| Topic: | Re:Re: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: | 11/07/12 09:01:00 |
| It all depends on what one's interpretation of "working for the public" actually means. I don't mean this with any disrespect, but I think it's naive and far too simplified to suggest that "the essential truth is that at a local authority both councillors and officers exist to serve the public", because the relationship is nothing as direct or straightforward as that. Virtually every aspect of every Council function has, at its heart, a set of regulations and legislation. Those regulations/legislation are set by national government and are drafted/progressed through Parliament with due consideration given to the general public, communities etc. Council Officers then have to carry out their duties in accordance with those regulations/legislation. In carrying out those duties, of course there will be, and there should be, interaction and involvement with the general public, but no Officer can get away from the relevant regulations/legislation that essentially control the remit of their duties. That's why I express that the view that it would be inaccurate for any Council Officer to ever claim that they work to serve the public, because such a claim would be vastly oversimplifying the reality and, essentially misleading. Equally, to take the other extreme, it would be absurd for an Officer to claim that if they avoided interacting with the community/public whenever possible and merely always acted in accordance with the relevant regulations/legislation, they were still serving the public because those regulations/legislation had been drafted with consideration of the needs/aspirations/protection of the public at their heart. Somewhere between those two extremes is the factual reality of how a Council Officer can and should serve the public and that's all I've ever said. Hence, your reference to my 'philosophy' has me rather lost, because I don't have any such philosophy, I merely state the factual reality yet for some reason that is interpreted as though I possess some kind of contempt for the public and would steamroller the public at every opportunity. |