What do councils want to hear from us?

According to wikipedia, obviously the definitive knowledge of the universe!!

“Even though there is no universally accepted definition of ‘democracy’, there are two principles that any definition of democracy is required to have. The first principle is that all members of the society have equal access to power and the second that all members enjoy universally recognised freedoms and liberties”

Well i was having an interesting conversation with my wife last night about democracy which followed on from a discussion about a feature within the “One Show” on BBC about the British Empire and the huge role it played (Positive and negative) across the world and how, for such a small island, we still benefit from the perceived influence in the world.

What frustrated us both was that our perceptions is that there are a significant number of people in this country who don’t value or appreciate perhaps the freedom they have to say what they want and write or do what they want when they want.  Nor do they appreciate the right to vote, some people will sacrifice their lives to enable others to vote, do we really appreciate what we have? We both have strong feelings and views on this subject but i will spare you from them and try and remain balanced.

We did wonder however whether voting in local elections really did matter for most people, when for example the price of food, fuel (petrol, gas electric etc) and even our house price and stability is often subject to incidents or events that happen globally.

We did agree that we would want our voice heard should someone wish to build a house opposite our house on the green, or build new houses on our allotment.

I feel that, my views would not be needed until an issue or an event sparks me into life and then encourages or stimulates debate and discussion in the wider community of interest. Now this is where social media can really come into its best….but more on that another time..

So until something happens to spark my interest what do councils really want me to tell them?