unofficial poster

I wrote to my ward councillors on Tuesday 13th September and had received a first dismal response within nine hours.

But the following Monday I received a very different second response.  This one from Cllr John Shearman (here he is).

First of all he apologises for not replying sooner.  Frankly speediness of response is not the most important thing to me.  And since I wrote about a jargon-prone subject which most people would find technical, difficult and tedious an over speedy response really wouldn’t impress me.

But offering an apology for responding within a week achieves so much.  Starting like this says to me (these are my words, not his) “Hello, I am a human being with manners and I understand the common courtesies.  Moreover I have standards: they are mine and…..”

I don’t need to go on.  And nor will I copy onto my blog the content of his response or our subsequent conversations.  That would be impolite:  he has expressed himself to me honestly, frankly and (absolutely critically important to me, and to anything relating to planning) he comes over as open-minded and prepared to listen. That is what I think people expect of a ward councillor.

And, best of all, from what he says I can see that he has done his homework and understands the incinerator campaign work which has being quietly going on in the city.  His email is a very tiny but very concise executive summary of how the situation actually is.  Hats off.

Thank you, John.

I am still waiting for a response from the third of my ward councillors.