Telford & Wrekin Council Watch - The Good Replaced by The professional

The Good Replaced by The professional

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Written by John Franklyn

Monday, 15 September 2008

The Good Replaced By The Professional

Councillors never used to be professional politicians. They were ordinary members of the public who stood for election out of a sense of civic duty because they had something to contribute to the local community. It was a noble cause. Allowances were extremely modest at a few hundred Pounds a year.

Today we have a generation of politicians who look only at what they can get out of the system rather than what they can put into it.

The old system of local government had worked well enough for generations, but Tony Blair’s first government ignored the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. At a stroke, the committee system was out and the cabinet was in. Without any public consultation whatsoever, vocational councillors were replaced by highly paid professionals.

As renowned journalist Janet Daley said:

“It is a positive point of pride among politicians here to say that they bravely hold out against "populist" demands - which is to say that they wilfully ignore and deride the concerns of ordinary people because they are not sufficiently enlightened to be worthy of consideration. There is almost no sense at all of the principle that underpins the US Constitution: that in a democracy, the will of the majority of the people is sacred.“

The privilege of representing your communities has been replaced with

“If they don’t like it, they can vote us out at the next elections”

Something I have said heard said countless times at full council.

Promises are made in election leaflets and broken with alarming regularity.

“An open and honest council”

Is such a promise that has failed to be delivered.

Whilst residents see monies removed from libraries, care support costs increased, council tax increased, meals on wheels cost increased,

We also pay for Professional local Politicians = Borough Councillors to the tune of

£1,835,627.44 over the years 05/06 – 06/07- 07/08

It is likely that these payments to Borough Cllrs, or at least those with what are deemed to have extra responsibilities are only going to increase.

An alarming amount of money, which only likely to increase

It is also important to note that these costs do not include

Costs of Parish Councillors

Costs of sitting on Outside Bodies

Costs of being an MP’s assistant

Costs of by-elections

And much more.

The cost of ‘away days’ is another cost taken on by the tax payer, but Telford and Wrekin Council have NO central method of knowing just how much this has cost. The cost of ‘away days’ is spread across so many different departments, the true cost in pounds is hidden away.

Additional concerns and questions need to be raised about the time a Borough Councillor actually spends representing their community, can a Borough Councillor really represent their community if they:-

1.Are A borough Councillor

2.A Parish Councillor on more than one Parish

3.A Director of a Company

4.A Trustee of a Charity

5.Hold down full time employment

Surely, they cannot represent adequately.

Then the same question could be asked of officers:-

Can they really adequately do their job when,

They are Directors of

1.The CVS

2.Community Mobility Transport

3.Sport England

And have other interests

If we as residents are ultimately expected to pay out multi millions of pounds, we should also expect to receive answers to these questions.

Other questions arise with regards English Partnerships and their attitude towards local residents.

What gives them the right to fence off land, that they may own, but has been open to the public freely. Like the land near Telford Town Park on Stirchley Road. A large area of land, previously available for public use has been fenced off without consultation or notice given to the public, without notice to the Council, without notice to the Parish Council.

Fortunately MP David Wright has taken up this issue.

The fact that English Partnerships fence of areas like this, cages members of the public out of wood land, like at Apley, this then paves the way for some form of development.

They need to challenged and made to justify their actions.

Comments

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ajcobbler - The professionals of Contempt

|SAdministrator |2008-09-15 22:21:42

Unlike a famous actor who believed his performanes would stand out if the rest
of the cast was weak, I am so glad JF has come along to pick up the themes I
banged on about without a site. People like JF and Hoop have knowledge and wit
and I believe there are others if they find the time to investigate what is
going on.
How many of you can do two or three jobs in the same working
hours?Apparently senior officers in councils can do this by ensuring they have a
surplus of middle rank officers to cover for them. This tendancy has grown along
side the professional politicians who can be on a variety of councils,housing
associations and in other occupations. How do they find the time and what input
can they put in given this schedule?.

What is certain is that none of the
councillors seem to understand what is going on with English Partnerships. This
quango can fence off land which has become right of way over decades without
even the courtesy of informing borough or parish council.Hardly had the park
issue been foughtwhen I found myself again seeking signatures to get the parish
council to scrutinise the latest development. The trouble is most of the
councillors will not actually live in this part of the overlarge parish(one
lives in priorslee) so I doubt if they will show anymore support than they did
when I campaigned against development on the park. However,onward christian
soldier!