What makes a good councillor?

[Arguendo]

There’s plenty of discussion on the forum regarding specific political parties or individual representatives. We can all think of bad examples & practices within all them, but what makes a good local councillor or even a local MP. What would you like to see; myself I’d like to see councillors/politicians engage more with the voter, take time to listen, not just in local surgeries, or through the letters pages of newspapers, politicians should answer openly to criticism not hide behind long complex answers or continue to pass the blame onto their political opposition.

 

Think back; for example in the 80’s I remember a local councillor would be found in shopping centres, pubs, school events even knocking on doors. These practices weren’t just practiced at election time but at regular intervals throughout their term, they didn’t shy away from the voter or require the services of a PR agent, personal image wasn’t an issue, their perseverance in representing the needs of their voters was, they were a major part of the community.

 

Today’s councillors/politicians spend more time attempting to score points with their political competitors, how good they look or sound on camera; in the past there wasn’t anywhere near as much political point scoring, they were too busy attending to the needs of the electorate.

[Kristian]

Tldr...................................

[MC Spyda]

What Kristian said.

[rubydazzler]

How can three short paragraphs be too long to read? Properly spelt, punctuated and arranged in neat, bite-sized chunks. Are you three sharing a bowl?

 

I think it all stopped because people today seem to resent it, call it overkill and don't want to be disturbed in their homes. I was still doing all the things you mention in 2004 , but whatever time you call, there's some TV programme or meal that you're interrupting and annoying people.

 

It becomes self defeating in the end, other times, other customs.

[smithy266]

I was at Derby's Mayor Making celebration yesterday, and was utterly horrified by the attitude of the Labour contingent, not even applauding the work done by the last Mayor during his term of office. Whether or not you share political views, I thought the office of Mayor was apolitical. The Labour group imho, showed itself to be quite ignorant.

[sTaGeWaLkEr]

I was at Derby's Mayor Making celebration yesterday, and was utterly horrified by the attitude of the Labour contingent, not even applauding the work done by the last Mayor during his term of office. Whether or not you share political views, I thought the office of Mayor was apolitical. The Labour group imho, showed itself to be quite ignorant.

 

The Role of Mayor is apolitical, but that doesn't mean that people always stick to the rules.

 

While in council chambers last week for the inauguration of our Mayor there was a verbal attack on the outgoing Labour Mayor by a conservative Councillor. Fortunately the incoming Labour Mayor dealt with it beautifully and it was put to bed pretty quickly.

 

My thoughts are that the validity of points raised notwithstanding, as a Councillor, there is a correct time and place to air your political issues. It is not during the inauguration process of the incoming Mayor. All the Conservative Councillor did in this instance was to make himself look churlish and disrespectful - but then again criticism often reveals far more about the critic than it does about the criticized.

 

During the Mayor's Church service and procession through the centre, there were Councillors present from all parties - and also same again at the formal banquet in the evening. The Conservative contingent applauded the incoming Labour Mayor at the appropriate time - as well they should. Anything else is, again, just churlish and disrespectful.

 

Regardless of what our political beliefs are - there are occasions when it's appropriate to just simply put them down for a while.

[espadrille]

There’s plenty of discussion on the forum regarding specific political parties or individual representatives. We can all think of bad examples & practices within all them, but what makes a good local councillor or even a local MP. What would you like to see; myself I’d like to see councillors/politicians engage more with the voter, take time to listen, not just in local surgeries, or through the letters pages of newspapers, politicians should answer openly to criticism not hide behind long complex answers or continue to pass the blame onto their political opposition.

 

Think back; for example in the 80’s I remember a local councillor would be found in shopping centres, pubs, school events even knocking on doors. These practices weren’t just practiced at election time but at regular intervals throughout their term, they didn’t shy away from the voter or require the services of a PR agent, personal image wasn’t an issue, their perseverance in representing the needs of their voters was, they were a major part of the community.

 

Today’s councillors/politicians spend more time attempting to score points with their political competitors, how good they look or sound on camera; in the past there wasn’t anywhere near as much political point scoring, they were too busy attending to the needs of the electorate.

 

To a point I agree, but the problem for us was catching people in at a suitable time.Street surgeries work but again you have to know the best time and like Ruby said some people dont want to be disturbed. As I said on a previous thread, the local community events are a good time to catch up with people and engage with them.

[Hots on]

I was at Derby's Mayor Making celebration yesterday, and was utterly horrified by the attitude of the Labour contingent, not even applauding the work done by the last Mayor during his term of office. Whether or not you share political views, I thought the office of Mayor was apolitical. The Labour group imho, showed itself to be quite ignorant.

 

Im a Labour man and vote Labour in general elections, but in local council elections I vote Libdem because unfortunatly, some of the Labour people in Sheffield are a bit of a shower and I dont trust them.

[alchresearch]

Think back; for example in the 80’s I remember a local councillor would be found in shopping centres, pubs, school events even knocking on doors. These practices weren’t just practiced at election time but at regular intervals throughout their term, they didn’t shy away from the voter or require the services of a PR agent, personal image wasn’t an issue, their perseverance in representing the needs of their voters was, they were a major part of the community.

 

My local councillor is a Lib Dem. He's worked tirelessly for years and you can always find him helping out or attending public events.

 

And in the "Focus" newsletters he personally delivers every couple of months he doesn't once mention any other party or make any point scoring.

 

And for that he has my respect and sympathy that ignorant fools would try and vote him out because he's loosely associated with the Lib Dem party.

 

Thankfully he won last month, but his majority was less this time.

[Mecky]

Someone who did something I asked