At the next Full Council meeting of Wisbech Town Council we are being asked to discuss, as part of a Fenland District Council consultation, the proposed new Street Trading Policy. Over a number of years Ive written a lot of stuff about politics but there are two key themes I return to again and again. These themes are my personal opinion only, but opinions I hold quite strongly. They are (1) That many of our current problems are the result of previously made decisions which were well-intentioned but did not consider the consequences and long-term ramifications of their idea. And (2) that every time The State - that being any body with policy- or decision-making power - has to resolve a problem it is common for them to use the opportunity to grab more and more power. Im not suggesting this is always deliberate. Only that it always seems to happen. This proposed Street Trading Policy is a perfect example of both of my returning themes. As ever, it comes from a desire to resolve issues that the public raise and which the Council presently doesnt have the powers it might like to address. As ever, it is well-intentioned. And as ever, as I read through the proposed Street Trading Policy all my mental alarm bells start ringing. I fully expect that the same thing will happen as has happened every time before. The broad sway of opinion will be: Good on ya! This needs doing. And: About time! I also expect us to be dealing with the subtle and unconsidered consequences of the policy for years and for cries of: Damn you Council! to ring out every time these policies are enforced in a way that meets the spirit of the policy but not precisely the situation that people thought would occur. Over and over again, we do this. We nod our heads to more controls, more regulations and more powers to our local authorities. We cheer them as they take arms against whatever grievance we have. Then we spend years trying to untie the knots weve made while asking: But why? when the result of a policy that was popularly supported comes back to bite us in the ass.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 00:09:38 +0000