The Police – Friends and Protectors?

Jan 2012.................................................................................................................................................

Sidcup's MP and South London International Health Service Trust forced to deny plans to close Queen Mary's on BBC News
Dear Mr Brokenshire,
You have described the leaking of the fact that closure of Queen Mary’s Hospital is an option as “unhelpful”. We disagree. It may indeed be unhelpful in political terms especially in view of the manifesto undertaking below but it is simply unacceptable that the people of Sidcup continue to be mislead in respect of the provision of healthcare as has happened thus far.
"We will stop the forced closure of A&E and maternity wards, so that people have better access to local services, and give mothers a real choice over where to have their baby, with NHS funding following their decisions."
Conservative Party Manifesto 2010, page 47.
Earlier in the same bulletin, the depressing news was delivered that the International Health Service was writing off 90% of the debts owed by foreign patients not entitles to but having obtained free health care. In total, £7.6m was written off by 33 IHS trusts in the region, since 2009. In 2010-11, across the trusts, a total of £26m is owed by patients, of which £18.4m continues to be actively sought.
South London wrote off £29,000 out of £481,000.

The fight to save Arundells continues
Please support the fight to keep the historic home of Sidcup’s former MP Sir Edward Heath for the nation. Trustees have applied for planning permission to keep the house open to the public for three more years.
Please contact the planning authorities to support the application:
Email: developmentmanagementsouth@wiltshire.gov.uk
Web: www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Planning Reference is S/2012/0021

Cost of staging London's Olympics sky-rockets
The cost of staging the London Olympics now stands at FIVE times the figure stated in the bid.
Meanwhile, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) staff could earn up to an extra £2,500 for working during the Games.This includes an "attendance allowance".
Serco Docklands, which operates the driver-less train service, agreed to a 25% rise in the standard overtime rate for about 550 of its employees.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said the deal has "raised the bar".
Tube drivers will get between £800 and £1,200 on average, though some of the most senior staff working the longest hours could receive far more.
TfL has also been forced to agree bonuses of up to £1,000 for London Overground staff - they get an extra 25 per cent increase in pay for the three weeks of the Games plus a 12.5 per cent rise for the week before the Games start and the week after they finish.
Train drivers will get the most with an average of £836, although some higher paid drivers and signal staff will get up to £1,000 according.

Woman responsible for unbelievable cruelty in Sidcup receives a slap on the wrist.
As reported by News Shopper, four ponies at a yard in Sidcup died after being found starving and “riddled with lice and worms”. The post mortem examination on one pony, which was put down after it collapsed emaciated, revealed it had nothing but sand in its intestine.
Sue Williams, aged 41 of Old Maidstone Road in Sidcup, was banned from keeping horses for five years and was handed a curfew for three months by Bromley Magistrates’ Court on January 23. She was found guilty of eight charges of causing unnecessary suffering to her horses and another two of failing in her duty as the person responsible for the welfare of animals.

High Street to receive a cash injection
Sidcup High Street is due to receive funding for improvements from the office of the mayor of London.
Improvements will include a restaurant area in Elm parade. We hope the improvements will increase visitors to the High street but wonder whether matters will improve whilst inadequate free parking and the Council’s refusal to implement planning conditions continue.

Crime hits church congregation
Crime struck two families of the same central Sidcup church recently, The first returned home to find their home burgled and all their wedding jewellery stolen. The second had money stolen from their car parked outside the church. The money belonged to a charity event being held in the church.
Crime might be low in Sidcup but it is NOT absent and you ARE being watched!

Sidcup war memorial a “disgrace”
Members of the Sidcup Royal Air Force Association and the United Services Club in Sidcup High Street complained to Bexley Council that the garden by the war memorial in The Green, Sidcup is a ‘disgrace’.
President of the United Services club and the RAFA secretary Keith Preece, 77, said: “Something as important as that for the country and they cannot even get the garden right. The state of the memorial garden was a disgrace in September - there was about a foot of weeds."
Bexley Council said it did not accept the Sidcup war memorial is overgrown and covered with weeds.

Many of London’s looters to escape Scot free
The complexity of many of the 3,600 crime scenes means that many rioters and looters may not be brought to justice. David Robinson, London Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor stated that they hope to achieve 1,200 prosecutions. He added that there was clear evidence of gang involvement but most cases represented opportunistic thieving.
Meanwhile, you would think the riots never happened after they were practically airbrushed from official crime statistics this month.
In half of the worst hit areas, crime was shown to have actually decreased last August compared with the same month in 2010. In some boroughs where hundreds of yobs rampaged through the streets police recorded just one public disorder incident.
So, as the statistics lie about last August, let us remind you that up to 15,000 people rioted through towns and cities for five days causing up to £1 billion worth of damage and lost business and left five people dead. More than 4,000 people were arrested.

Bexleyheath boy racer walks free after 130mph police chase
Jordan Newington, of Rowan Road, Bexleyheath, raced off in his Vauxhall Corsa when officers caught him speeding on the A2 in Bexleyheath and signalled for him to pull over. He had hit 130mph, weaving between all three lanes of the busy.
Newington was handed an 11-month jail term suspended for 24 months, banned from driving for three years, ordered to do 270 hours of unpaid work and told to pay £250 towards prosecution costs. Judge Charles Byers who let him walk free described him as a "very silly boy".

Just one Olympics “VIP” intends to use public transport
Our admiration goes to Colin Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association. Thousands of other “VIPS” (sorry, members of the “Olympic family”) will be whisked around the Zil lanes in fuel guzzling, CO2 emitting BMWs during the “green” games.
Meanwhile, having blackmailed us by demanding up to £1,200 for working during the Olympics, station staff are following tube drivers in demanding £500. So, next time you hear about a no-strike deal, think again.

POLICE appeal for witnesses of Christmas day assault
Between 1am and 1:30am on December 25, two men were assaulted outside the Tesco Express store, in Station Parade.
Both men were about to get into a Vauxhall Corsa when they were punched around the head, with one man sustaining a broken jaw.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Bexey CID on 020 8284 9240 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 

Boris island airport WILL be built!
That’s our bet. Like HS2 and the decimation of planning laws, the rush to save the economy will brush all environmental considerations aside. The garden of England will be further concreted over and Sidcup will be impacted.

The future for Bexley’s libraries
The plight of Bexley’s libraries has been featured in the national press. Bexley Library is to be handed over to a community group who plan to charge users £24 per year.
Our admiration goes to Bexley Village Community Library for saving the library and taking over its running. In this situation we can understand that the charges are necessary and justified. What a pity that Bexley Council would prefer to see residents pay for library services twice in order to protect the six-figure salaries of its executives. We are clearly NOT all in this together!

25 bags of rubbish retrieved from River Cray
A team of 12 volunteers have cleared the river Cray from rubbish in recent weeks.
The clean up was organised by the river’s keeper Michael Heath. Our congratulation and thanks to him and to the volunteers. We wait for littering to be taken seriously and the existing laws to be enforced. 25 bags of waste were cleared.
For more information on river clean-ups, call Michael on 07968 805 751.

Debate on fat cat pay rejected
Bexley Council has rejected a petition with more than 2,200 signatures calling for a public debate on senior council officers’ pay.
The Bexley Council Monitoring Group, an independent body representing the views of the borough's residents, handed in the 2,219-strong petition last month, demanding that salaries be capped at £100,000.
It follows figures collected by BBC Panorama that revealed chief executive of the council Will Tuckley was the 37th highest paid local government worker in the UK in 2010 with a salary of £206,439.
Petitions with more than 2000 signatures are able to be heard at full council but the council has refused. So much for the “Listening” Council!

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