Moat House.

There has been somewhat of an air of mystery surrounding Moat House in James Watt Way. As I have previously reported, the brand new apartment block suffered damage after a severe fire caused by what is currently thought to have been an electrical fault in the roof mounted solar panels on the building on the 8th of August. The residents of the social housing block were successfully evacuated and put into temporary accommodation in a hotel. It was anticipated that repairs to the fire damaged roof of the apartment block would be completed by the end of August. This would appear to not be the case, however. At the time of writing, the block is still empty and unoccupied, even though it is now a month later than the date when the apartments were meant to be re-occupied. I recently walked past the block at a little after 9pm in the evening. All the lights were out, and the place was silent. It is surprising how nothing has been written in the local press about the situation, especially bearing in mind how high profile the news of the fire and subsequent evacuation was – the story made the national press in a few instances. I have subsequently discovered that things are worse than originally reported. A couple of sources have informed me that the residents of Moat House have now been transferred out of the Marriott hotel accommodation they were originally given, and relocated into cheaper local bed and breakfast accommodation; one (unconfirmed) report I have heard is that in one case a woman with two children is having to share a single room in a Bed and Breakfast - more on this later, as it turns out there is more to this story. If this was not bad enough, I have also been told that Moat Housing told the evacuated residents - many of those who only had the clothes they stood up in - that they could spend up to a specified budget on essential items such as replacement clothes, toiletries and other items needed for everyday life. Moat said that they would then reimburse the evacuated residents. I have heard accounts that Moat have reneged on this agreement, leaving residents out of pocket. I must emphasise that I am awaiting verification of this, but the information comes from a previously reliable source. The Moat affordable rent apartment block was a flagship development in Erith, promising (relatively) cheap housing for those in most need. It was part funded by the Mayor of London's Office, and was designed to be a flagship model for new housing in Greater London. I have been in contact with someone who is involved with the situation at Moat House, and I have discovered that the position is actually worse than had been anticipated. My contact informs me that at present the block will very likely remain empty for months, due to a combination of factors. Firstly Moat are awaiting a fire report which will analyse and identify the precise cause of the fire that destroyed much of the roof and damaged the top floor - at present the diagnosis of an electrical  fault is supposition, and is not verified at this time. Tenants will not be able to move in until the cause has been identified and rectified. On top of this, I am told that some of the reports published in the News Shopper and elsewhere, with Moat tenants being quoted as saying that they were being threatened with being thrown out of a hotel were simply untrue with no basis whatsoever in fact. I have also been told by an impeccably reliable and authoritative source that all Moat Housing Association tenants are required as a condition of their tenancy contract to have taken out private insurance on the contents of their apartment; Almost none of the tenants in Moat house had this insurance, leaving them both financially exposed, and in contravention of their tenancy agreements. Moat are currently trying to get former Moat House tenants into more suitable medium term accommodation whilst the investigative and remedial work is carried out on the fire damaged apartment building. The problem is the acute shortage of such housing in The London Borough of Bexley. It is ironic that the construction of Moat House was designed to alleviate the social housing requirement in the borough, but instead it has ended up in making the situation worse. It looks like Moat House could be empty and unoccupied until well after Christmas; I feel that this story will run for quite some time. If you have any insight into the Moat House fire and the subsequent situation, please drop me a line – it can be in complete confidence should you so wish – to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Some more much needed social housing is being constructed in Erith. Work is well under way to build four three bedroomed town houses and twelve two bedroomed flats in West Street on the site of the old St. John’s Hall. The hall used to be used by a company called Re-Instate Ltd, whose primary purpose was to offer a sheltered workshop environment to adults with Mental Health problems and Learning Disabilities. Those who attended Re-Instate gained experience of work, were given training in various job skills, mix with others, and over time gained confidence and self-esteem. Re-Instate seem to still be operating, and their website can be seen here. I am guessing that they have sold off the old site to property developers and have used the money to find a new base of operations elsewhere. I will be covering Re-Instate in more details in a future edition of the Maggot Sandwich.

On Tuesday afternoon I had occasion to be in Avenue Road, Bexleyheath for a meeting. The shopping area there is rather old fashioned, and all of the better for it. The area has not changed very much since the 1930's, when many of the properties were originally constructed. I like it a lot. The Co-Op store there has a modern facade and internal layout, but its' cultural and historical DNA is still very much present. In the newspapers and publications section of the store, amongst the usual copies of the Sun and the Telegraph were a couple of copies of The Morning Star - the tabloid rag of the communist party. It was not really that surprising that the little read propaganda sheet would be on sale in the Bexleyheath branch of the Co-Op. It was after all the same branch that the late Soviet spy and traitor Melita Norwood used to do most of her grocery shopping, along with the other Co-Op branch in Long Lane. She lived nearby in Garden Avenue for very many years. I wonder who would buy the paper nowadays?

You may recall that I gave extensive coverage to the recent relaunch of Erith Market, which was visited by then London Mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith. Unfortunately only a handful of weeks later the whole thing spluttered to a halt when no market traders bothered to turn up – at the high point there had only been six stalls, which was nothing like enough to build up a sustainable interest. The other problem was the decision to hold the market on a Wednesday – as one regular Maggot Sandwich reader called Derek put it recently:- “I hear are giving Erith Market a trial go. When they know it will fail before they start. They only seem to be catering for the unemployed and the elderly. Because they are the only one that can go to the market. The market should have been bigger and on Wednesdays and Saturdays like it used to be. Saturdays for the people that go to work all week”. Bexley Council have recently submitted a new planning application for a far larger and more ambitious market plot, which will stretch along Pier Road from Cross Street in the West to the boundary of Morrison’s car park in the East. It would potentially involve thirty two stalls, though at this point what goods they would be selling is not outlined at this point. I sincerely hope that the new attempt is successful – the prime requirement in my mind is that the market is open on Saturdays, and not just Wednesdays. As Derek wrote, many local residents cannot attend a market held during a working week, as they are working. I am also concerned that the previous, half-hearted attempt at a relaunch may scare off some potential stall holders. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The latest edition of the Good Beer Guide has some very encouraging words for Bexley’s micro pubs. The first local micro pub was the Door Hinge in Welling, shortly thereafter followed by the Penny Farthing in Crayford, then the Broken Drum in Blackfen. All three of these fine establishments feature in the new Good Beer Guide, along with the Compass Ale House in Gravesend.  Bearing in mind that South East London and North Kent have been at the forefront of the micro pub revolution  - the area has done much to promote these no frills, no television pubs which encourage the art of conversation and discourage the use of smart phones. Another micro Pub called The Hopper's Hut is opening on the 7th October in Sidcup - thanks to long time reader Barney for the information. Micro pubs tend to be set up in former retail units, rather than in public house premises. It would be nice to see a micro pub in Erith or Northumberland Heath, though I think Northumberland Heath would be a more attractive location than Erith, due to the fact that Wetherspoons are actively looking for a potential pub outlet in Erith. As I have written before, the most likely venue for a new local Wetherspoons pub would be the old Carnegie Library building in Walnut Tree Road (see the photo above - click on it for a larger view), which has been abandoned and unused for nearly six years.  The old library building was going to be converted into a training centre for the hospitality and hotel industry as part of Bexley College, but the funding fell through, and the project was cancelled. Now that Bexley College is being administered by Bromley College, the future of other potential collaborative projects is unclear. Wetherspoons have a very good reputation for sensitive restoration of old buildings; my understanding is that the former Carnegie Library has a severe damp problem on the main brick frontage, and the lack of preventative maintenance has caused a number of fairly serious issues with the building fabric. Wetherspoons have deep enough pockets to be able to finance major construction, conversion and conservation work if they did decide to purchase the building for use as a pub / restaurant. The only downside I can think of is that the former library has no local parking, though local public transport links are excellent - the library building is very close to Erith Station, and the bus halts in front of Erith Riverside Shopping Centre are just around the corner. This does not usually deter Wetherspoons, who seem more interested in the local customer demographic, than car parking issues.

