Is there anyone around who can explain City Council politics/local councillors using local issues for political gain? I have a problem!!

[zephyrcat]

Long story really, but basically, we live in ablock of Council Maisonettes. Part of the adjoining block collapsed a month ago. The homes are old, not maintained and basically crap! When the collapse happened I got in touch with the local Councillors from our Housing Office - 3 of them, all Labour. They've been giving me advice, helping with our campaign to get the building into a regeneration scheme etc etc... I started a petition and collected around 300 signatures. The local councillors saifd they would decide between them the best place to send it. I heard nothing back. I wrote a letter to the Chief of the City Council and cc'd it to other Head people at the Council and last night, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Local Services (and a local Councillor for another part of the City) turned up, explained that he pushes for the decisions on regeneration etc and took the main part of the petition with him.

This evening, DP tells me that the local Councillor has been at the door after the petition and is fuming that I gave it to the Cabinet Member because he is Conservative. She agreed that ultimately it is him who makes the decisions, but is saying that he has "stolen their thunder".

Therefore - have I done the wrong thing in letting him take it... or done the right thing and the local councillors are more interested in
political gain in the run up to the election?

of course you haven't done anything wrong! It's your petition. The councillors who had it should have kept you informed.

There are all sorts of games that go on in local councils, heaven only knows what they are all playing at.

You let your own desire to not live in a crumbling maisonette override a bunch of councillors own inter-party toytown intrigues and political one-upmanship?

How very dare you!!

You're looking after your own interests by getting your petition to a decision maker who could do something about your problem. If your local councillor wants ammunition for their little political battles, they need to piss of and find it elsewhere...

Thank you! Common sense tells me the same thing. She's such a lovely lady and was so off with me on the phone this evening I felt really bad!!

She said to DP that giving him the petition was the worst thing I could've done!

The Labour Cllr was probably hoping to use the petition to "force" the Tory Cllr to make a decision which means a good press release for Labour. Because you gave it directly to the Tory then they can't do that as the Tories will be able to make the decision without pressure from the other parties.

You absolutely did the right thing; delivering the petition. The party politics won't help you and they shouldn't have made you feel bad for stopping their point scoring.

Think no more of it

Shame you didn't photocopy it... then they could have had one each

that's what DP said, aparently she wanted the petition and to go to the local paper.

As long as I'm doing the right thing that's fine!

I nearly did photocopy it, that many people were knocking the door for it! The local housing office wanted it too!

Don't want to worry you, but as it's the only copy, do check the councillor you gave it to is keeping it safe... I'm sure he wouldn't accidentally put it out for shredding, but maybe you should contact him just to check how he's looking after it, where it is and how it's stored? (If he knows you are on the ball, will be much less likely to hide it at the bottom of a drawer somewhere.) Shame your councillors didn't tell you what they were planning, getting the local paper involved might have been a good thing. Cabinet member bloke (honestly, they are so poncey these days) might be planning to make a point about it while he's standing for election and then not really do anything once he gets back in, especially if the complexion of the council changes. Just as much as the first lot of councillors might have been.

Actually given they are up for re-election (depending on what type of council - our district is up for election, county staying the same), DO check where he's keeping it, you don't want him to be booted out and the next guy to say 'oh, no idea where he put it'.

Yes, perhaps worth asking him to send you a photocopy, as you "had not had chance to do that". It ensures you have a copy, and he should have had no time to lose the petition. Puts him in a spot if he has misplaced it.

When you're left on a limb by some councillors with no mention of what (if anything) they are doing, it does seem you have to just go with whatever feels best.

Presumably the Cabinet minister (oh, so grand a title, makes me puke!) was acting because of the letter cc'd to others. It does at least show he is not "out of touch" with what's happening at the council (rather than just spending time knocking doors in his own ward) and I hope he does act on the petition and helps get you and your neighbours what you're after...

I'm glad the local (Labour) councillors gave advice and helped but by not keeping in touch with you it does look like they took their eye off the ball. However (and I know this isn't AIBU) it might have helped keep them "on side" if you had contacted one or more of them before the letter to the Council Chief, which would have 'jogged' them back into action. Can see how they might be a bit stroppy, though still feel they should have been back to you at intervals anyway.

How long between getting the petition finished and "now" is it ? Just wondering if it is a few days or a few weeks, because there's also a small chance you got lots of signatures in only a few days and they were filling the gap with other work, not expecting you to be so fast with it, IYSWIM.

(sorry if I seem stuck on the fence, but can see how, and why, you might have got this reaction)

I will contact him today and ask for a copy. He only has the first half of it, I still have another part which he is waiting for me to give him so to a degree he will need to play ball.

When I wrote the letter to the Council 'chiefs' I emailed a copy to all of the local councillors before I sent it, so they were well aware of what I was doing. The petition has been kicking around for about 3 weeks now. I was originally planning to send it with the letter but was also waiting for them to make a decision on where to send it. So far I've avoided giving it to anyone but this guy turned up and my instincts were that he was the right one. Who knows! I'm just amazed that we are doing everything we can to get a safe roof over our heads and it's all boiling down to political point scoring.

Should also say that I had no idea that this 'cabinet member' was Tory or from another ward. I was seeing this purely, and possibly ignorantly on my part, as a council issue rather than a political platform for them. Even the Labour councillor admitted to DP that ultimately the Tory guy has the decision on the building.

Talk about bad timing for a building collapse!!

Indeed, though in a way, would they not still have been {if that is what was happening} trying to exploit for their own benefit even if elections were not on the horizon?

I suspect so, having sat in on some of the debates over the past 20 years in my local council. It wasn't quite as bad as the House of Commons, but when one party had a majority, it was like watching a bunch of robots as all members in that party would stick their hands up in unison to vote some (attrocious) plan through.

Fortunate that they are no longer in power after some daft decisions (and I can point the finger as they planned to move a group of 'disturbed' teenagers {arsonists and so on} from a big detached home in its own grounds to a small place on a main road, right behind my old home, against all the objections of residents and ward councillors, with the 'charity' running the home already having told the young people they were moving, before the council had bought the house and made modifications... then pulled the plug on moving them, and house has been on the market for 3 or 4 years now, for 250K - overpriced and in need of major work - but them having decided to buy, the previous owner pushed price up 50K)

Hope you get a solution for your peace of mind and safety.