On 7 Dec, 10:52, John Rumm wrote:

If its done by an elected body, then you have to accept that in a
democratic system your voice may not be heard if your view is in the
minority. However with a system as suggested here, you could at least
join the local "neighbourhood" and inject your own input.

If they were talking about giving these powers to Parish Councils, I
wouldn't be keen, but it would be preferable to having the same bunch
of busybodies setting policy in an unelected unaccountable way.

Much will hinge on who they are accountable to, and what checks and
controls are in place.

This is interesting, because I've just had a discussion in the office
about the kind of people who leave a meeting, convinced that there is
a consensus for their view, simply because they have been talking at
and over people for long enough that nobody can be bothered to get
into a fight ;-) Clearly this also happens in elected bodies, but at
least there are, at one remove, electors who can express their view
withour being browbeaten.

Cheers
Richard