So many councillor leaflets are full of the “glum councillor” photos. Standing there and pointing at a pothole, a dirty road sign, litter, graffiti… you name it, they’ve been photographed looking glum next to it. Our local councillors need to cheer up!
But now there’s a site that collates these glum councillor images! Here’s a couple of the best ones:

An empty gritting box… after the snow has gone.

This one includes an MP – and the graffiti artist makes it clear what he thinks (look next to Nigel Griffith’s hand)…

It’s a schoolboy …

What would be a “slap in the face“?
a) A pay freeze for local authority workers
Unison say:

The decision to cut our members’ pay without negotiation is a slap in the face for hard-working council employees who have kept local communities together through the financial crisis.

or
b) An inflation-busting 2.5% pay rise for local authority workers paid for out of our council taxes (inevitably either through a tax rise or decreased services)
The Local Government Employers say:

Councils are facing a perfect storm of falling revenues and increasing demand for services.
Up and down the country, …

There is a tool available to show graphically changes in population over time between 1992 and 2031.

The website provides an interactive map that graphically illustrates the extent to which age profile of the UK will change over the next few years. The mapping tool allows the user to select criteria for studying various age groups from UK level down to every local authority area. So, if you’d like to see what the age profile of your locality will look like in ten years’ time, this site can help. It is especially useful for local news bloggers.

There have been several events and reports worthy of note in the last week in the world of local blogs and websites . I thought it worth a roundup, and some reflections

Is there such a thing as “natural traffic calming”? One parish council thinks that there is – and that it means they don’t have to spend any money on fixing the roads!
Ideal! If you’re a council. Not so ideal if you’re anyone else.
Potholes are dangerous things. There is no excuse not to fix them, especially on a faux “traffic calming” basis. If potholes aren’t fixed, it puts cyclits and pedestrians in danger of accidents. Even if it slows down motorists, it puts every other road user in danger.
Every councillor who …

Unpaid council tax should indeed be chased down. No-one should be able to get away with not paying what they owe, however unfair the tax may be. But forcing people in to bankruptcy is not the way to do it.
Rather than using bailiffs and bankruptcy orders, councils should be far less aggressive, and they certainly shouldn’t be putting peoples homes in danger or forcing them into bankruptcy given the current economic situation. These measures should only be used in extreme cases, when no alternative can be found.
It is very wrong …

These are anti-democratic institutions with a massive amount of power. So much so that they theaten to effectively abolish local councils.

The small print of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, gives sweeping power to new organisations to control transport policy, including the power to levy taxes, the Conservatives said last night…
Under the terms of the Bill, new ‘combined authorities’, made up or two or more local authority areas will be created. They will control economic development, regeneration and transport policy. They will …

Via Tyger, on how people in Nottinghamshire handle the cold war with the next village. The minutes of the Eakring Annual Parish Council meeting made it onto the BBC Radio 4’s comedy show, The News Quiz ::

Any Other Business

1. Tree cutting on Back Lane was discussed. The following things arose from this:

a) It would be a good idea to suggest to the landowner the planting of some replacement trees.

b) Parish Councillors are advised to report things to the Clerk for onward transmission to the relevant authority rather than contact parishioners direct.

c) Parish Councillors and parishioners need refreshing on what constitutes a ‘tree’ and what is permitted work. Clerk to write to Mr Catchpole for a definition.

d) Clerk to report the tree cutting to Mr Catchpole at NSDC.

2. The issue of the ancient drains in the village was raised.
3. A parishioner has raised the question of the PC’s use of the Eakring Echo and its sponsorship.
4. Another parishioner wished to know if the problems with the telephone directories have been solved yet.
5. Mr Neale said a parishioner had drawn his attention to overhanging foliage on the pavement on Main Street between Wellow Road junction and the Old School. Clerk to contact Highways Dept.
6. The missile launcher parked at a property on Kirklington Road has caused comments from a number of parishioners about unauthorised access of a vehicle to a property and causing damage to the road surface. Clerk to contact Highways Dept.

You’ve been warned.

European Parliament and English local council elections are to be held on the same day – 4 June 2009.
Good.
Of course there is always the argument that Labour has done this in order to save face, and not lose two elections inside four weeks. This would, of course, minimise the damage that they would face, having only to defend bad results – and work out how to claim that it was actually a victory – on one occasion, rather than two.
However, even if this is Labour’s motive I still support it, …

New and politics “where you are”?
The BBC mantra of news or politics “where you are” is wrong. Whenever they say that, I then get shown the London news or poltiics show. I don’t live in Lodon. I don’t work in London. I don’t have a vote in London. Yet I only ever get the London information.
It is annoying, because it simply doesn’t affect me. I live in Watford, Hertfordshire. Not London. So why would I be interested in local news and local politics that don’t affect me at all? And …