....Your Local Councillors

All your local Councillors work extremely hard on behalf of the people of Haydon Wick.

A Councillor does casework on behalf of the Ward's residents, attends Council meetings to represent the views of constituents as well as having a responsibility to the Party of which they are a member. A Councillor's role is designed to be part-time and yet we all put in a great deal of effort over and above the call of duty. What follows is a representative period of meetings for Cllr David Renard, a Cabinet Member. On top of this workload will be such things as meeting and dealing with constituents' issues, dealing with e-mails, reading a considerable volume of Council and other papers, updating our web site and delivering leaflets - many of these activities will take place at weekends. Cabinet Members will have a much heavier workload.

7 Sep  0930 - 1045 Housing officers and some Ward Members
          1045 - 1100 Director of Housing
          1130 - 1500 Cabinet and Coprorate Board
8 Sep  0900 - 1700 Visit to Bristol City Council to learn about their Family
                           Support Project
9 Sep  0900 - 1000 Surgery for Haydon Wick residents
11 Sep  1000 - 1200 Meeting with local resident
           1445 - 1500 Haydon Centre Manager
           1930 - 2100 Conservative Association meeting
12 Sep 1000 - 1230 Social Care / NHS Presentation to Care Providers
          1330 - 1445 Head of Housing and Adult Social Care Finance
          1830 - 1910 Tenant in Highworth
          1930 - 2030 Q & A Highworth Town Council
13 Sep 1000 - 1500 Wardens Conference
          1730 - 1800 Director of Adult Social Care
          1800 - 1915 Procurement Advisory Group
14 Sep 0900 - 1000 Swindon College
          1030 - 1200 Visit from Oliver Letwin MP
          1230 - 1445 Cabinet
          1500 - 1630 Southern Development Area meeting


Right - Cllr Ian Dobie on a site visit during the 2002/2003 year to review drainage problems with Senior Officers of the Council in his (then) capacity as Shadow Lead Member for Swindon Services.

Post Script
A back-bench Councillor in Swindon currently receives an allowance of £7,100 per annum which is lower than almost anywhere else in the Country. Cabinet Members and some other Councillors receive additional resposibility allowances but most only receive the basic sum. For this remuneration Councillors commit many hours to reading Council papers, meetings, research, planning, Ward issues, representing constituents keeping constituents informed and other time consuming commitments.