MY VIEW: Having my say at a council meeting made me feel like James Stewart (From Gazette)

MY VIEW: Having my say at a council meeting made me feel like James Stewart

10:00am Sunday 22nd November 2009

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I FOUND myself in a very unusual place the other week – a council meeting.

As the Gazette’s entertainments writer, I’m more used to Marlowe and Pinter than minutes and planning regulations. But, with an issue burning inside of me, I felt the need to have my say.

I was there to talk about plans to build a road along a stretch of land next to Norman Way, in Colchester, and I’m jolly glad I did.

I told the council meeting I went along so I could look my children in the eyes and tell them, with honesty, I had fought for a cause I believed in. I did something, I made my opinion known.

I like to think my moment was a bit like James Stewart in the classic film Mr Smith Goes To Washington, where he makes a famous stand for the little man.

Having not done anything like this before, I did feel a bit like a rabbit in headlights. A very nice man with a clipboard asked me whether I wanted to speak and then gave me a brief rundown of what would happen.

Then I went to sit in the public seating area, which itself was a bit like sitting in a waiting room at the dentists.

Let’s just say it’s a little daunting, even for a loud-mouthed firebrand like me. The fact you have a man timing you as well makes it all the more nerve-wracking.

It didn’t help that I hadn’t prepared a speech beforehand.

Of course, the best thing would have been to write down what I wanted to say. The council’s website advises you to make your views in a concise manner, sound advice indeed.

The council cabinet meeting I went to was held in the mayor’s parlour, so it was quite cosy, especially with a whopping great table surrounded by councillors.

At one end of the table there’s a chair and a microphone which is where you go to have your say.

So if you weren’t nervous enough, there’s also a microphone to operate as well, by pressing a green button.

So just to recap, you’re asked up to the table, you have to press the green button once – not twice as some people did, thus turning the wretched microphone off – then speak for three minutes.

As I mentioned, you’re timed too. The very nice man with the watch also has a bell, which he rings after two minutes to let you know you have 60 seconds left.

Apparently, a second bell is rung at the end of the three minutes, although I never heard it, because as soon as I finished my rant, I scarpered back to my seat as fast as my little legs could carry me. I know I’ve made this all sound rather daunting and, it is, to a certain extent.

But then speaking in public is a bit daunting. I used to work in a barristers’ chambers a number of years ago, and many of them got nervous before appearing in court, even those who had been practicing for years.

But the point I’m trying to make is that it may seem a bit scary, but it’s incredibly empowering and worthwhile, too.

I’m probably being very naive, and it may not have made a jot of difference to the councillors’ eventual decision, but I actually felt pretty good about myself.

You see, local democracy often gets stick from people like me.

I can be a bit of a cynic, the kind of guy who in the past has questioned whether having your say really makes any difference.

But just imagine if nobody had their say, made their point, or fought for their causes. It gave me a new-found respect for those who regularly stand up for their beliefs. Following further investigation, I discovered Colchester Council has a number of consultations running at the moment, in addition to the one I was involved in.

These include activity centres and what services its over-50s members would like to see in them; the future of recycling and waste services and how Colchester tackles its street cleaning issues.

There’s more to come next year as well, such as the public consultation on 20mph zones proposed for the borough.

We all appear to have a lot to say for ourselves in the pub, street or office, but how many of us actually say something to the people that matter?

If having your say at a council meeting fills you with dread, write a letter, ping off an e-mail or get a petition up and running, and don’t think the council aren’t keen to hear what you’ve got to say, because it is.

There is a raft of information on its website about it.

To find out how you can have your say, go to www.

colchester.gov.uk and click on consultations.

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