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I have been listening with great interest to the response from the people of Cornwall to the proposed emergency budget cuts the Council are currently considering. There have been a lot of views expressed from all sorts of perspectives.

There is one topic that seems to keep coming up that I wanted to comment on – the suggestion that in order to save money the number of councillor should be cut from its current level of 123. Graham Smith from BBC Cornwall particularly has raised this subject on his blog (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/grahamsmith/2010/10/how_would_you_spend_73983240.html) and discussed at length on Radio Cornwall yesterday.

I think there is a great deal of misunderstanding and assumptions being applied to this argument.  As a new councillor last year (this was the first time I had stood for election for anything) I would like to make a few comments from my perspective.

Most councillors are dedicated and hard working – as in any group of people you will find some who are not, but that does not make everyone else lazy. Even if we reduce the number as is being suggested, there is no guarantee that we would only end up with the hard working ones.

I do not think anyone is just in it for the money – for most of us there are much easier ways to earn £12000 pa.

We have already reduced the number of councillors in Cornwall. Before Unitary there were well over 300 County and District Councillors and the 123 of us now share all the responsibilities that the previous councils had. In fact to personalise it, there used to be 3 councillors for my ward (St Austell Poltair); one County Councillor and two Restormel Councillors – so I am now doing the work that used to be done by three people. Those three councillors used to cost the tax payer around £18000 a year. So there is already a saving of roughly 30% being made.

Most councillors I know are already working well over the 25 hours a week it is suggested the role should take. If you reduce the number then it will mean fewer councillors to cover all the committees and therefore more meetings for each to attend. Also bigger electoral divisions would mean more casework and more local issues to deal with – which would also mean more time. So it would not take much for the role to become a full time job (many councillors already feel it is). If this was to be the case then  people would not be able to have other part time work and we would end up with only the retired (or semi) and people with independent income being able to stand. The alternative would be that the council would have to pay a substantially bigger allowance to enable people be able to afford to do the role. Therefore it is doubtful that Graham Smith’s suggestion would actually save any money.

Comparisons seem to be being made between Cornwall Council and the devolved governments of Wales and Scotland. However, this is like comparing a rugby team with a netball team – they are completely different bodies that have different roles. Although these devolved governments carry some of the responsibilities of the unitary council, they do still have district and city councils ‘beneath’ them who carry out a great deal of the roles Cornwall Council does. I know there are some of us who would like a devolved government for Cornwall, but we are not there yet and Cornwall Council cannot be compared in that way.

I really enjoy being a councillor and I fully accept that when you put yourself up for election you are fair game for people to have a pop at. However, I do feel it is very easy for people who have never served as a councillor to criticise those that do without really seeking to understand the role and the time involved – in fact 2 years ago I was just like that. This council has already voted to decline increasing our allowances by around £2500 pa (and rightly so) that we would have been perfectly entitled to claim. Maybe some of those who are currently calling for us to be cut down in number and accusing us of protecting ourselves (which just is not true) should put themselves up for election next time around and experience what it is really like.

Personally I feel the current number of 123 councillors is about right when taking everything into account. But I accept there are a small number who do need to up their game and demonstrate that we all provide value for money for the people of Cornwall.

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