Following my attendance at the Town and Community Councils Liaison Sub-Committee gathering on Monday, July 20, I left with considerable disappointment and worry about how Caerphilly County Borough Council relates to its town and community councils.
It has become clear that town and community councils are broadly unhappy. The way elected representatives are addressed occasionally comes across as dismissive and rude, and there seems to be a pattern of brushing aside genuine worries instead of having proper discussions.
The Charter, which was designed to encourage joint working, mutual respect and productive interaction between the council and town and community councils, seems to have turned into nothing more than a box-ticking formality. While the values it outlines are commendable, they do not seem to be evident in how things actually work.
Just as worrying is the apparent inability to maintain the Nolan Principles of Public Life. These values – selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership – ought to form the foundation of all public service. Yet from what I have witnessed, they frequently seem to be nothing more than statements on a page rather than standards that are regularly shown in practice.
Public trust can only be preserved when these values are clearly demonstrated in how decisions are made and how elected members, staff and residents are treated.
The meeting strengthened the view that decisions are primarily made by officers, with elected representatives frequently feeling their opinions count for very little. If this view is correct, it raises significant concerns about accountability, transparency and the state of local democracy.
Town and community councils speak for the communities they represent and ought to be seen as important allies, not as a problem. Real teamwork demands listening, mutual respect and a readiness to cooperate to deliver the best results for local people.
Unless there is a genuine pledge to building better relations and ensuring that both the Charter and the Nolan Principles are honoured in both intention and action, trust between the council and town and community councils will keep declining.
Local democracy requires openness, accountability, respect for elected representatives and genuine engagement. Without these, there is a genuine possibility that public belief in the democratic system will keep eroding.
Councillor George Etheridge,
Mayor of Blackwood.