I COMMENT on the latest shenanigans of the Pembrokeshire County Council against a background of a lifetime associated with Local Government in this county.

First as a journalist; then 20 plus years as a Local Government Officer and finally as a Welsh Government appointed member of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.

Like the vast majority of people I am sick to death of having the name of our county dragged through the mud.

Hardly a week goes by when the County Council is not held to ridicule. Children in jeopardy; an Education service so incompetent outside agencies had to be sent in to correct the situation; a final warning for a paedophile who is sent back to work with children; dodgy pension deals; police investigations the tale of woe goes on and on.

Most people point the finger directly at the Chief Executive, who happens to be one of Wales’ highest paid officials, and I am sure Telegraph readers have read enough column inches to form a fairly accurate opinion.

But, what of the elected members who slavishly endorse and defend senior officers every move. In Local Government officers recommend and members decide or at least that is the way it should be in a democracy.

In a recent debate I heard a councillor compare the present head of the paid service in a most unfavourable light with Chief Executives of yesteryear…….

Jenkins, Dickman , Peregrine etc.

I would hold a similar comparison with outspoken, determined councillors from the same era….Stan and Frank Jones; Ann Norman, Halkett Jones and there are many from both sides of the Haven which immediately spring to mind.

Now, I know one cannot, and should not, live in the past but we can certainly learn from it and we ignore such lessons at our peril.

When we next go to the polls stop and think did your local councillor continually vote to discuss issues behind closed doors; did they put their hands up in slavish unison in support of officers who chose to ignore the democratic process and even allowed records of meetings to be fiddled; did your member defend every headline hitting catastrophe.

If the answer is yes then for goodness sake vote for change and then perhaps the people of Pembrokeshire can once again hold their heads high and stop being sniggered at throughout Wales and even further afield.

RICHARD HOWELLS

Hook