The constant reference to councillors and their lack of support and action may bemuse or even offend some people but the truth of the matter is that it is councillors that hold the key. This has been expressed by MPs, and confirmed by the Government Office for Yorkshire and Humberside, 'that is what councillors are there for' we were told. Full support and concern has been expressed at key times, usually pre-election, but we have seen one councillor respond (those were the days) negatively to one of our requests, as a Leeds City Council employee - "We at Leeds City Council etc etc.........", and not as someone elected to SERVE the community.
The following first appeared as a post in July 2009 but is just as valid today -
The locally elected councillors have a key role to play in campaigns such as ours, the following is an extract from the Leeds City Council web page Councillors' roles and responsibilities -
Why are councillors important?
Leeds councillors provide a voice to the people living in the ward that they represent. They are aware of the needs of their community and are in touch with the issues that local people face.
As well as influencing council decisions on funding and development, they work with other organisations, such as the police, local schools and health services to help bring about improvements to services and the environment for their community.
Worth reading more than once!
The email contact details for our councillors are:
Stewart Golton - stewart.golton@leeds.gov.uk
Steve Smith - steve.cllr.smith@leeds.gov.uk
Don Wilson - donald.wilson@leeds.gov.uk
or they can be contacted on your behalf through Lawrrag.
To find out what's 'hot' and what the councillors are doing for the community check out their web sites - Stewart Golton Steve Smith Don Wilson
