| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Hounslow Officers run the Council not your elected councillors | |
| Posted by: | Adam Beamish | |
| Date/Time: | 10/07/12 22:00:00 |
| Phil, Thinking about your post whilst stuck in traffic earlier tonight, I found it quite eye-opening. Undoubtedly whilst there's plenty of common ground between us there is also disagreement between us over the role of the wider community in decision making. I think the key difference is that you place much more general faith and belief in the honesty and integrity of the community as a whole than what I do. I have, and continue to do so, witnessed blatant attempts by either individuals or groups of individuals to mislead others by producing deliberately skewed information, claims or evidence. Taking it to the extreme, in my time I've had one resident attempt to ruin my career by making a completely fabricated and extremely serious allegation against me, and the amount of abuse and basic s**t I used to endure from residents often went beyond what most people would find acceptable (being a tough skinned Northerer has its benefits !). Ultimately there are usually zero consequences for such individuals, so there's no deterrent. Whereas most professionals are members of their respective professional organisations so are required to adhere to relevant codes of conduct etc. Professionals make mistakes, and sometimes professionals go bad, I'll never deny that, but there are always two sides to every story, Of course the vast majority of the public are completely reasonable and proper, and of course we mustn't forget that although I'm an ex Council Officer, I have absolutely no links, professional or personal with any Council, and I'm very much a member of the community - if I wasn't I wouldn't post on these websites !. It's basically a very tricky balancing act in my view and certainly not one I would envy any Chief Officer having to juggle, especially in the current climate of dwindling resources etc. But I was also equally interested in your comments about my career etc. I'm not one to blow my own trumpet, but reviewing my career - 1) I've spent over six years as Team Leader at various Councils in London, and ten years working within Council planning departments. 2) I've been Taylor Wimpey's Planning Manager for the entire Greater London region. 3) I've worked for over four years for a planning consultancy and on a daily basis act on behalf of multi-million pound developers, multinational companies, individuals and resident associations objecting to both big and small planning applications, and acting on behalf of Councils. 4) I stood up for my principles, even as a consequence of which I was essentially paid off (which I never requested) by a bullying Director at a Council. 5) I sit on the committee of a Residents Association. Basically, there's absolutely no reason why I couldn't, if I wanted to, be a Director at a local authority, I've got such a broad experience from all sides of the fence etc. Yet you wouldn't want me anywhere near a Chief Officer post, which I find quite strange in light of both my professional background and my qualities as a person in terms of standing up for principles and also working with the community. The main lesson I feel I learnt from Mike is that a Council officer is never 'off work', if I still worked for a Council I wouldn't post on here, because there would always be the danger that someone would try to associate anything I posted on here with my Council role, and consequently cause problems. That's why I always resolutely believe that no Council Officer should ever post on these forums, even though I find that quite sad and not the way I would want things to be in an ideal world. |