Hello Howard
You said:-
B) we live in a representative democracy. We vote for people to make decisions on our behalf, not to run every single decision past us. Any elected representative is doing their job by taking a stance and running with it.
The significant point here is word ‘Representative’. Our Councillors are elected to represent our views, not their own.
Yeah, like it or not, I don't think that really sums up our democracy.
To take an example from Westminster - If we voted for people to represent our views, not their own, we'd still have capital punishment. Until relatively recently, our elected representatives in Westminster were very out of kilter with the public view on that one. For decades the majority of the public were in favour of it. Yet we got rid of it.
We get the opportunity at elections to vote for the person who "best" fits our views. And that's it. After that, it's down to the winner. Be it in Westminster or Stockport Council. If you don't like what the person does, then you have to wait til the next election and try and get rid of them. That's the system.
You could argue that the system should be changed and there should be more public consultation. Hey, maybe even lots of local referendums. But that is a whole other debate.
This is actually my point and the purpose of this Topic.
I do not remember seeing any Official Notice saying the Council intended to put road humps down in Marple. Usually this is done by notices attached to Lamp Posts etc. which of course are not read by motorists who will be mainly affected by the proposal.
I thought we may have been consulted through the Transport for Greater Manchester’s Walk Ride GM scheme. There is a Marple Walk Ride Group. but this is said to be accessible through Facebook. Several other areas also have a Twitter Account. While not a fan of either I reluctantly tried to join the Marple Walk Ride Facebook Group about a month ago and I am still waiting to be accepted. In the mean time, apparently, Cllr Thornley is trying to drum up support for the Road Humps having never asked Marple Residents if we wanted them in the first place.
I cannot understand why the proposal to put Road Humps in Marple wasn’t publicised more widely and particularly through this Web Site, and I would like to know who, how and why the Road Humps decision was made.
So, yes, we need to change the system as at present it appears someone, largely out of touch with present day thinking, is making decisions for Marple that affect us all and we aren’t being given any opportunity discuss the situation first.
Who says Marple residents don't want them? Who says the decision is being made by someone out of touch? Like I said before, there are many many views. And those who shout loudest are not always the majority. A comment I noticed Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Transport - recently made to councils by the way.
Anyway, I don't know much about the ins and outs of the decision making, but it was discussed in another thread. Where you will see there are various views.
https://www.marple-uk.com/smf/index.php?topic=8735.45If you look at reply 23, Admin mentioned this was discussed at the Marple Area Committee. "I seem to recall some reasons were offered around the money not being available for long enough to do [a consultation]"
https://www.marple-uk.com/smf/index.php?topic=8735.msg51859#msg51859Worth noting - these changes are temporary, related to Covid-19. They may become permanent. They may not. There are apparently various related schemes across Stockport.