Poor Councillors…
This week, as a special treat, I am going to be really nice to our Councillor friends. There are some extraordinarily hard working and committed Councillors out there and having been a Councillor myself, I do have a good insight into the time and dedication. It can be a thankless task being a Councillor and serving the public and carrying out your democratic duties (for very little money really). There are of course also Councillors whose biggest activity is collecting their allowance, but they are few and far between.
Over the years I certainly had my fair share of weird encounters with the people I represented, and it always struck me just how little the public actually knew about the function of a Councillor. One of the main problems is that a large chunk of the population have no idea what the difference is between a Councillor and a MP. If you then bring in Parish and County Councillors it gets even more confusing (hence I am very pleased about the Local Government Reorganisation proposals).
Planning matters were always an issue and I had a resident who came to me very upset that the Council ordered a stop order on unpermitted work on his house. He had decided to sink a basement… himself… with a digger that he brought in through the patio doors. His neighbour, quite rightly, reported this and enforcement was down in a flash. Long story short, I wouldn’t help him, he decided to carry on regardless and thankfully, only his part of the semi-detached house collapsed a few days later into the hole he had dug. Planning law is there for a reason - to stop idiots like that!
There was also the downright weird with the resident who called me on Boxing Day to complain about carol singers (well, don’t worry, I will make sure they don’t bother you for another year at least!). Or the resident who contacted me about the ducks on the pond in the park who were the wrong colour… or the resident who came to see me about the rubbish collection that was ½ hour later than usual. Or one of my personal all-time favourites, the resident who complained bitterly about their road name… The road is called Dawlish Avenue and they had been to Dawlish and thought that it was inferior to Windermere and I should change their road name to Windermere Avenue (and no, they were not taking the mickey, they were deadly serious!)
The other thing I loathed was when developers arranged a drop in (inevitably at the most inconvenient time) and as a pro-housebuilding Councillor I would walk in and the angry residents (the only ones who ever go to the drop-in exhibitions) would make a beeline for me and demand that I oppose the development. Why, oh, why, oh why do developers facilitate an event where the angry residents can all shout at the Councillor at the same time to stop their proposed development? Madness!
Anyway, go out and enjoy the nice weather and steer clear of the aliens!
Henry