Councillors, alone, can only do so much. Of course as a single local councillor I can work hard on individual issues brought to me by local residents (in my case residents in Amersham and Chesham Bois), but REAL change and improvements will come from those councillors who can bring something new and innovative to the whole council.
I am the youngest councillor in Bucks (by some margin I think) and so what I lack in life experience I try to make up by having a different and fresh perspective on issues. I am fortunate by being a cabinet member for education as this allows me to have direct executive powers to make decisions on behalf of the council and Bucks residents, and it is here where I try to bring a new perspective to everything that we do on the council. I try to ensure that I am unencumbered by previous decisions and old assumptions, instead constantly challenging colleagues and council officers to think differently and not to be afraid to table ideas which might have been dismissed previously.
Of course, I am helped somewhat by having colleagues who also want to think like this and are willing to give me the space to do the same. I am also helped by working under a new government which is in a hurry to change and improve things and are passing through changes at a frenetic pace. This is forcing officers and councillors to be as imaginative as they can be to make financial savings ALONGSIDE service improvements.
But I won’t get everything right … I’ll make mistakes and I will learn new things everyday, but that is why I love the job.
By working with other councillors and other organisations to get the best out of the funding available to us – which is decreasing almost by the day. And by listening to the people we are here to serve and trying to get the services they need. The emphasis these days has to be providing what people need, not necessarily what they want, simply because we are so short of money. I also feel that, when we can’t provide what people say they want, we should explain to people why we can’t.
By doing my job as a Councillor to the best of my abilities and working hard.
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Councillors, alone, can only do so much. Of course as a single local councillor I can work hard on individual issues brought to me by local residents (in my case residents in Amersham and Chesham Bois), but REAL change and improvements will come from those councillors who can bring something new and innovative to the whole council.
I am the youngest councillor in Bucks (by some margin I think) and so what I lack in life experience I try to make up by having a different and fresh perspective on issues. I am fortunate by being a cabinet member for education as this allows me to have direct executive powers to make decisions on behalf of the council and Bucks residents, and it is here where I try to bring a new perspective to everything that we do on the council. I try to ensure that I am unencumbered by previous decisions and old assumptions, instead constantly challenging colleagues and council officers to think differently and not to be afraid to table ideas which might have been dismissed previously.
Of course, I am helped somewhat by having colleagues who also want to think like this and are willing to give me the space to do the same. I am also helped by working under a new government which is in a hurry to change and improve things and are passing through changes at a frenetic pace. This is forcing officers and councillors to be as imaginative as they can be to make financial savings ALONGSIDE service improvements.
But I won’t get everything right … I’ll make mistakes and I will learn new things everyday, but that is why I love the job.
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Can I make things better? Thats a big question, I would like to think that I could but I need to know what you want me to try and make better. R
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By working with other councillors and other organisations to get the best out of the funding available to us – which is decreasing almost by the day. And by listening to the people we are here to serve and trying to get the services they need. The emphasis these days has to be providing what people need, not necessarily what they want, simply because we are so short of money. I also feel that, when we can’t provide what people say they want, we should explain to people why we can’t.
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