The News Shopper did something unexpected last week. It published a story bemoaning the secrecy which surrounds Greenwich Council. All very good stuff. Of course, they’re entirely correct – huge decisions are being taken by senior councillors with very few checks and balances in place.
What they’re not saying, though, is how the ailing local press is exacerbating this. The News Shopper bleated on about Greenwich being “the most undemocratic local authority in the country”, but couldn’t be bothered to send a reporter up from distant Petts Wood to last month’s council meeting. missing a curious incident involving leader Chris Roberts. The Shopper might be complaining now, but it’ll surely soon be back to cutting and pasting 14-paragraph-long quotes from the Dear Leader himself before long. It’s cheaper than doing any proper reporting.
The News Shopper isn’t the only place where good reporters are being shafted by idiot owners. Last month, all editorial and production staff at the Mercury and South London Press were offered voluntary redundancy, sparking fresh fears for the Mercury’s future. It takes a special kind of fool to try to slim down London media outlets in the capital’s most newsworthy year for decades, but that’s the Mercury’s octogenarian proprietor Ray Tindle for you. The poor old Mercury probably doesn’t have long left, leaving us to be hectored at from the suburbs by the News Shopper, and patronised by Greenwich Time.
The brazenness of Greenwich’s – sorry, Royal Greenwich’s (cough) – media strategy can be seen on the front of last week’s Greenwich Time, with a sinister-looking shot of the Dear Leader, MPs Nick Raynsford and Clive Efford, council chief executive Mary Ney and Greenwich borough commander Richard Wood overseeing a parade of the King’s Troop. Looks familiar, doesn’t it?
Excellent information. Do you know if there is a schedule of all council meetings published anywhere? This would help me identify ones I may be able to attend.
Cheers!
There certainly is: http://committees.greenwich.gov.uk/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1
they like canceling meetings – do they go to the local wine bar instead?
In Woolwich?!
Anyway, that assumes they’re buying their own drinks…
Thanks for the info Darryl, you have inspired me to think about questions that I would like to ask! It’s a shame that the council are not very good at letting people know how they can communicate with them (such as at council meetings). You would have thought they could put something in Greenwich Time, but then again they take up so much space in that paper with their own trumpet-blowing so it’s probably not practical! By the way, if a question is asked via e-mail and the questioner does not attend the meeting, how will they know what answer (if any) is given? Do they get e-mailed back?
Done…
Dear sir or madam,
As a resident of the borough I would like to submit the following questions to the Chief Executive for next weeks meeting:
1. How much money was spent on the Royal transformation of the borough by the council?
2. What is the breakdown of this spend (i.e. advertising & media, fireworks, new road signs, new stationary etc)?
Thank you in advance,
Name & address supplied
You’d need to address the questions to the leader of the council, not the chief executive.