FIGHTING for your rights, making a stand, having your say, overturning decisions – in 2008 you can do all of these and more. And believe it or not it is actually getting easier to battle with bureaucracy.
A Big Brother state we may be turning into, but for once technology is working on our side. When it comes to canvassing support for campaigns the internet is one of our biggest weapons.
Never before has it been so easy to comment on issues that m
ay affect you and with backing from like-minded warriors you are much more likely to take your protests to the top and win.
Last year MOMS saved a maternity unit and Stoney Middleton parents saved their village primary school – who knows this year maybe THAT footbridge will be remodelled if you campaign hard enough.
To help you there are new plans to force town halls to take action on local petitions which have as few as 250 signatures.
The proposals mean we will definitely be able to trigger changes to council policies. At the moment authorities can ignore our petitions but this new plan rules that they are legally required to respond.
Apparently Gordon Brown wants to "improve the health of our local democracy" and "put more power and influence in the hands of the people".
You could be forgiven for thinking that was what the election process was about, but it seems these days even the Prime Minister doesn't think that system is working and wants to allow us to alter decisions made by the people we thought we had chosen to do make the right decision in the interests of the community in the first place.
Maybe the next change which needs sorting is the banning of party politics in local government . Then we would know our councillors were making decisions for those they were serving.
And instead of fighting among themselves, councillors would be able to keep a more careful eye on what the local mandarins were doing.
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