As I have written in the past, issues with smart utility meters seem to be continuing. Just in the last week, it has been announced that Smart meters will benefit suppliers nearly twice as much as consumers in terms of cost savings, according to an assessment by the late Department for Energy and Climate Change. The government's £11bn smart meter project will require energy suppliers to offer 53 million meters to homes and small businesses by 2020. Smart meters are being rolled out in two phases. The mass rollout phase is expected to begin next month, after several major delays. There are now more than 3.6 million smart meters in operation. A Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee “evidence check” of smart meters noted that "although the scale and durability of such savings is contested and it would appear that the rollout could alter consumption levels by 2–3 per cent.”Nick Hunn, CTO of WiFore Consulting, told the committee he was sceptical of the extent to which consumers will change their behaviour for a relatively modest financial reward, arguing that “£26 a year or 7p a day is not a big incentive”, and that “there are far cheaper ways of achieving savings”. The government has pegged the overall cost benefits at £17 billion, which will also include network benefits such as reduced outage notification calls, fault fixing; generation benefits, and reduction in CO2. However, the committee criticised the smart meter rollout for having too many objectives. "The government should be clearer about the primary purpose of smart metering and use this to drive evaluation of the project. Taking this approach will help make future evidence check statements clearer,” it said. It also said the government needs to do more to communicate the national benefits of smart metering alongside the potential cost savings and efficiencies for individual consumers. The impact of smart meters will be limited without this support from installers and Smart Energy GB, the public engagement body for the programme, according to the committee. Rob Smith, head of policy and public affairs at Smart Energy GB, has also warned that the programme will only succeed if people are made aware of the benefits. The report also found "unwarranted concerns in media reports" about smart meter security could diminish public trust in the programme. It said further efforts may be necessary to convince the wider public that smart meters are secure. This is all very well, but as has been demonstrated by more than one IT security organisation, the smart meters are very far from secure - the meters report back to their energy supply company by an unsecured 3G phone signal, which can easily be intercepted and manipulated.  I get the feeling this will run and run.

The following announcement has been made by the local Police:- If you would like to become involved with Neighbourhood Watch and set up a scheme for your road (if you do not have one), please let us know. If you are unsure if you do have a scheme in your road, again, email us and we can let you know. Surgery and Street Briefing dates and times for Northend Ward in OCTOBER 2016 are listed below.

MONDAY 03/OCTOBER/2016  1500-1530  OUTSIDE SLADE GREEN PRIMARY AND HABERDASHERS SCHOOL, SLADE GREEN ROAD

TUESDAY 04/OCTOBER/2016  1500-1530  OUTSIDE PEARESWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL, PEARESWOOD ROAD

SATURDAY 08/OCTOBER/2016  1100-1200  FOREST ROAD CAFÉ

MONDAY 10/OCTOBER/2016  1030-1130 SLADE GREEN LIBRARY

WEDNESDAY 19/OCTOBER/2016  1500-1530 OUTSIDE SLADE GREEN PRIMARY AND HABERDASHERS SCHOOL, SLADE GREEN ROAD

FRIDAY 21/OCTOBER/2016  1500-1530 OUTSIDE PEARESWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL, PEARESWOOD ROAD

TUESDAY 25/OCTOBER/2016  1000-1100  FOREST ROAD CAFE

If there are any issues that affect you or you have any information you feel we may need to know, please come and see us. All information is dealt with in the strictest confidence. If you have no issues or information, come and see us anyway! Our phone is working now but please remember it is only on when we are at work and is only for information purposes, so please leave a name and number if you call us and we don't answer. Alternatively we can be reached via email on NorthendSNT@met.police.uk. If you need to see police always dial 101 for non emergencies and 999 for emergencies. All dates and team information will be loaded onto our website over the next couple of days. Access the site by clicking here.

It would seem that the Near Field Communication (NFC) "tap and pay" security exploit I described in February of last year is now being employed in real life. The hack, which utilises weaknesses in the encryption and transport of data between a smartphone and an NFC reader is now being reported by the BBC News website here. This potentially can mean that a user paying for goods or services by "tap to pay" with their mobile telephone could end up with money being taken from their bank account by unauthorised persons. Well, you heard it first from me, over a year ago. Contactless payment is fraught with potential danger - after all, it was only around six months ago that the bug in the UK authorisation was fixed - whilst payments in Pounds Sterling via tap and pay are limited to a maximum limit of £30, the same limit did not apply to other currencies. If a fraudster used captured tap and pay credentials to extract money, the sky was the limit if the exploit was undertaken in Euros or Dollars, for example. That has now been (finally) fixed, but only after a very long delay. I won't use any form of contactless payment - the system is just too full of security holes. I returned my tap and pay debit card and was issued with a non - NFC one instead (banks will issue you with a "vanilla" card, but you usually have to ask for them especially - many banks are sending out NFC enabled cards by default nowadays). 

Bexley is Bonkers author Malcolm Knight has been giving extensive coverage to the utter hash that Bexley Council has made of the restructuring of Bexleyheath Broadway, amongst other areas. In fact if memory serves, his blog began after a series of interactions with the Highways department of the council, and his very unfavourable experiences as a result. Now the Police have become unwittingly involved – after a rather nasty crash on what is now locally being called the “Magic Roundabout” – at the junction with the Broadway and Albion Road which is covered in variegated tiles – the original roundabout on the site was removed, and the subsequent section of road is now neither a junction, a crossing or a roundabout, but a sort of mixture of all three which is both everything and nothing at the same time. The number of collisions and near misses that have resulted from this poorly thought out change have sky rocketed. This week a Police car was involved in a collision with another vehicle, right in the middle of the very confusing turning. You can read all about the incident on the News Shopper website, by clicking here. It would seem that local residents and local paper readers are pretty much unanimous in their condemnation of the highway changes, which are judged to be confusing, dangerous and unnecessary.

