such as gas, water and electricity supply were quite commonly managed and supplied by local councils; the idea of private companies being involved was something that did not happen until after the war had ended. Electricity House was also a place where new electrical customers could view domestic appliances which they could buy via hire purchase (it sounds like an early version of BrightHouse, but without the crippling interest rates). As well as the showroom, Electricity House was home to what contemporary accounts say was a very upmarket dance hall with a fully sprung Canadian Maple floor; there was also a small Pathe cinema. The local electricity business was astonishingly successful – probably much helped by the fact that it offered the cheapest metered electricity in the entire UK at the time – one penny per unit. Ten thousand local people signed up for electrification in the first month alone, attracted by the offer of free connection to the local power grid – unusual at the time – many suppliers would even charge for the copper cable to connect new customers. In 1939 the Erith electricity board made a (for then) massive profit of £13,000. The idea was that the money would be used to improve local services and amenities for all, but the advent of war meant that early in 1940 Electricity House was handed over for war work, and once peace was restored, the money intended to benefit local people was absorbed by the LEB during nationalisation, and nothing was ever seen of it. Much of Erith was still lit by gas until relatively recently. I believe that some houses in West Street did not get electricity until 1947 when the London Electricity Board was formed, and the local council control of power was nationalised. Almost two years ago I heard a rumour that Electricity House was to be coming up for sale. The story went that the current owners of Electricity House realised that the building is end of life, and no longer fit for purpose. The current commercial tenants don’t pay very much rent for the place, and as the building is old and very scruffy, it is unlikely to attract new tenants prepared to pay higher rents. The only real money earning part of the building is actually the roof, which hosts a number of cellular telephone repeaters and their associated antenna masts. The most profitable course of action would be for the owners of the site to sell the building to a property developer, and for the current building to be demolished to make way for a modern alternative which would attract new and more prosperous tenants prepared to pay higher rents. Personally I would rather see the existing building extensively refurbished, but I somehow doubt that would be commercially viable. The longest term tenant in the building is Erith Snooker Centre, which occupies a large portion of the upper floor, and has been there since at least 1946. Others like the various African stores, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, and The Celestial Church of Christ (which seem to both share the former tyre warehouse; part of the building that faces Erith Council Offices) would all have to find alternative accommodation if this redevelopment went ahead; two years later and nothing has happened – the site seems to be still limping along, with a reduction in rental income now that the largest tenant – AGlory African health and beauty has relocated into the former Owens ironmongers shop in Cross Street. Earlier this week I did some detective work into the whole Electricity House situation, and I found that I was not the only person interested in the building. It turns out that there may actually be some substance in the rumours of a redevelopment of the site – or at the very least someone is speculating that some development may be in the planning stage. Erith Snooker Centre has been put up for sale, and has been successfully sold to a new owner. The club is the single biggest occupant of Electricity House, and pays £28,000 a year in rent for the premises. A new owner has purchased the club for £305,000, with the existing lease with the snooker club lasting until 2047. The return on investment would be something like eleven years. I immediately smelled a rat. There is no way that the snooker club / Electricity House would last eleven years in the same building, let alone until 2047 – when the building would be 109 years old. My impression is that a canny investor has bought the biggest chunk possible of Electricity House in the full knowledge that they won’t make a profit from the rent from Erith Snooker Centre. In my opinion, they, like me, can see the development potential of the entire building, and they are “land banking” their part of it in the hope of being bought out by another developer with deeper pockets – and thus making a large profit for what is a relatively small investment. It will be instructive to see what happens. If anyone knows anything further, please drop me a line with the details. Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com - thanks!

The photo above was taken on the 17th July 1966; it shows Erith High Street. In the far left distance you can see the Prince of Wales pub, which was on the site of what is now the McDonald's drive through. The block of shops in the middle of the photograph is now the Sherwood House residential home, and the Tip Top Bakery was on the site of what nowadays is Erith Health Centre. 

And here is (as close as possible) the same location exactly fifty years later - and it could not really look any more different; nothing at all survives from 1966. If you have any photos of old Erith, please send them to me - I would like to re - photograph the same site so that "then and now" comparisons can be made. 

