Eliminating bureaucratic delay would improve faith in democracy, says Duffy

A councillor has said people’s faith in democracy would improve if the Council could complete smaller jobs around their Municipal District without delays caused by bureaucracy.

Cllr Mark Duffy said it was ‘insane’ to think that a job like painting a junction box in an estate requires a tendering process.

“If I’m talking to someone in a housing estate and have to explain that we need to go to tender to get works done like this, it is insane when you think about it.”

“Just to do a junction box or a line, you have to go through the whole bureaucratic process. It could take nine months or a year when the work needs to be done immediately.”

He said it is a similar situation with installing speed ramps in estates that do not have them.

“We built phase two of Rehins Fort and there are speed ramps. If we build a house or estate, we do so to the highest spec, the highest standard.” 

“We need to retrospectively apply those standards to estates around the town that don’t have speed ramps.”

He said the use of the Council velocity patcher is a good example of the local authority being able to get smaller jobs done quickly.

“If there’s a pothole, the velocity patcher comes in quickly and is done quite well. The situation with line painting shows how centralized and bureaucratic things have become and we’re getting away from getting simple jobs done for people.”

“We would restore people’s faith in democracy if we could get little jobs done like this. Things like this are really important to people and are easy wins.”