Now you know. All that high profile advertising, knocking on doors and general apathy has shown the country that politics can be interesting - provided you live in Scotland or Wales. Local government complains that it is difficult to get people interested, but I ask you, the low-key attitude in this area makes me weep. The party workers have got their supporters out and the Independents lost out. This is the big disadvantage of not having an army of men & women to go out and 'push' the cause.
During the 1997 general election I was in Birmingham a fair amount and the contrast as clearly visible. Up there, he who had the tallest steps got the posters highest up the lamp-posts, as along the majority of through roads, all parties got on the act. In Dacorum - nothing. No wonder the turnout and interest is low. I asked the Borough officers why we cannot do more to raise the profile of local government and apparently, we can't have pillars of the local society breaking the law by 'fly posting', can we? What rubbish. If car boot sales, building sites, carpet auctions and golf sales to name but a few, can get away with it, surely arrangements could be made to promote local democracy. The problem, I suspect, is that it would then show up the lack of imagination in most of the local candidates, as central office would ensure a nice uniform image is projected. Just right for Proportional Representation.
This lack of 'flair' has been apparent for some time locally. This column is the first for many years written by a local Councillor to inform you what your Council(s) get up to. I have been amazed how many read my words; even if you don't agree with my politics (what politics?), it does make you think and that is the whole object of the exercise. I am writing this column on the morning after the night before the Conservatives regained control of the Borough Council. The Town Council results still have to be declared, but it looks as though, between the Conservatives ('no building on green belt') and the Lib-Dems ('we have to use the green belt'), you should be in for an interesting period in local politics.

Things to watch out for include the public enquiry into the draft local plan and the restructure of local government. Borough officers will be looking at the objections made to their draft local plan and will make their views known in the summer to allow further comments before the enquiry starting in November 1999. The restructure is intended to provide more effective government by putting more power into the hands of the few with the scrutiny function of decisions taken in the hands of the Council. The exact balance between these functions still has to be decided, but I wonder if you will notice the difference. The Berkhamsted Urban Design group will be spending £250,000 over the next two years to improve the rear of the shops alongside the Lower Kings Road car park. I have a feeling the money would be better spent closing Lower Kings Road between the traffic lights and the car park entrance. The Liberal Democrats have identified residential parking and housing as their priorities for the coming period of office. Residents support the idea of 'allocated' parking spaces, but once the details have been decided, do not be surprised if attitudes change.

The young of the town are once again victims of the decision-makers. The Swan project suffers because the young have little money to spend; the Youth club is in difficulties because most potential users can't afford to travel to the club, which is not a million miles from the sports centre. I hope the Youth Council continue to exert pressure on their 'masters' to provide the sort of facilities which will appeal to them at a location and price they can afford. The town really needs an adventure playground similar to those provided in Hemel Hempstead. Yes, I know a privately run one exists next to the waste site, but surely, somewhere like Velvet Lawn is a far more suitable site. Thinking about it, how about the area of Ashlyns School grounds, which they propose, should be built on. I have a feeling that this would be a more acceptable use than housing. All the arguments for housing, apply even more so for an area devoid of facilities.   

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who gave me the chance to represent the Town on the local Councils and believe me, the amount of information you gather during a four-year term, beggars belief. The Borough Council provides an average of an inch of paper every week and the Town Council adds another quarter inch. This adds up to a lot of reading every week and I was not even an important figure in either Council. The only real claims I can make over the past four years is that I helped in avoiding having elections every year, the de-lisle clock WILL work again, and the Town Council WILL have vastly improved facilities for the public and local government in general at quiet a modest cost. The Internet presence that I have provided, against the will of the Council, will now be dismantled and a similar facility provided by the borough council I presume, so you can expect the usual standard provided by officers, their consultants and others in the fullness of time. Remember, we did it first and provided far more information about the Town and it's' Council than the proposals coming out of the Borough. The location will be via the Dacorum site and not at http://berkotc.connect-2.co.uk/ which is the current 'unofficial' location.