It is not very long now until the open day at the Erith Quarry development. The following press release has been made by Grayling - the public relations consultant to London and Quadrant and the Anderson Group - the joint developers of the new housing estate:- The Quarry Erith invites locals for first glimpse with a family fun day:- "To celebrate work being underway, and to offer the local community a first chance to view the site, The Quarry Erith team would like to  invite families and locals to join them for an action-packed family fun day on Saturday 15 October from 10am to 4pm. Located off Carlton Road, the Culture and Community day will offer a food fair with locally-sourced treats and free children’s entertainment including a nature trail with children’s TV personality Jess French, animal face painting, a mini-mining experience, selfie station and creature crafts. There will also be an opportunity to meet the team and find out more about The Quarry’s transformation into an exceptional eco-development of at least 600 new homes and a state-of-the-art primary school. Councillor Linda Bailey, who will be opening the event, commented: “I am really pleased to be opening The Quarry Community and Culture Day. This event looks like it is set to be a really fun day for families with a host of activities that kids will love. It is also going to offer the community a first glimpse of the exciting future this development is offering Erith, which I am certainly looking forward to seeing.” The Quarry is a joint venture by L and Q and The Anderson Group, and represents a shared vision to create inspiring communities that offer residents a better way of living. Cathy Lloyd, Sales and Marketing Director at L and Q commented: “We’re really looking forward to welcoming the local community to our Culture and Community Day. The Quarry has played an important role in the lives of local people for more than a century and we’re keen to celebrate this, as well as providing lots of free, family-friendly activities.” Ahead of the event, The Quarry Erith team is also encouraging locals to share their historical photos of the site for inclusion in a public exhibition and art project. Visitors are encouraged to bring their photos along to the event or share via email to info@thequarryerith.co.uk. This is a ticketed event. To secure your place, and pre-book a slot, please register by clicking here or contact info@thequarryerith.com. Limited car parking is available on site. Please indicate if you require parking by emailing the address above. Prospective homebuyers interested in finding out more about The Quarry can register their interest at thequarryerith.co.uk and follow developments on Facebook and Twitter." I will be going along to the event with my camera - I am booked for the 10am session should you want to come along and say hello.

The end video this week shows one of the Rotative Beam Engines in operation at the Crossness Pumping Station - a Grade 1 listed industrial building. The beam engines, which are possibly the largest remaining rotative beam engines in the world, with 52 ton flywheels and 47 ton beams. The whole pumping station was the brainchild of superb Victorian engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette. Joseph Bazalgette lived from 1819 to 1891 and was one of the most distinguished Civil Engineers of the period. After considerable experience on railway projects he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855, having previously been in the employ of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.The ‘Great Stink’ of 1858, when the Houses of Parliament became so smelly that the members demanded action, was the starting point of the sewer system as we know it today. Bazalgette built 83 miles of ‘interceptory’ sewers that prevented raw sewage from running into the Thames and took it to the east of London where it could be put into the river with minimal effect on the population. This system involved three major pumping stations, at Abbey Mills (in the Lea Valley), at Deptford, and at Crossness on the Erith / Abbey Wood marshes. Whilst the building remains at Abbey Mills, the pumps and engines were removed earlier this century. However, at Crossness the spectacular building and the engines and pumps they contain remain as a monument to Bazalgette’s genius in solving London’s problems. In addition to his achievement in establishing an effective sewerage system for the whole of London, Bazalgette was also responsible for the Thames Embankments, for Battersea, Hammersmith and Putney Bridges, and many other of London’s capital projects, including the Woolwich Ferry. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Homeleigh for the homeless?

The situation with road traffic around Erith is becoming intolerable. A number of traffic calming measures have been recently introduced that in certain circumstances have actually made the problem worse. Last Monday there was a serious road traffic accident in James Watt Way, which involved two fire engines and an ambulance after the collision left one of the cars overturned on its side. The photos above show the incident, and were taken by local businessman and resident Mark Smallcorn. Fortunately the occupants of both vehicles received only minor injuries, but it could have been a whole lot worse. James Watt Way runs from the KFC drive through, down past the affordable housing flats (more on these later) to Morrison’s petrol station, then loops around the circumference of Morrison’s car park, to terminate at the riverfront (the location of the notorious Morrison’s recycling facility, which is a haven for illegal fly tippers, as I have written in many occasions in the past). The road is long and fairly wide, and normally does not get very much traffic on the stretch around the car park, and as such it is a haven for boy racers, both in cars and on illegal unregistered dirt bikes and mopeds. I don't know the precise circumstances of the crash on Monday, so I am unable to comment on the specifics, but in my experience, these kind of accidents are caused by an excess of both testosterone and speed. A couple of speed bumps would probably help discourage the car drivers from driving recklessly, but conversely it would probably encourage the illegal bikers, as I have seen them use the bumps as mini ramps to jump over in other locations. It is only a matter of time before a pedestrian crossing the road gets hit and killed. Conversely the speed bumps installed last year in Manor Road have been an example of the law of unexpected consequences. The humps, which have been installed adjacent to Frobisher Road, are intended to cause traffic to slow down to comply with the twenty mile an hour speed limit imposed on the residential section of the road. What happens in reality is that because the humps don’t span the full width of the road, drivers swerve towards the gap between the humps in the centre of the road, and don't slow down at all. This behaviour is exhibited by vehicles travelling on both directions, and the humps consequently end up forcing drivers into the centre of the road. I have witnessed a collision caused by the poor road behaviour of the drivers, and local residents say that near misses and knocked off wing mirrors are a commonplace occurrence. Ironically when drivers do slow down and drive across the humps as intended, they make a loud thump, which at night is particularly irritating to householders nearby. Manor Road is extremely busy during the weekday period – a constant flow of cars, commercial vehicles and the regular 99 bus in both directions every few minutes means that it is one of the busiest thoroughfares in the town, yet at night and during the weekend it is very quiet indeed. Solving traffic problems anywhere can be complex, but for some reason unknown to me they seem particularly troublesome around Erith.

