Let me give you an real-life example of how, I fear, if your suggestion was implemented, a Council might be run...A company erect a structure without the necessary planning permission. The structure is reported to the Council who duly investigate, establish a breach and the company choose to exercise their right to submit a planning application to retain that structure. The Council then lose that planning application, years pass, and as a result the structure becomes lawful due to the passage of time without the Council taking formal action.Years later a Councillor takes the matter up with the Director. The Director, realising that their department has completed messed up on two counts (firstly by losing the application and secondly by forgetting about enforcing the breach), tells the Councillor that it will be sorted out, but doesn't admit that nothing can be done legally so the Councillor goes away thinking something will be done.Director duly gets a member of staff to write a letter to the company asking for them to do something, as a gesture of goodwill, about the structure. No reply. Director tells the same employee to write again, again no reply. Director gets employee to phone the company, the company tell the employee where to go.Director orders me, as a manager, to write to the company again. I politely explain why it isn't reasonable to do so, pointing out the large backlog of cases we can take action against, and how if we keep chasing we're setting a precedent against which any other aggrieved complainant could reasonably expect a similar level of service, regardless of the fact we have no legal basis to do anything. To me that is my professional right to express that view as I'm a manager responsible for how the resources available to me are used.I get told in no uncertain terms to write the letter or else, and that I'm paid to do what the Director tells me to do. I refuse on the grounds that it isn't a reasonable instruction, get suspended and ultimately paid off. Director and my superior even have the cheek to tell me that the two letters my colleague sent (before I'd even commenced employment there) were useless - which begs the question if they were so bothered why didn't they either check the letters before they went out or write them themselves ?.So the Council ends up a five figure sum worse off (my pay-off), nothing is done about the fence (my superior subsequently writes a letter and duly gets no response) but the Councillor is given the impression that the Council are trying to sort the situation out, regardless of the fact that resources are being diverted unnecessarily just to try to keep that Councillor 'sweet'.No offence whatsoever to local Councillors, every Councillor I've ever dealt with has been entirely reasonable (I bet had I been able to deal with this particular Councillor myself they would have accepted the situation), but I do fear if you go down this route you end up where the public at large are 'ignored' in favour of the specific matters that are brought to the attention of the local Councillor.
Adam Beamish ● 6376d