Lord Acton's quote *

When I used to occasionally visit County Hall I was always slightly offended by the reserved spaces for Councillors which were nearest to the entrance. What gave them the right to have better spaces than the Council tax payers? Now, as I sweep in and park, I feel it is no more than I am due. One month in and already the trappings of power insidiously corrupt…

Not of course that I’ve had that much power so far, and such that I have is reduced by the unfamiliarity of the role. But last week was the start of exercising influence if not power: I had three committee meetings (audit, licensing and N Area planning) and went on a planning application site visit.

The audit committee reviewed the internal audit programme, something that doesn’t sound that interesting but which is actually very important: it’s a critical part of the process of controlling how the Council works and how it manages its money. The internal audit function is shared with N Tyneside which means we both benefit from each other’s experiences. I thought the programme seemed good and importantly the Council is disciplined in following up issues raised by the function.

The planning committee more obviously impacted on people’s lives. We had five applications to consider; they only come to the committee because they are controversial in that there have been objections to officer’s recommendations. A lot of residents had come to watch one of the most controversial applications which had to balance the need for more affordable housing in the County, the pressure on local drainage infrastructure and the impact on the environment, and they were unhappy with the outcome. Generally I believe in planning decisions being made at as local a level as possible but they have to be in line with the County’s overall framework.

The number of issues people raise with me is slowly increasing, with a couple of particularly intractable ones last week that will require some careful working with relevant officials.

*  If there is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.

Interestingly, in the context of this Council, he is also the author of this phrase:

“The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections”.