Regular readers will be aware that the Maggot Sandwich supports Bexley Food Bank, which is operated by a group of volunteers organised in a joint enterprise between St. John’s in West Street, Christ Church Erith, and Queen Street Baptist Church, where the food bank itself is actually located. Erith Morrison’s operate a donation trolley just outside of the supermarket cafeteria, where shoppers can donate goods that they have just purchased. Tins and dry goods are preferred – for obvious reasons frozen food cannot be donated. Things such as loo rolls and pet food are always required too. I think the country as a whole would be far better off if things like food banks were not required, and that the welfare state would be able to support those in most need. The facts are that the state is unable to cope, and it is only by the efforts of volunteer organisations of many types around the country that the most vulnerable and needy can be supported. As well as food banks and credit unions, another form of help is shortly to become available. The Social Supermarket is a new concept – a supermarket that sells goods at far below the prices charged by even the likes of Aldi and Lidl. The Social Supermarket sells food at roughly one third of the actual retail price to people on benefits; it sells mis – labelled or wrongly packaged food that is well within sell – by date, but which would otherwise be rejected by the big supermarket chains. Similarly they sell misshapen fruit and vegetables that are still nutritious and tasty, but which don't fit the selection criteria of the major high street chains, or lines of food that have been overstocked are sold at wholesale price. The first UK based Social Supermarket was opened last week in West Norwood, South London by Mayor Boris Johnson, who has made a grant of £300,000 available to other groups who wish to set up similar Social Supermarkets elsewhere. Boris said “They are a help – up, not a hand – out. My funding will help boroughs kick start similar Social Supermarket ventures that can really help local people on tight budgets”. Whether we will see a venture of this type in the local area I don't know, although I am certain that the demand is there. In a similar vein, another social enterprise is being debated, and I get the feeling that it is going to generate a lot of strong feelings on both sides of the discussion, as well as a lot of column inches in our local papers. Bexley Council have proposed that the old and currently unused Homeleigh nursing home in Avenue Road, Erith which was closed some time ago as no longer being suitable for purpose may be re – opened to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people. Bearing in mind that Avenue Road and the adjacent Park Crescent are the two roads in the town with the best addresses,, I have already heard some concern from residents about the plan. Worries regarding possible criminal activity and drug taking / dealing have been the principle concerns. My personal view is that nobody chooses to be homeless, and a vast majority of those likely to be housed in the former nursing home will be “nice” people who are down on their luck. Being homeless does not make you a criminal. The fact that Bexley Council are (uncharacteristically in my opinion) acting in a pragmatic and practical way to address the serious problem of  a local lack of affordable housing by recycling a currently empty building seems eminently sensible and, dare I say it, a very good idea. As with anything of this nature, the devil is in the detail; if the Homeleigh centre was used as a halfway house for a large number of people with dependency problems, then I could see a good deal of reason for local concern. I can also appreciate worries about the effect such a centre could have on house prices (for non - local readers, Avenue Road and Park Crescent are the two “upmarket” roads in Erith, with some lovely 1930’s era detached and semi-detached houses in quiet, tree – lined surroundings, making a very desirable and quite expensive environment). If the homeless centre gets the green light, it will need to be sensitively managed. I think it could turn into a “win / win” if it is handled correctly. “Ah”, I guess some readers are going to say “but you don't have to live there!” Which I don't – I live about as far on the opposite side of town as you can get. Where I live there are a number of “problem” families in fairly close proximity, but in reality the level of disturbance is fairly low, as long as you get used to the flashing blue lights of the emergency services at least a couple of times an average evening – they have learned not to use their sirens, as this disturbs local residents. Doreen Ives, the Chair of Erith Town Forum attended the on - site residents meeting on Thursday evening; she was not impressed with how the meeting had been organised, as she wrote:- 

"1.  No signage whatsoever was displayed.  Together with other attendees I spent at least 20 minutes trying to find where it was taking place on the premises, including returning home to retrieve the letter of invitation, to check I had the correct day, time and place.

2.  The format of the meeting was not clear.  Having attended many Council consultation meetings,  there being no agenda, I expected to see boards with plans displayed and officers ready to answer questions.  How wrong I was.  The meeting was badly conducted.

3.  The officers taking a formal meeting were not well informed and could not satisfactorily answer many of the questions posed by residents of the local area.  

4.  Unfortunately the local Councillors attending similarly were not briefed to answer questions.

The residents attending were  already very dissatisfied with the interim security company, presently employed by the Council to look after the premises and this led those at the meeting  to the conclusion that the proposed new "interim"arrangements will be no better and could be much worse.

Whilst not wanting to assume that the homeless families, now being considered as possible tenants for Homeleigh, will be people without the community spirit/awareness currently displayed by existing residents in the area of the Home, many people are very worried because they have seen bad things happening to other local areas.  We do question why Erith always seems to be the place to solve difficult problems.

Bexley Council owes all its residents the courtesy of clear and honest details of new plans for disused sites, wherever they are in the Borough.  We must have proper notice of the plans currently being submitted to Bexley's Planning Committee for the Homeleigh building and ample opportunity to discuss the options in a properly organised and informed meeting." As with anything, the Homeleigh issue will become clearer with time. One thing I personally feel – being homeless does not make a person a criminal, or indeed anti – social. We have empty properties in public ownership, and we need to ensure that they are used responsibly.

Last Sunday night Erith Pier was the location of another attempted suicide - and there were another two attempts later in the week - three calls in one week were made to the RNLI to intervene. Fortunately the emergency services, including the RNLI were able to stop the person before they threw themselves in the Thames on all three occasions. One thing again strikes me – the RNLI had to travel all the way from their base in Gravesend, which even at top speed must have taken quite some time. The nearest other RNLI station is at London Bridge, meaning that Erith is about equidistant between the two, and thus the furthest point from an RNLI boat and crew. As I have mentioned before, with the level of river activity increasing, and the number of incidents revolving around Erith Pier, it again strikes me that we could really do with an RNLI substation in the area. The number and seriousness of incidents should surely justify this? As I have previously mentioned, the former Port of London Authority office next to the wooden jetty and Erith Riverside Gardens (see the photo above - click for a larger view) would seem to be an ideal location – it has electricity, running water and a loo / wash basin, and sufficient space for three or four volunteers to stay whilst on call. The adjacent wooden jetty would also provide an ideal place to launch an inshore rescue boat. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email hugh.neal@gmail.com

