Tuesday 13th October 2026
It's been such a busy time lately. Ever since CityGate Church announced that the Odeon cinema would be closing and that they were about to apply for Change of Use Planning Permission to turn it into a Place of Worship there have been meetings upon meetings.
I am measuring my words carefully here. It's quite possible that, as one of the Ward Councillors, I might be called to speak if it comes to Committee and I cannot give anyone any hint of Predetermination. That said, I hope for the building to be kept open for use by the whole diversity of our community. I'm so happy that this issue has galvanised us, and I hope we can keep that community spirit going, whatever happens in the next few months or years.
The LibDem team all did videos over the weekend related to the questions we were going to ask in last night's Full Council and, though initially they filled me with horror, I think I've now got the vlogging bug. Mine seems to have been viewed 2.4K times, which is a surprise.
We operated so well as a team last night, it made me want to high five everyone, which would have been most inappropriate in the chamber. We were like a tag team with our questions related to the statement we requested on the heatwaves of the past summer. Of course this is all related to Climate Change, which some people still see fit to deny.
The pressure was on me, from myself really, as I failed to ask a question at the last Full Council, but I was reading about this year's anticipated unprecedented El Nino effect last week and it suddenly occurred to me that that would be a suitable question to ask as my Supplementary. It was quite an October Horror Fest, what with Steven's plague of Giant Rats ("a foot long not counting the tail") and my Godzilla El Nino of possible severe flooding at the beginning of winter and severe freezing at the end, and my subconscious choice of a dark red/purple lipstick reflected that, which made me giggle.
The reply about the Council's preparedness for Godzilla was unclear, however, with the Leader referring to the existing Snow Friends Scheme and something about London's microclimate and his dusting off of his personal grit store. An intervention from a member about how we should all be inviting our neighbours in for a cup of tea came over as a bit dim. Don't we do that anyway? And isn't it the very job of the Council to protect its inhabitants? Anyway Giant Rats and Godzilla are now firmly acknowledged.
Before the meeting proper, with a new Flag of St George and Union Flag displayed in the corner of the Chamber (a Reform Motion?) there were two votes on past Councillors being bestowed with a Freemanship and becoming Aldermen. While many felt obliged to support this, I was minded to Abstain on both votes. I had heard uncomplimentary stories about one of the Aldermen and conflicting complimentary ones about another. I didn't know the rest at all so I didn't feel I could vote on the whole group one way or the other, and it was a bestowal en masse, like the lumping in of Palestine Action with other groups when proscribing them, sort of.
In the end I was swayed by how moved the widow of the posthumous recipient was by the award so I voted for the motion, albeit fairly reluctantly. The vote was botched in any case, taking place by mistake after the new Aldermen had received their badges. Was the consumption of wine at a reception beforehand in any way related?
I had thought long and hard about the preceding vote to bestow the Freedom of Bromley upon a long-serving ex-councillor of my own ward. We were not whipped by our party to vote for, and different people had their reasons but the more I thought about it, the less I wanted any part in honouring someone who has made disparaging insinuations and, in my hearing, inflammatory remarks about SEND children, two-tier policing and music learning. It's really easy to say these things when you're not in any way affected but Ruth's voice echoes in my head "Represent!" So I represented those people affected by this throwaway nastiness and my own conscience and Abstained. It was the least could do.
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