Residents See Red Over Yellow Lines

Residents in Plantation Road, Slade Green, say they are fed up with being bullied and pushed around by Bexley Council over parking issues. They say they have been hounded and exploited ever since Bexley Council saw fit to introduce the rather impractical pavement parking ban, with traffic wardens turning up at all times of day and night to catch people out for pavement parking. Bexley Council have consistently refused, against the overwhelming majority wishes of the residents, to give them blanket exemption for the small road, which has unusually wide pavements, meaning that residents and visitors alike have been systematically milked over the years for trying to do the commonsense thing.

Now the Council have decided to paint double yellow lines at the top of the road, they say to aid visibility when exiting Plantation Road. However, the vast majority of residents objected to the scheme as it would cause additional parking problems, making life more difficult. A recent paper poll showed that 85% of residents are against the scheme. Residents suggested to Bexley Council that a convex mirror on the lamppost would solve any occasional visibility problems, which the majority of residents do not have a problem with anyway, and that the Council should save public money and put it towards something more useful and agreeable. However, Bexley Council have refused to take any notice. Vinny Rey of the Traffic Department said, despite the initial objections, the decision has already been made by the Cabinet Member, and the results of poll were submitted too late to even be considered. He said there is no mechanism for appeal or to have the decision reversed and therefore maintains nothing can now be done. However, the results of the poll only backup the original objections submitted, which all appear to have 'got lost'. The submissions indicated that the majority of residents were definitely not in favour, with just two households out of 38 approving.

Taz from the Crosstalk Foundation, which has its facility in Plantation Road, said, "It is outrageous that our local authority see fit to spend ill-affordable public money against the democratic will on something that the majority of people who actually live here don't want, don't feel is necessary and that will actually make life more difficult for us. It is about time that Bexley Council stopped spending our money on things we don't want and spent it on something we do." He went on to add, "Despite their motto, the Council do not listen to us and don't appear to care. In fact they should consider changing their motto altogether to something like - Walking all over people - regardless! Perhaps we could run a competition to see if the public can come up with a more honest and appropriate motto for our local authority. The paper could publish the list of entries and readers could vote on a winner."