10:11am Friday 29th May 2009
THE first time I ever sat through a council meeting, I ended up seriously thinking of giving up journalism and trying for a new career.
It was approximately 1983 and was in a town hall in Hendon, London. I was there to cover some kind of a sub committee for a local free paper.
However, it was like they were talking in another language on another radio frequency.
An opposition reporter, in a trendy Parka jacket, was furiously scribbling down the debate as if it was Watergate – while I sat there hopeless and helpless, unable to tune in, with my pen poised uselessly in the air.
I just couldn’t understand a word. Revenue support grants, capital expenditure programmes, sustainable regeneration, delegated authority... these were the type of subjects they were discussing, and I was lost.
That night when I returned home, I stood trembling in the hallway for several minutes. I honestly thought this proved I didn’t have the brains to cover local government and that I was way out of my depth.
Momentarily, I even considered giving up and going to work in a factory.
Luckily for me, I gave it all another go and found out that once you get through all the ridiculous jargon, covering councils can be fun (yes, really).
Within a couple of years, I was a bit of an expert and became local government correspondent on a respected paid-for weekly paper.
You see, I’ve finally come to the reluctant conclusion that councils are integral to our way of life and our communities. I happen to think there are too many tiers of government in Bucks, but for proper democracy to function, we do need effective grass-roots local authorities.
That statement may surprise some of my long-suffering readers because I’ve rarely held back over almost three decades from knocking councillors and councils. And certainly, some I’ve met over the years have been easy prey – being obsessed with their own self importance while apparently achieving little for the public.
Yes, there have been some bad decisions made on our behalf over the years, and I have no doubt some of you will have a horror story to relate on the subject.
However, the majority of our councillors are able, well-meaning and put in a huge amount of effort for the community. In return, most get very little – maybe a few biscuits and a cup of tea during a meeting break and some petty expenses.
Sadly, they are now being tarred in some quarters with the same brush as the nation’s MPs whose greediness has brought politics into disrepute.
This country’s citizens are well and truly fed up with them... but the suggestion is this could rebound on other politicians, such as council candidates.
On June 4, Bucks goes to the polls for both the county council and Euro elections.
There is now a real danger that the turn-out will be pitiful and unrepresentative as a result of the scandal in the Commons.
This would be grossly unfair on the local heroes, many of whom work around the clock to serve you.
Some of them will be surprised to hear me say that, because having a healthy disrespect for those in power is an essential attribute for newspaper editors.
The minute we doff our caps to them and accept everything on face value, is the minute that newspapers are a spent force.
But we can still acknowledge the enormous contribution local councillors can make.
If you don’t believe me, just try to think of men such as Glyn Galbraith and David Fieldhouse. One was Labour and the other a Tory, but both shared the same zeal and energy for serving the public and were held in massive esteem by their constituents.
Sadly both Glyn and David died recently, within weeks of each other. I attended both funerals and was struck by the huge affection and gratitude showed towards them by the large congregations that turned out to say farewell.
These were men who gave politics a good name. They worked for us for next to nothing, just because they wanted to give something back.
I don’t care who you vote for on June 4, but I do care that you make the effort to go out to vote and elect the people you believe will best serve you on the county council and in Europe. If you give up on your councils just because of your disgust at the national scene, then you will be betraying local democracy – as well as the memories of the men who served us so well for so long.
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