There is a widely held feeling within the borough that the involvement of members of the public in council-held consultations is, for those members of the public, a waste of time in terms of how much or how little influence their contribution has the potential to affect already entrenched decisions made, too early, by councillors.

Many of the 300,000 or so Redbridge residents who have become disillusioned with the effectiveness of their past interventions no longer involve themselves in consultations or delivering a view at council meetings.

However, there seem to be 26 people, with a hardcore of eight, in the borough who are determined to persist in making their views known to councillors and to cabinet members. It appears that 26, or eight, out of the 300,000 or so residents is too much for this council to tolerate.

To address this and to “encourage” and “promote” more public involvement in council matters they have now draconionised the process by which the population of Redbridge, or 26 of them, may address council meetings.

When you consider that members of the public are allowed only two minutes to present their views to cabinet but that the appointed cabinet responder can waffle on forever, one’s view of the council’s concept of democracy and public involvement is easily put into doubt.

I am awaiting replies to questions on this subject from Sam Tarry, MP for Ilford South, and two Freedom of Information requests.

Chris Roper,

Redbridge