A comedian and activist has urged Bedfordians to tell their council what they want them to do – but also look at the actions they could take to make their area a better place.
Mark Thomas, who has been described as, ‘The godfather of political comedy’, spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) following his show at The Stables in Wavendon last week, (November 2).
He was asked why more people don’t get involved with their local councils despite them touching many aspects of their daily lives.
“I think because people regard the council as being an obstruction,” Mark said.
“That’s how people see councils now, they’re obstructions, they’re not gateways to anything.
“They don’t regard [them] as an enhancement of their life, they regard it as something they should complain about – if they bother to engage at all.
“So, I think councils are generally regarded as being problems.”
Mark added that if people were asked what upset them the most about their area they’d say litter.
“Litter and dog [mess], the simple thing of keeping the area you live in clean,” he said.
“And people regard it as the council’s job to do that, but they’re underfunded. They are under a continual pressure to do more for less.
“Very few people, unfortunately, think actually if I started picking [mess] up maybe it’ll get better,” he said.
Mark was asked what residents should do to get the conversation started if residents wanted to see change, improvements, or a better service.
“The first thing is find your councillor, talk to your councillor,” he said.
“Go and talk to them and start saying this is what [the council] wants to do, this is what I can do, how can you help me?
“It’s contact with people that will make a difference.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
