Pondering...

The enforced absence - and the 40min commute in either direction - has given me time to reflect on how things are going in the campaign.

Nagging me is the comment from the resident in West Avenue who viewed me rather cynically and posed the question "why should we vote for you if you only visit us and ask what local issues concern us at election time? I wouldn't want to run a business that way".

I am guessing that if he needs a plumber he doesn't wait until one knocks on his door - he knows where to look, the Internet, yellow pages, past recommendations, etc. I'm out there advertising my wares - my views - and hoping he will file them away for future use.

I was selected for the St James ward in September. Since then my team and I have been progressing through the ward with face-to-face doorstep canvassing as well contacting people by telephone.

In addition, there have been at least 2 A3 newsletters and a "seasons greetings" card from MP Ben Bradshaw - all with my contact details. I even set up a special e-mail address to receive comments - an address that has unfortunately been silent, and now discontinued.

Many households also received questionnaires around the New Year - and the responses have logged and many issues tackled.

So I'm sorry if we haven't contact that particular resident before now...I can't guarantee that we have called on him before but we have made ourselves known by other means. Maybe those have been quickly filed away in the recycling bin, along with the leaflets for takeaway pizzas, gardeners, and insurance quotation invitations.

So what should the nature of our - my - contact with the electorate be? To answer the critic in West Avenue...

I must not only triumph my successes and achievements; I need to explain failures and mistakes.

And residents must praise and celebrate the work of Exeter City Council rather than just criticise and carp.

Exeter City Council's work must touch every worker and resident on a weekly, if not daily basis, and most of that work is invisible. The rubbish gets cleared away... people only (rightly) complain when it isn't. Planning decisions go unnoticed ...unless that application directly affects them.

I promise that I will contact you all - and continue to contact you all - by a variety of means..regular newsletters, "meet in the street" events where I plan visit every street in the Ward regularly, informal house meetings, e-mail circulars, identified coordinators throughout the ward to help with the 2-way flow of information, this blog, as well as continued attendance at more formal meetings such as PACT, University Liaison, Residents Association and Neighbourhood Watch schemes. Perhaps you might even want to invite me to your party?

Let me know what other ways you feel might be suitable to ensure that I continue to consult, to act, to listen and to report back.

So to reaffirm my belief that I am entering a phase of co-operation with the residents of St James I restate my desire that I would like to think that the challenge facing not just St James’ but Exeter as a whole is we should deliver services not solely by meeting targets but by involving citizens as active partners and using their energies to improve their neighbourhoods.

Help me be a listening voice so that I can continue to consult, to act, to listen and to report back. Let me know what ways you would like to continue to be contacted about local issues and concerns.