If you read this blog regularly you will have noticed that I report to different local agencies, potholes; street Lights - day burners, damaged and not working; weeds - in gutters and on pavements; signs - unauthorised developers signs, incorrect ones, out of date ones, irrelevant and wrong ones; damage to: railings, fences, pavements etc etc etc.
I do this in an effort to get our town properly maintained and tidy, so that it is a more pleasant place to live. This may all sound a bit hearts and flowers but I do not see why we should have to put up with a town that if left to our Town Council would probably end up looking like a war zone. That sounds a bit extreme but many of the things that I pursue, I find out the Town Council are fully aware of, but as they are not their responsibility, they ignore them.
This all sounds like a bit of a ramble but at one time I was naïve enough to think that the Town Council actually represented the town and would pursue other agencies to do their bit for our town. Not so I am afraid.
I was recently told that it was about time people realised the Town Council are not responsible for all of the town and they should report their problems to the right people. You can report problems to the Town Council but if it is not their responsibility, then apparently it is unlikely it will be reported onto the right agency.
Some members of the Town Council argue that they should be given more responsibility for the town, and this came out again in the recent local elections. Heaven help us.
What are Biggleswade Town Council Councillors and staff doing to get these problems fixed that are not their responsibility? I have to say I have seen very little evidence of many of them taking a regular interest in dealing with any of these problems. There are exceptions.
What do you think??
I think this is sadly a problem associated with having too many layers of government; a lay person has little chance of knowing where responsibility lies and it seems those at the bottom aren't very good or interested in escalating issues. Some of the layers need to go; either from the top or the bottom. You can centralize or localize responsibilities but trying to do both is inefficient.
ReplyDeleteI thought when we lost the County Council that the lines of responsibilty were supposed to be clearer and there would not be this problem. Obviously not. Another untruth.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the previous comments on layers of responsibility, but I'm surprised to hear about this apparent new attitude at the Town Hall as on at least two past occassions when I have phoned to report something that turned out to be not the TC's responsibility, the staff member I spoke to (a lady) was most helpful and even offered to pass it on to the District Council for me.
ReplyDeleteThere is one lady who is very helpful, but do not send anything to the Town Clerk if you want an answer or actually anything sorted out. Best to bypass him and either send an email to the enquiries email address or go in if possible to see the lady.
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