Bexley Council have come up with another stealthy method to screw yet more hard earned cash out of hapless residents. I suppose that one should not really be surprised after the uncounted years of them offering poor value for council tax payers money. They are about to begin a scheme to retire the brown bins many people use for the disposal of food and garden waste for composting. Here’s what the council say “The current mixed food and garden waste service will be replaced with a separate food waste and chargeable garden waste service. The new food and garden waste service is currently being developed but below is some initial information on the scheme. The garden waste scheme will cost £33 a year (£1.32 a collection) but there will be an early bird discount offered if you sign up before 31 August which will be £27 a year (£1.08 a collection). New legislation on separate collections has revealed it is more environmentally beneficial to collect food waste separately from garden waste. The benefit is a result of the food being able to be used as an energy source and a soil improver. Financial constraints facing the Council also means the economic efficiency of a service has to be considered. Garden waste can be charged for under the Controlled Waste Regulations. A number of local Councils already charge for this service and others do not provide a garden waste service. Bexley's garden waste service will be the cheapest of any London borough. The food waste will be collected in a food waste box. This has a lockable lid which prevents animals being able to access the food. Your food waste will continue to be collected free of charge. Garden waste can be home composted providing free compost for the garden. Reduced price home compost bins are available from get composting. Alternatively garden waste can be brought free of charge to either of the reuse and recycling centres. The current brown bins will be recycled into new recycling containers providing the Council with an income which will cover the cost of collecting them. The majority of the brown bins are 10 years old and a lot of these would need to be replaced anyway over the next few years. Food waste will continue to be collected weekly on your normal collection day. Garden waste will be collected fortnightly but will be suspended over Christmas”. Well, at least they have been quite comprehensive in their explanation, even if it does leave a lot to be desired. Bexley already suffers from some of the very worst instances of fly tipping in the whole of Greater London, and this change in council policy is almost certain to make matters worse. I foresee a lot more dumping of garden waste than we currently see – it may be free to dump at the council tip in Thames Road, Crayford, but many don't want the bother of going there, and won’t want to pay the council monthly fee – I can see a lot of disreputable “scrap” dealers offering to cart away and dispose of garden waste at a cheaper rate, then they will go and dump it in any place that they think they can get away with. I think we could be faced with yet another case of the law of unintended consequences, where a money saving enterprise ends up costing more than it saves.

Much as I predicted last November, the Dart Charge automated toll system that has been deployed on the Dartford River Crossing has been causing all sorts of problems for motorists. Drivers are now complaining that they are being charged twice, or getting Emails demanding that they pay, when they already had. Dart Charge has been in place since November 29. Motorists have no longer had to stop at toll booths to pay for the crossing. Instead, they can pay remotely, either online, on the phone, in certain shops or by post. The idea behind this is that free flowing traffic should move more quickly. Overhead cameras using number plate recognition technology are in place to catch any toll-dodgers who will be issued a fine for non-payment. The Automobile Association have become involved in the situation; a spokesman commented to the Bexley Times that “Soon after the Dart Charge began, it was clear that some drivers were running up against, perhaps inevitable, computerised glitches when trying to pay. It was equally foreseeable that there would need to be a system of customer support to resolve complaints quickly and painlessly while the Dart Charge scheme bedded in. However, in February, it was apparent that early problems weren't going away and complaints weren't being resolved quickly. Twitter and Facebook chatter clearly shows that there are many frustrated customers, some credit must go to Dart Charge for intervening and trying to help them, but equally there may be many others with a complaint who haven’t spoken out.” Not only the AA, but the Highways Agency (now renamed Highways England, for some reason) have got involved – there are clearly a lot of very annoyed people about. Edmund King, the president of the AA said “It is particularly galling that any toll remains at Dartford.  The tolls and charges were supposed to be lifted in 2003 when the cost of the scheme had been met. The new scheme has undoubtedly eased the congestion at busy times but, for some, there is a new concern regarding the behind-the-scenes bureaucracy that accompanies this supposedly high-tech, non-stop tolling. We expect appeals to ramp up in the coming months and if the authority does not act quickly to reduce errors it could be embarrassing. We expect many drivers to incur penalties through not being aware of the scheme. And those who seek help with problems they have experienced with the ‘back office’ may get frustrated when problems are not resolved quickly or easily enough.  We believe that, so far, only around four hundred appeals have been considered by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and thankfully, because of the teething problems, the vast majority of drivers are winning their cases. We expect appeals to ramp up in the coming months and if the authority does not act quickly to reduce errors it could be embarrassing. With the scheme now into its sixth month, the AA calls for a transparent review of customer service standards and the performance of the electronic processes so any needed improvements can be made. The AA also believes a complaints system and ‘users group’ should be established to ensure users have a voice.”

North End Safer Neighbourhood Police team issued the following warning last week. It sounds like a couple of fraudsters are operating locally. “Please be aware of 2 females who have recently been in the FOREST ROAD area of SLADE GREEN, knocking on doors asking for sponsorship for charity or claiming to offer locksmith services. THEY ARE FRAUDSTERS so please be aware and share this information with anyone you may know who lives in Forest Road or other surrounding roads, indeed anywhere across the ward. One of the females is aged 40-45 and the other aged 20-25. If you know someone or are someone who may have had contact with these two, or have recently given a cash donation to The British Heart Foundation or similar in recent weeks, on the doorstep, please contact us.” A second local safety and security warning has been issued by Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association "Please be aware that there are lot of counterfeit £50 notes being used in Welling and the Bexleyheath area. A male enters the store and goes to buy a low value item at the till. The male then attempts to pay with a genuine £50 note (which has been checked by the staff). The male then states he might have change and asks for the £50 back. He then says that he hasn't got change and hands back a £50 note which is then put in the till without being checked. It appears that the note that is handed back in a fake £50 note, but because it is not check second time around the man walks away with the necessary change. Obviously from the above we believe he is switching them when he asks for the note back. The male appears to be targeting small shops and businesses. The male is described as a white male, aged in his 30's approximately 6'2". He had short brown hair with an Irish accent. If you are in possession of a £50 which you believe to be fake please call Police straight away by ringing 101. Please handle the note as little as possible as forensics will want to examine it".

Following the article last week on the crackdown on illegal bike riders on the protected Slade Green Marshes, I have had an update from the local Police. It turns out the raid pictured last week was not a one – off occurrence; they have been visiting the site on a number of occasions, and have successfully intercepted a number of other bikers illegally riding on the area of outstanding scientific interest. The Police have been in contact with the landowner, and holes in the fences surrounding the site are being repaired, and extra stiles being built to restrict the marsh to pedestrian use only. No doubt some of the more hard-core of the illegal bikers will return with an angle grinder, but strenuous efforts are being made to deny them access to the site that is home to many rare species of plant and animal. Unfortunately the most serious of all local offenders won't be affected by the loss of Slade Green Marshes to ride on, as the bike they ride is manifestly not suited to off – road use. There are two lads, aged between thirteen and fifteen who have been seen on multiple occasions riding a high powered racing bike. Both scrotes know what they are doing is illegal, as both wear hoodies with bandannas concealing the lower part of their faces. The bike looks like it might be a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 or something very similar (on the couple of occasions I have seen it,  the bike has been moving too fast for me to be able to say for certain, let alone get a note of the number plate).  The Police have been made aware of the two, who needless to say ride minus helmets, very openly in the local area, often at very high speeds. They are a danger to themselves and others; a bike of that nature can be a handful for a trained and experienced adult rider, let alone a couple of kids. I hope that they get caught before someone gets hurt, or worse. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

