Get your own house in order first, Mr Pickles
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Being woken up to the sound of weird Pickles voice is not my idea of a good start to the day! The Friday missive that hits our emails, or the Friday interview that hits the airways, are now just part of Fridays. I used to shout at the radio, rush to tweet and other frantic tactics of a wound up politician. Now I realise that that’s how Eric gets his Friday fun, when parliament is not in session; he is the classic wind up merchant we all love to laugh with until he winds us up!
I say this because today’s little edict “councils should publish their list of assets so that the public can decide whether they are making best use of them” has got to be a wind up; because he knows (surely he must know?) that councils do this. We all have an asset register, in the public domain, and review it annually and make decision about the best use of our assets etc so it’s his little dig?
Sadly it feeds into the whole attitude, that emanates from The Tax Payers Alliance and The Daily Mail, that all councils are badly run and all councillors are useless. Apart from the obvious fact of not being true, it further demoralises those of us elected to serve our local communities and the staff who work within our councils. Much more importantly, it erodes public confidence in local democracy.
As for whether residents having a say in whether an asset is ” value for money”; my own experience has taught me that when it comes to selling an asset or re-evaluating what to use, there is rarely a united voice on what’s to be done. Firstly, from my own group of councillors (who thankfully are a diverse bunch whose views represent a cross section of the community) and then the wider public. We were looking at the future use of two old park keepers cottages and the response from the public when we asked their views yielded more ideas than we have parks! But a derelict public loo down a back alley that yielded us 37K (it is now a thriving local sandwich bar) aroused no comment.
My only comment to the Minister would be put your own house in order first please.
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