Many of the problems I come across are ‘structural’. In other words, they arise because some people, particularly council officials, have the wrong way of thinking about them. Some officers are very good, but others can’t see a problem unless it is a ‘big one’. What they don’t always realise is that something might be a ‘small problem’ to them, but can be quite different to local residents, and can make their lives a misery until solved.

Let me give you just three recent examples, two of which I have managed to help solve, and the third is well on the way. It is a good idea just to imagine yourselves in the position of these residents. They have as much right to live free of problems as you or I.

(1) On a street visit a couple of months ago, a lady told me she was almost a prisoner in her own home, because she couldn’t get the electric wheelchair she needed to get about up and down kerbs. I’m delighted to say that the Council reacted quickly to my requests, and ‘dropped kerbs’ have now been provided. You can imagine what a difference that has made to her life.

(2) In another street residents were experiencing a bad environment because the street gullies were blocked. Water and rubbish would build up in the street, making it really unpleasant. Once again, the Council reacted, a manual road sweeper was sent into the street (often much better than the machines) and the gullies will be flushed at least once per year. In fact, this sort of campaign has resulted in gullies generally being flushed more regularly.

(3) One public-spirited resident, who lives on a main road just beside a ‘bus stop, goes out every morning to clean up rubbish from the area. But she shouldn’t really have to do this. The problem is largely because of a lack of rubbish bins, and so I have pressured the Council to provide them. It agrees that it has to be done, and will do so when the next batch of money for bins is available. I’ll keep working on this, but it looks as if we will solve the problem.