One of my regular readers dropped me a line earlier this week, with an observation that has been made by numerous local people. He writes:- "I wondered if you might be interested in the undernoted exchange between myself and Bexley Council’s WM and Recycling Dept following my complaint that our separated waste (plastic tins and glass bottles) were being collected in one single bin. ME –“On several occasions I have observed plastic, cans and glass bottles, etc being collected up in a single skip so what is the point in households slavishly separating such items”? COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON – “We don’t have sufficient refuse lorries with dual collection chambers so we just put it one lorry and when we eventually have additional vehicles with two compartments in the fleet this will no longer be a problem, so please continue to separate your rubbish in the requested manner for recycling”. ME – “Surely if Serco, who are your appointed refuse collectors, were instructed to have the correct vehicles when they tendered for the contract this should not be an issue”. COUNCIL S/P – “We have to subscribe to the cost of these vehicle purchases so it can take some time for the fleet to be updated with the right equipment”. Also I assure you that when the vehicles return to the depot such amalgamated items are then separated”. ME – “I find it hard to believe that broken glass, bottles, tops, plastic, tin cans, fruit juice cartons, yogurt pots and other items from this same bin are sifted and separated as you have suggested”. COUNCIL S/P – “I can honestly say, hand on heart, that this is the case”. Frankly Hugh I believe this must be a load of codswallop with householders just being bullied into separating things which collectively end up in landfill and is probably just one big con to keep feather bedded councillors and staff in none jobs. Sadly I failed to ask him where this separation took place so that I may go along and witness it".  What do you think? Have you seen the same kind of behaviour from the waste disposal contractors? Leave a comment below, or email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. Following the observations, with the owner's permission, I forwarded them to Malcolm Knight, of "Bexley is Bonkers" for his feedback - Malcolm knows far more about Council recycling policy than I, and it seemed sensible to refer the matter to someone with more knowledge on the subject than myself. Malcolm responded thus:- "I suspect that in this case the story from Bexley Council is closer than usual to being the truth. I have studied Newham Council fairly closely and over there residents only have two bins. Plastic, tins and paper in one and everything else apart from glass in the other. Glass can only be recycled via the large communal bins found in the street. I suspect that may be significant to the separation process. My guess is that paper, tins and plastic are fairly easy to separate but glass isn’t. There is no food or garden waste service in Newham. Bexley should be asked how they separate glass from the other things when Newham apparently cannot. The subject of vehicle renewal is on the public record but you say your deadline is only minutes away leaving insufficient time to search through BiB’s 3,200 blogs or Council papers. My recollection is that Bexley’s vehicle renewal is due every ten years and the Serco contract provided for replacements in 2015. Certainly there are a  lot of 15 reg vehicles on the streets. Those vehicles were specified to have two entry points and separate compartments. It would be disappointing if some of the old style vehicles are still in use and that should perhaps be questioned. The budget allowed for replacement, in fact the financial studies showed that it would be cheaper to bring refuse collection back in house. It’s on the public record but presumably quietly dropped. It may be that if a modern ‘two entry’ vehicle becomes unserviceable a less ideal one might be hired causing a short term separation problem which your correspondent has noticed. What I don’t know, (in all my 29 years in Bexley I have never visited a recycling centre) is what sort of separation machines are in use – if any. I suspect, from the Newham experience and common sense, that it is not good practice to mixed glass with other commodities. I understand that the proportion of refuse going to landfill has increased in Bexley over the past year but this is a mathematical consequence of the reduced amount of garden waste collected following the introduction of the charge. It should not be indicative of a long term deterioration in recycling or of additional landfill. On this occasion I think the Bexley spokesperson is probably right or at least very nearly so".

Don't forget that next week marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Maggot Sandwich. If you would like to submit a guest article for inclusion in the blog update, please ensure that you send it to me by Thursday evening at the very latest. It takes me a couple of days to check and edit submissions prior to publication early on Sunday afternoon - each blog update takes a minimum of ten hours work. Send your submissions to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The end video this week is another bit of crime busting. Can you identify the individual in the light coloured people carrier on the left side of Riverdale Road? He illegally fly - tips rubbish onto the pavement before driving away in the direction of Northumberland Heath. The offence took place at 3.48pm on Wednesday the 1st of June this year. If he's done it once, he will no doubt have done it again. If you know who this criminal is, please let me know and I will pass the information on to the Police.