[Houseboy]

I agree, Jay, that a lot of things are taken out of councilors hands by central government and Europe, this is why we are lumbered with the chaos that is our rubbish collections (my front garden looks like a recycling centre). But why, over the years and all over the country, do we constantly have decisions being made at local level that often is in opposition to what the local population actually want? I can understand if things are being passed by central government that overule local authorities but there are still things that happen that are the result of completely local government decisions.
I would be interested to see how many decisions that are made by councilors, when the votes are cast, are made according to party lines.
I think that for local government to really work to any great degree we must totally ban party politics from it altogether. Party politics has no place in local government. I believe, as I you do Jay, that we would be much better served by independents with no politcal axe to grind. Of course I am not naive enough to think that this will ever happen but it would be good wouldn't it?