My proudest souvenir of our stay in Edinburgh is the quaich I received from Balerno Community Council for Outstanding Service to the Public as a Community Councillor 1998 to 2009. In Edinburgh, a single City Council was the only local government unit, leaving just the Community Councils as a forum for local communities (but without fund-raising powers).

When we moved to Kendal in January, I thought I had spent my last evening wading through planning applications, traffic orders, appeals from local residents, etc. I was also surprised to see that England had retained three tiers of councils – Kendal Town, South Lakeland District, and Cumbria County, all with fund-raising powers. I wondered what role Kendal Town Council could have, and did it really need 28 councillors for a town of 26,000 or so inhabitants?

It looks like I’m about to find out. I was persuaded to offer my experience of community council north of the border to the good people of Strickland ward in Kendal, and following a LibDem landslide in the elections yesterday, I find myself heading back to town hall meetings again.

I enjoyed the six months or so break…

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Election 2010, Kendal Town Council. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.