I had the following Email this week from a representative of the Friends Of Riverside Gardens Erith (FORGE):- "With reference to last week's article relating to the Erith Riverside "Clean-Up" days I thought you would like to know the history behind these arrangements. In the Spring of 2010 Alec Tapper (Chairman of The Friends Of Riverside Gardens Erith ("FORGE") approached Ashe Hurst, who was a Project Officer with Thames 21 operating in Bexley, with a view to initiating a clean up of the Erith Thames Foreshore because of the excessive amount of trolleys and other debris despoiling the river views.  Alec was also a member of the Bexley Recycling and Waste Minimisation Group for the last 20 years and he discussed the matter of cleaning up the Thames at Erith with the Bexley Council Officers and other members of the Focus Group.  He brought these two organisations together and included Morrisons as the majority of the trolleys came from their supermarket. It was agreed that Bexley Council Recycling Department would supply vans to collect the trolleys, etc., and take them to their recycling plant.  Thus the first "Clean-Up" day came into being.  Ashe Hurst was succeeded in 2011 by Michael Heath the River Cray Project Manager who has proved to be a great asset to Thames 21 and the Erith Riverside Clean-Up days.  Alec also liaised with the local shops for help on the day.  Two donated food for the volunteers i.e. KFC with chicken and fries, and Morrisons with sandwiches, cakes and bottled water.  Morrisons also provided two members of their staff for the day. Thanks to Alison Fisher, the Erith Rowing Club kindly opened its clubhouse for the volunteers to use their facilities. This operation is now in its sixth year and there are one or two Clean-Up days a year depending on the amount of debris in the river.  Over the years the volunteers have comprised FORGE and Thames 21 members, the local Army Cadets, members of Erith Yacht Club and Erith Rowing Club, a church group from Welling and numerous local community-minded people who see our posters around the town and just turn-up. This year the volunteers numbered 40.  They met at 10 am on Sunday the 10th May on the ramp next to the Erith Boathouse and worked until 1pm.  KFC and Morrisons did us proud and supplied lunch for all the hungry workers which fortified them to carry on in the afternoon until 3.30/4pm.  Their heroic efforts yielded 30 trolleys and 1.6 tonnes of assorted debris from the Thames mudflats, foreshore, footpaths and Riverside Gardens.  A big thank you to all who helped on the 10th May and in previous years.  I would also like to thank Wilkinsons who in the past have given FORGE vouchers for gardening equipment to help in their gardening project on the flowerbeds underneath the Flagpole". Excellent news; I was aware that the river around the pier had a number of trolleys in the mud, but not as many as thirty. I understand that a bog standard supermarket trolley sells for around £100 a unit, so that is a considerable amount of money thrown into the mud. Perhaps if Morrison's installed a trolley security system to prevent them being removed from the site, as some other supermarkets do, this might help? Quite what jollies the local scrotes get from bunging a trolley into the river completely escapes me.

Fellow local Blogger Malcolm Knight of "Bexley is Bonkers" is doing a far better job than I could ever hope to in documenting the engineering work being carried out between Abbey Wood and Plumstead for the Crossrail Project. The ending video this week shows a time lapse short film of the demolition of the old Abbey Wood Station ticket office. In point of fact, the contractors demolished the building a few days ahead of time, no doubt conscious of a penalty clause if they were late. Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Farewell to the Tower.

The photo above was taken by one of my confidential informants - it shows the final stages of demolition of the main tower building on the old Bexley College campus in Tower Road. The building has been one of the landmarks of the Erith skyline for many years. It was also used on several occasions as a setting for E4's sci fi show "Misfits" which featured a group of teenage young offenders with super powers. On one occasion filming on the roof of the tower had to be halted when the Police turned up - a neighbour had reported suspicious activity on the top of the tower, and dialled 999. The producers of "Misfits" had neglected to inform either the authorities, or local residents that they would be filming at the location! The photo below was taken by the same person a while later - as you can see the tower has now all but gone. The brutalist architecture of the tower may have led some to term it an eyesore, but countless students passed through it - myself included. I spent many hours in the building in 1996 / 1997 as I studied for my RAE examinations, enabling me to become a licensed Radio Amateur. I have fond memories of the place.

The anticipated crackdown on criminal gang activity in Thamesmead seems to have begun in earnest; now that a new dedicated ten officer Police unit has been established in the town. The News Shopper have reported that the Police have made twenty four gang related arrests, with individuals being charged with drug and weapon possession, animal cruelty and immigration offences. Gang members were also charged with  growing cannabis, as well as possession of cocaine, cannabis and methamphetamine. It would seem that the demand by Thamesmead residents for concrete action against the crooks that have been blighting their lives has begun to be answered, and not a minute too soon.

I was surprised that web search giant Google have just opened their very first bricks and mortar shop in London. It is quite discreetly located inside the Curry’s PC World in Tottenham Court Road, as a “shop within a shop”. Google admit that the store is a bit of a gamble, but they realise that many customers want to try out Google devices such as the Chromebook or a Nexus mobile phone. The aim is not high-pressure salesmanship but a fun, relaxing environment where there is no guilt in popping in just to mess around on the phones and the tablets. (Just like an Apple Store.) The shop will also be a place where Google device users can seek expert advice, even attend classes. (Again, just like an Apple Store). I hope to visit the place soon and do a comparison with the Apple Store in Regent Street. It will be instructive to see the two tech rivals and their wildly different approaches to the online world. A bit of high street rivalry would be good for consumers. More on this subject in the future.

