No press were present. The meeting confirmed my sense that they wanted to
get us on the inside p...ing out, or, to use management speak, form a
partnership going forward with key stakeholders, who should have been flattered
at being invited into their discussions.
Diviani put it clearly: "The die is cast." No re-examination of capital
costs, energy savings etc. but future examination of staff reorganisation,
devolution, cooperation with other councils etc. Asked about the democratic
deficit in their decision making process he reminded us that we have a
representative democracy. He did not mention that one of the main demands of the
Chartists 180 years ago was that our elected delegates should be instantly
recallable. But that is something we can continue to aim for of course.
On the topic of democracy, one senior cabinet minister spent the coffee
break chatting affably to me and confided how frustrating it is when you know
what has to be done but there are all the delays involved in the consultative
process and democracy.
At the end of the meeting we asked how the Council might avoid the risk of
such widespread disaffection with their decisions as would render the district
ungovernable (cf. Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, etc.) and Richard Cohen said this
would require good communication which he defined as putting out the information
and the arguments. This does miss the point that communication is a two way
process, that listening to people can give insights into better ways of working
and improve decisions by harnessing the creative wisdom and local knowledge of
the people the council serves, or, to use management speak, its customers.
It is very sad - the relocation will require a reorganisation of how and
where services are delivered. ITC is an important part of this but no magic
bullet. We tried to tell them this could be, not a risk but, an opportunity for
a more inclusive way of working at community level, but, not unexpectedly, they
would not listen and could not hear.
.
Robert Crick
"News is what they don't want you to know. Everything else is advertising."
(Randolph Hearst)
.
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