The Work of a Local Councillor

This was the title of a talk I gave yesterday afternoon at the Wantage and Grove branch of the U3A. It was a very lively session, with lots of questions from the floor and the general feeling that no one fully realised the full extent of a councillor's work these days.

I explained all the tiers of local government from parish, district, county to regional level, and tried to show how legislation passed either by Westminster or the European Parliament often filters its way down for us to implement at local level. This particularly applies to waste collection and planning decisions.

The audience was also interested to learn about how we communicate with our electorate. In my case, I try to keep in touch with everyone whether it is my blog, my reports, newsletters, emails, letters, telephone calls and the like. Communications and media technologies are changing and we have to change with the times. It was good to have an opportunity to interact with everyone and especially to hear their views about important issues like caring for the elderly and concessionary fares. Planning decisions were another hot topic!

Visit the website if you wish to find out more about future talks and events, I am sure the organisers will be happy to welcome new members.