The problems resulting from the massive rebuilding and refurbishment programme currently being undertaken at London Bridge station have got so bad that they have now made the national news. It would appear that insufficient planning for eventualities such as signalling failure or loss of power had been made. Basically there is no “slack” in the current temporary passenger arrangements. This means that as soon as anything goes wrong, passengers suffer and the kind of massively overcrowded station concourse with travellers having to climb over the ticket barriers is the result. Rail Minister Claire Perry has now waded into the situation; she has demanded that Network Rail (who are responsible for the project management and engineering of the London Bridge works) introduce new measures to improve the rush-hour situation. These include more rapid-response engineering teams, a central control point for all London stations like that which was used during the 2012 Olympics, more highly visible customer service staff, and having some trains stop at fewer outlying stations to help with punctuality. Last week the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union said station staff had been threatened, had hot coffee thrown over them and been spat at by passengers caught up in delays and overcrowding – something I find completely indefensible and abhorrent. I would not want to be working in such conditions; however frustrating it is as a commuter (and I confess that I am indeed one) there can be no justification for such behaviour. On top of all this, the weekend closures of the Cannon Street via Greenwich and Dartford line at weekends due to the ongoing construction works at Abbey Wood and Plumstead for the Crossrail terminal, along with shorter than promised trains are causing all sorts of grief for commuters. Southeastern have managed to annoy a great many people by publishing a “traffic light” comparison, showing travellers how likely (or not) they are to be getting a seat when they travel during rush hour. According to a report in the News Shopper, Southeastern Managing Director David Statham said "We want to give passengers an easy way to see how busy different services are at their station. Those able to catch an earlier or later train can now see which is likely to have more space." Quite. I get the feeling that Mr. Statham does not quite grasp the nature of the average commuter. We don't do it because we want to, we do it as we have no other choice. The times we travel are dictated by the hours of business our employers set; personally I am quite fortunate in that I can work quite flexibly – I don't have to go into the office every single day, and can easily work from my very comfortable and convenient office at home. I am in the minority though, most travellers have no choice in the matter, and have to commute at the same time each day.  The obvious fix for the problem is to increase the length of each train – many on the comparison chart above are only eight carriages, when ten would be preferable; as previously mentioned, it is not possible to run twelve carriage trains on the line due to the restrictions at Woolwich Dockyard station – which has a tunnel at each end of the platform, limiting train length to ten rather than the potential twelve carriages that the extended platforms at other stations would support. I understand that apart from a lack of rolling stock to make all trains ten carriages long, there are concerns about the amount of extra traction current the additional carriages would consume. As with any consideration, Southeastern are primarily concerned with the bottom line on the spreadsheet.

Bexley is Bonkers author Malcolm Knight wrote at length about the road and pavement works that took place in Bexleyheath a couple of years ago. He predicted that much would need to have significant repairs within a relatively short period. He was spot on the money. Last Monday work began in Arnsberg Way to replace the road surface, which had started to disintegrate, despite only being laid in 2013. I understand that Bexley Council are trying to get a refund from the contractors who undertook the work. Much dissatisfaction has been voiced over the whole concept of “shared space” which was rolled out in Bexleyheath, and has been insidiously rolled out in other Bexley towns since. The “shared space” concept is that the delineation between areas used by pedestrians, and areas used by vehicles is deliberately kept unclear; the thinking is that as neither party can tell where one finishes and the other begins, both vehicles and pedestrians will act more carefully, thus avoiding accidents. The brutal reality is however entirely different. The number of reported collisions and other accidents has increased since the changes were introduced, and many local residents are disgusted with the lack of clarity as to who goes where.

Last week I was walking along Picardy Road in Upper Belvedere, as I passed the Conservative Club, an unusual car came along the road. For a few seconds I was unable to identify it. It was similar to the Jaguar XF model, but sleeker and a little lower. What immediately struck me was that it was completely silent as it moved. I then realised that it was a Tesla S – Type; a true electric luxury sports saloon. Tesla cars are pretty scarce, and doubly so in the UK. The American made vehicles are not cheap – the Tesla S has a base cost of nearly £70,000, and most buyers opt for the range – topping P85D model, which with optional extras comes to the thick end of £95,000. I have to admit that the Tesla S is a very good looking vehicle, and looks better in the flesh than it does on paper or screen. Tesla claim an endurance in excess of three hundred miles for the top of the range P85D model, but rumours abound that the company are about to release a software update for the power management computer of the car to make this claim closer to reality. I understand that some owners have been stranded after the power reserve meter on the dashboard indicated plenty of spare battery charge, but the car ran out of juice. The update is meant to resolve this important flaw, and reassure owners who get “range anxiety”. The Tesla S is the first really serious purely electric powered vehicle – I don’t consider the G-Whiz to be anything other than an electric golf cart with pretentions – you certainly could not take one on a motorway, whereas a Tesla S is at home in exactly the same places as a conventionally powered vehicle. At present the Tesla is pretty much a niche car – a combination of the price and powertrain dictate that. A lot of Tesla owners have the vehicle as their third or fourth car, alongside a high end Mercedes, Bentley and Ferrari. The Tesla enables them to be able to claim “green” credentials, whilst still running a stable of gas guzzlers. The problem as previously mentioned with any purely electric vehicle is range and endurance. The claimed three hundred mile range of the P85D model (which has the largest battery capacity of any Tesla S model in the range) is – even when the software fix installed, something that only a drive with the lightest of throttle use with no passengers and the windows and air conditioning off could even approach. The Lithium Ion battery technology that the Tesla uses has a finite capacity. At present no battery technology gives even close to the energy density of a petrol or diesel powered engine. On top of this, whereas at a petrol station you can refuel a conventional vehicle in a couple of minutes, a battery powered car will take many hours to recharge, effectively making it useless in the meantime. There is no real way around this using current technology. The only options are instead to use hybrid technology, where the batteries are supplemented by a smaller conventional engine, usually fitted with a turbocharger to increase efficiency. Another approach would be to use a hydrogen fuel cell – powered drivetrain, as is currently employed in some commercial vehicles; currently there are no commercially available fuel – cell powered cars; again there is a problem with low fuel density and also the storage and transportation of liquid hydrogen (rocket fuel to you and me). I feel that only a really game – changing emergent technology has a chance to really change the way electric vehicles are both used and perceived. The problem with any battery powered vehicle is that it is not truly green – the electricity stored in the batteries is often generated by burning fossil fuels – all you are doing is moving the source of the pollution further up the chain. If LENR technology (see the previous update for details) comes good, this may be an ideal source of truly clean, green electricity with none of the risks of stored liquid hydrogen, or the range limiting use of batteries. Time will tell. There are other, rather less savoury alternative fuels available – mainly in this case for public service vehicles. Bio methane combustion technology is one of these technical solutions. This uses methane generated from organic waste to power the vehicle. This has led a bus that is currently on test in the West Country in and around Bristol to be termed the “Poo Bus”. It takes excrement from 32,000 households in the area and converts it into methane to power the vehicle. Once again, the trouble is energy density; petrol and diesel have been used as the primary fuel source for automobiles for over a hundred years for a very good reason – both fuels are densely packed with energy so that a given volume of fuel will give a predictable amount of motive energy. Most other fuels don’t have this level of energy density – especially so of bio methane. The company running the experimental bus do have a sense of humour though – the “poo bus” is running on route number 2. You could not make it up.

