Friday 17 May 2013

Consultation Complacency in Barnet

Barnet Council have a very expensive website bolt on called Consultation Hub which is run by a company called Delib. On the website there are a number of consultations including one for the Council's Street Trading Policy. Because of the way I am, I like to read documents upon which my opinion is being canvassed - how else can someone give their opinion? Well three weeks ago I wanted to read the draft street trading policy so clicked on the link and low and behold I was presented with the Council's draft policy on film classification. Being the polite public minded citizen I emailed the address on the website to inform them of the faulty link and asking for them to rectify the fault. No acknowledgement or response to my email. This Tuesday, more than two weeks after the first email, I tried again and the link was still wrong so I emailed again. Again, no acknowledgement or response. Yesterday morning I looked again and still the wrong link is in place so I rang them and spoke to a lady who said she would "inform a manager". This evening it is still giving a link to the film classification policy instead of street trading.

To be honest I know not many people care what will become the council's street trading policy but if the council are going to consult then please do it properly.

If three separate contacts with the council can't get them to link it to the right document then frankly that suggests that the council don't give a sh*t about what people think - which probably is the case.

2 comments:

  1. I checked the link after reading this comment. I can confirm the correct document is in place.

    Bill Murphy
    DRS Director - Barnet Council

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  2. Thanks Mr Murphy, the link was corrected after blogging so maybe it did some good, just a shame that two emails and a phone call failed to have the same effect.Perhaps you should check why the emails were never acknowledged, replied to or acted upon.

    Mr Reasonable
    Community Custodian (unofficial and unpaid)

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