Media and Community Planning

[BigT]

Hi All,

Recently, well over the last few months, I have found that I am being called more and more by reporters from the newspapers. They have been asking me questions on a lot of things regarding Peterhead and the immediate surroundings such as the planning for houses and industrial sites, the CHP, the Gasification Plants, Christmas lights and so on. Recently though, I had one of the strangest questions asked of me. The reporter wanted to know if I knew which way the Councillors would vote on a specific issue!

I went to great pains to explain that I am not privy to the thoughts of individual Councillors, nor am I a mind reader. So the next question was, which way do I think the council will vote? Naturally, all I could say was what I would be thinking if I was in their position, but I went to great pains to explain that being a Community Councillor is not the same as a Councillor.

Over the last few years, the role of the Community Councillor has changed and there is a move towards giving CC's a greater say in what is happening in their communities. This is no bad thing. Instead of a top-down approach to local government we are swinging towards a bottom-up system. We will be able to advise the Council of what will be best for the community at a local level and this will be added to what the other areas feel is useful for them and taken forward in the Community Planning. In fact at the last big Community Planning meeting it was decided that instead of creating an Aberdeenshire Community Plan for the next few years, the Local Area Plans will be put together with some covering notes, explanations etc. This gives much greater autonomy to each area to serve the communities therein.

When I first put myself forward to be the CC representative on the Community Planning Board, I had only a vague idea of what the process of the whole thing was. Now I am finding that I am finally getting to grips with the whole thing, and yet in a few months time, I will be due to stand for re-election! If another is voted in, they will be in place for about November and their learning process will begin. It is not because it is particularly difficult to learn, but more a case of everybody else is selected to represent their partners on the Board and the executive whilst the CC rep is voted for every 2 years and therefore has to spend a lot of time catching up. Plus of course, doing the copious quantity of reading that comes with the post!

Being the CC rep is very time consuming. Most of the meeting you are invited to are during the day and therefore of little use to someone who is working. The problem is if you don't go, then you cannot represent the CC's effectively! Don't get me wrong about this though. It is very rewarding and you certainly get the feeling that the Council are genuinely trying to involve you. My problem is my conscience. I feel that quite often I do not have sufficient information from the many CC's in the shire to properly represent them. Oh we have tried to get every CC involved through the formation of the CCCF but there are still communication problems; partly with CC's who have no wish to participate, partly with those who have no wish to communicate through email, and partly with those who receive the information or requests to their Chair/Secretary and they decide that the information or request is not relevant to them. However, from what feedback I do get I try to represent the majority as best I can.

Recently I attended a local meeting in Stonehaven for the Kincardine and Mearns LCPG and I was able to say something about the different ways that other LCPG's work. They took this on board and it seems that they are now looking to a greater representation from local communities. This will mean the setting up of an infrastructure to feedback, but hey, it’s a step in the right direction. During this meeting it became clear that many thought that Community Planning had nothing to do with them and yet when it was explained where the help or money came from, it became apparent that Community Planning was behind it somewhere. This demonstrates that it is working; it just needs to be highlighted in a more effective manner.

But going back to the media. Why is it that they call me for quotes on local topics yet never seem to show the slightest interest in this innovative ground-breaking move towards giving local communities far greater control over their futures? Perhaps it is just me, but they seem to be myopically focused on the immediate "newsworthy" story with little concern about the much bigger picture. It saddens me to think that we may have become such a shallow society that a punchy headline is more important than our future. But hey, at least in a forum such as this we can discuss the issues that will affect us all and hopefully reach a consensus on the way forward!

If you have anything to say on this post, please do. I want to hear from everybody, either negative or positive because it is one means by which I can be sure that I am doing my job right.

Best regards to you all,

Tony