I am finding a disturbing trend as I ask more and more polite questions to government officials and similarly question Councillors about what is happening.
The officials are nearly all very defensive and avoid providing answers. They have different ways of doing this, from the outright refusal to communicate adopted by Nick Raymond the Highwayman to the very polite "that's a very interesting point - we'll bear it in mind next time" adopted by Debbie Binch of Cumbria County Council.
Simon Hughes adopts two strategies - one of labeling your email as spam so that it cannot penetrate his in box and, when emails are redirected via a colleague, of replying "We have a complaints procedure (for Council Housing problems) - people are very welcome to follow that." Would you bother?
Margaret Belk of SLDC bats back your questions by ignoring them twice and eventually refers them to someone else who has just gone on holiday . . .
Richard Foster of SLDC repeatedly contradicts himeself and repeatedly fails to clarify where you are going wrong with your procedure for getting a result.
The Highways road problems procedure works very well as long as you report a problem but obvious things like an invisible Stop Sign in the centre of town gets the retort from the official: 'well no one told us about it'.
As for Councillors they too feel they don't know what is going on.
Norman Bishop-Rowe, who I find is usually good at asking questions, has no confidence in getting answers. When asked about the now disused building in the middle of Lightburn Park replies "I've been trying to get an answer out of them for the last three years"
When County Councillor Geoffrey Cook, who is chairing the meeting of County Council Local Committee for South Lakeland at County Hall, Kendal, is asked the question:
"Why did you allow Nick Raymond to totally ignore my question but instead (very very humbly ) answer a completely different question?"
He escapes by looking blankly in reply and presses on with the really important business for the day.
And so I could go on and on with examples from Colin Hogdson giving bland assurances and doing the opposite and Colin Williams with his creative mind replying "I park on the double yellow lines outside Bargain Booze all the time - it helps calm the traffic by restricting the entrance to New Market Street." "Cobbles a problem? I don't see it"
What it all boils down to an unchecked system in chaos driving our taxes up and up and our revenue, self esteem and feeling of being able to actually do something down and down.
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