We have another new African church in Erith – the Household of Faith Ministry, City of Truth church which you can see details of above. Personally I would have thought that the market would now be completely saturated, bearing in mind that we already have  the Gateway Chapel on Kennet Road, next to the Thames Road Industrial Estate, the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry in the Manford Industrial Estate off Manor Road, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, which occupies the “Praise Ministry” at 33, Bexley Road - the former tyre warehouse behind the kebab shop and close to the hideous fish roundabout. They tend to have very noisy services, and have been in trouble with the council over exceeding their permitted car parking quota. The Celestial Church of Christ shares the same building, though I am unsure of the precise mechanics of their co-operative arrangement, but it seems to work for them anyway. There is also a church apparently using one of the industrial units located just off Birch Walk, though details of it remain hazy – and their web domain seems to have a lapsed registration, so they may well have moved on. Nevertheless it would seem that Erith is extremely well provided for if you wish to visit an African church. I just wonder how they compete for parishioners? Do people visit more than one, or is there a degree of “brand loyalty”? I know if I walk around Erith on a Sunday morning you can hear the singing and drumming from the Redeemed Christian Church of God – they seem a very cheerful and enthusiastic lot. I have been told in the past by a close friend who knows about such things that in general, the more flowery and impressive sounding wording an African church has in its’ title, the smaller and less impressive it turns out to be in reality. Nevertheless, they all seem to fulfil a local need, and it definitely comes under my personal libertarian philosophy of “if it works for you”.

Mobile phone maker Blackberry are becoming less and less relevant with business as well as casual users. The days of the firm being able to tout their “end to end secure” Email infrastructure as a unique selling point are now just a distant memory. What Blackberry pioneered in their proprietary hardware back in the day is now done in software on all the major smartphone platforms. Blackberry are now looking for new niche markets to exploit – they are realistic enough to understand that they are no longer in a position to go head to head with the likes of Apple and Samsung. Their latest foray is into the tablet marketplace – somewhere they famously (and very publicly) exited a couple of years ago, when they abruptly discontinued it. Early reviews were mixed, saying that although the hardware was good, several features were missing. Shipments totalled approximately 500,000 units during the first quarter of sales and 200,000 in the following quarter. Many of the 700,000 units shipped to retailers allegedly remained on the shelves for months, prompting BlackBerry to introduce dramatic price reductions in November 2011 to increase sales. Sales rebounded following the price cuts, with BlackBerry shipping approximately 2.5 million BlackBerry PlayBooks by June 1, 2013. Now Blackberry are back in the marketplace with a tablet that is primarily aimed at government and businesses, rather than private individuals. The new tablet is actually a re – badged Samsung Galaxy S10 that has additional cryptographic features. Samsung’s Knox secure boot technology ensures that the OS on the tablet has not been tampered with, while IBM’s contribution to the security chain is to “wrap” certain apps in an additional layer of code that intercepts and encrypts key data flows using the Secusmart hardware. All this means that the tablet meets with the security standards mandated by the U.S Government – possibly a big customer for the Canadian company. Each tablet will retail at $2,300 – though I would estimate that government or corporate bulk orders would get s substantial discount. Whether this approach will be enough to enable Blackberry to survive, I personally doubt. The company has been struggling for the last couple of years, and I would not be surprised that in 2015 Blackberry goes the same way as Nokia, who were once the dominant force in mobile phone technology, but now no longer exist.

The mystery of the halt in construction works to the new affordable rented flats being built in James Watt Way has been solved by some detective work by Erith Councillor Abena Oppong Asare. She has found out that the contractor being used to build the flats has got into financial difficulty, and the developer is currently looking for a new form of builders to complete the outstanding work. The good news is that this will only be a temporary delay to the construction of the much needed flats for affordable rent. Hopefully I will be able to report a re-start in the work very soon. 

I mentioned in the last update that I had recently paid a visit to one of the UK’s top advertising agencies – Grey London in Hatton Garden. The agency handle accounts from pretty much every high street brand, and are seen as one of the prime “go to” creative companies in the business. One advert that they are particularly famous for is the Vinny Jones mobster character doing CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) to the Bee Gees “Staying Alive” which the agency created for the British Heart Foundation a couple of years ago - you can see the advert below.  The very successful advertising campaign led to forty six lives being saved by people who carried out the lifesaving procedure on people who had collapsed. Now local MP Teresa Pearce is campaigning for CPR to be taught in schools. This, in conjunction with the provision of defibrillators in public places (they are already installed on larger railway stations) should hopefully cut the number of deaths due to heart attacks in the UK. Personally I was surprised that CPR is not currently taught in schools. I can recall lessons in basic first aid when I was at school, and I was surprised to learn that this is not something that all schools have on their curriculum. Teresa Pearce MP took part in a debate with the Department of Education in Westminster Hall; she said in the debate: “There is currently no mandatory requirement of teaching about CPR—first aid—or public access defibrillators in the national curriculum in England. That is denying generations of young people the opportunity to develop life-saving skills that would benefit everyone. Many people say that even if it was for a loved one, they would be reluctant to get involved because they would not know what to do. Teaching people CPR and defibrillator awareness in secondary schools would alleviate that fear. Young people would leave school with knowledge that could save a friend, a loved one or a stranger. I urge the Minister to take on board all the comments that have been made today and to take affirmative action to ensure that CPR and defibrillator awareness are a mandatory part of the national curriculum for the benefit of us all.”

Another local MP has been given a new responsibility; MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, David Evennett has been promoted to the Privy Council. This is apparently a highly prestigious position usually given to senior politicians. The Privy Council give advice to the Queen on matters of state. Somehow I guess that the Queen is more likely to be the one giving advice to her councillors, given her years of diplomatic experience. The Sovereign may appoint anyone to become a Privy Counsellor, but in practice appointments are made only on the advice of the Government, and generally consist only of senior members of parliament, the church and judiciary. There is no limit to the numbers sworn in as members. As of January 2012 there were about six hundred members. However, the members have no right to attend all meetings of the Privy Council, and only some are summoned to each meeting (in practice at the Prime Minister's discretion). David Evennett is not a senior MP, but he has been around for a while, and has the additional role of Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nicola Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education. All in all he’s done well; Evennett has not got caught with his fingers in the till, or bed hopping, so I guess that the Privy Council appointment is a reward for good behaviour. It certainly gives him more clout in his role as a local MP, which can only be a good thing for his constituents. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com

The end video this week is charming - an excerpt from a new episode of The Clangers. As a small child I used to absolutely love The Clangers. I was quite concerned when I heard that the BBC were making a new series of the classic show for small (and not so small) children, and was worried that they would "modernise" it and make it with sterile CGI. I should not have worried - the programme is still made with real models and stop - motion animation. Michael Palin narrates, and it is an utter joy to watch. This clip shows the Clanger family preparing to watch a solar eclipse. At least they can see what is going on, unlike the real thing that happened on Friday morning - the skies around Erith were so cloudy and overcast that almost no indication that an eclipse was taking place was evident - I noticed a few cars switching on their headlights for a few minutes, but that was about that.