New Kid on the Block

Ever wondered what a newly elected councillor does in his first few months of office? I’m actually hoping that very few of you answered yes to that question. I did wonder about it, but then I had to. It’s not exactly as I had expected whilst at the same time being quite a lot like I expected, and you’re going to have to get a little used to that kind of tortuous logic. This is the world of local politics where, contrary to the accepted stereotype, most people are hard working, honest decent people, putting a lot of their own time to help their local town (obviously that doesn’t apply to the Tories, who’re far too busy torturing cute kittens and selling the land out from underneath our grandparents). It has been an interesting and challenging experience. It’s just a lot odder than I thought it would be.

The road to local democracy (why is always a road, why couldn’t it be a shuttle bus ride to democracy, a business class flight - upgraded to first class at the last minute - ride to democracy, or at the very least a cycle ride to democracy) is necessarily long and started with introducing myself to a great many people. This entails many months of what is euphemistically called canvassing, which is actually more of a process of disturbing distinctly unenthusiastic residents on their Sunday morning lie in. No one should be mistaken in believing that local political campaigning is glamorous, in reality it has far more in common with having a paper round and what sucks is that unlike the paper round I had almost 25 years ago, this one doesn’t even pay.

Whilst trying to diminish my disappointment that my canvassing won’t supplement my pocket money, Election day loomed.

Election day is a tortured experience, worse still for thinking why on earth am I doing this, again. This time people have been kind, I’m the 2nd most popular annoying political candidate of the past few weeks and I’m elected. The next few minutes are a blur of hugs, kisses, handshakes and congratulations before being grabbed by council officers who thrust ‘welcome’ packs into one hand and ask for signatures on pieces of paper in the other. After quickly checking the document they wanted me to sign didn't use the words like soul, eternal damnation or book club, I signed and was now, officially, a councillor. It took quite a while to realise when people were addressing me as Councillor Feeney it was me they were talking to; it’s a little surreal, wonderful but quite unreal. It took me a little while, but not long, to realise I now had a job to do.

I had spent so much time and effort campaigning to win an election and a lot of time thinking about what I really wanted to accomplish as a Councillor, but it dawned on me what a huge task I had taken on. I had always anticipated that if elected, I would be capable of delivering a strong opposition in order to challenge the ruling group. I also hoped to ensure that the decisions they were making on our behalf were the right ones. Although I have to admit to enjoying the occasional political fracas, given the nature of the beast before me, I felt it was important to try and confront them in an intelligent, considered and constructive manner. Unfortunately, I have found that council protocol does not lend itself to open debate, so this plan is going to be easier said than done. I left my first meeting a little disappointed that I didn't get the opportunity to shout at the top of my voice "I am Councillor Feeney and I am here to represent the needs of my constituents, to stand up and be counted, I want to make the world a better place, but at this stage I will settle for Borehamwood", maybe next time?

May and June was awash with training courses and meetings, covering issues such as crime, code of conduct, Elstree Studios, Full Council, personnel, housing, planning, Local Joint Committees, Performance Management, licensing, gypsy and traveller sites, media training, overview of this and scrutiny of that, all very confusing for a rookie councillor. This schedule coupled with constituents case work, the workload of my day job and the fact that I like to see my wife and children at least now and again came as a bit of a culture shock. The knock on effect of this means much to my wifes disgust, I have postponed getting around to all of those niggling odd jobs that need sorting out at home, well something's got to give, doesnt it? The meetings really started to build up and more importantly for me, resident casework started trickling through. A mountain of bright pink, orange and yellow council papers, magazines and letters continued to arrive at a phenomenal rate, so much so that I became worried if it was Hertsmere Borough Council alone who was responsible for the destruction of our planets forests? The good news is its saving me a fortune not having to buy drawing and colouring paper for my children, who enjoy using the old (non confidential) papers to scribble on before we put them into the blue bin for recycling, let nobody accuse my family of not doing our bit for the environment!

Politics aside, another substantial part of the role is the constituent’s casework. I hear about numerous types of issues, all of which are important to the person with the problem however in reality some being more serious than others. Apart from the complaints I receive about waste and recycling, one of the main areas of my work and one that I find most disturbing is Anti Social Behaviour, especially when it’s targeted at vulnerable members of our community. For obvious reasons I can't go into specific case details, however I think you would be shocked and upset by some of the things our residents have to endure, especially elderly members of our community. Although some situations are trickier than others to resolve, the role of a councillor can be a great enabler and I get an enormous amount of satisfaction from it.

Everything went fairly quiet in August, the summer break came and went far too quickly and now my diary appears to be filling up somewhat rapidly all the way into December. We had a full council meeting last night, which I will update you on in my next blog.

I hope you all have a good weekend. I want to wish all Muslim Members of our community a blessed Ramadan and my fellow Jewish members of the community well over the fast of Yom Kippur.

Ian