I AM really sick to the back teeth with our councils and the way in which they operate in Bucks.

Most of you will know that by now, but one episode last week made me more livid than usual – the matter of snow and ice clearance on our streets.

However, council officials may be surprised to learn I do leap to their defence in this regard normally.

Far too many people expect the council to molly-coddle them by clearing and gritting their side roads. It’s one thing for them to do the major routes, but quite another to get down every lane and cul-de-sac.

I have been out there this month with my shovel, broom and grit (bought from a hardware shop and not grabbed from a council bin), and wouldn’t for a moment expect the council to do it for me. If everyone did their bit, and then helped out their elderly or infirm neighbours, there would be no problem.

I repeated this idea several times after the first snowfall and was quite proud of my public-spirited big society attitude. But then I tried taking my son to Hamilton Primary School in High Wycombe two days after the first snowfall.

We parked up near the cemetery and began walking along Benjamin Road. To my surprise, I found none of the pavements had been touched, and they were beginning to resemble an ice rink. As we turned the corner into the road where his school lies, I assured him it would be better there. It wasn’t.

The funny thing is he was wearing wellies and I only had soft slip-ons. Our roles reversed as we parted because he told me afterwards he stood and watched me go in case I fell. The boy clearly has no confidence in me.

I was livid with the county council for leaving these pavements untouched. After all, they are also the education authority and, while they can’t tackle every street, you would have thought they could do the ones near a big school and cemetery, especially where there are no householders immediately nearby to do it.

I say this as a man who keeps a shovel in his boot and who goes out in the snow in his slippers. I’m no shrinking violet or scaredy cat, but there are limits. Presumably, if the corridors of County Hall were full of trip hazards, then a health and safety officer would swing into action, suck his teeth and quote the whole farrago of terrifying rules and regulations.

It simply wouldn’t be allowed in their own offices, so why do they risk the welfare of school pupils in this way?

It hardly surprised me to learn the next day that a girl in the same school had fallen somewhere near there and had broken her leg. I don’t know the precise circumstances, but there was clearly an accident waiting to happen.

By the way, don’t give me any guff that they don’t have any money for pavement de-icing. We all know Bucks County Council has a fighting fund to tackle High Speed 2, possibly through the courts. And, while I loathe HS2, I also despise the principle that Tory councils should use our money on court action against Tory-led governments.

Meanwhile, the county council proudly proclaimed last week it was freezing our council tax for the second year running.

But as this was helped by a Government grant, I can’t see why they didn’t actually reduce it. Better still, why not do away with themselves? Would we really miss a council that doesn’t clear ice from around schools?

A few weeks ago, I lamented how meetings at another authority, Wycombe District Council, had turned into a panto farce with constant bickering. Apparently my words hit home in some quarters and a few councillors have started to listen.

Well, listen to me on this one as well councillors, especially you ones who sit on two or three of our local authorities: it’s time you began acting in the public interest again. We don’t want grand political statements; we don’t expect you to be world statesmen. Just do the boring jobs, such as sensible ice clearance around schools. Make sure the bins are collected on time and the potholes are fixed. And streamline yourselves into single bodies – as opposed to county, district and parishes which nobody understands.

The days of your prehistoric multi-layered council structures are numbered. The end cannot come soon enough.