There have been calls for him to resign over his handling of the closure of Partingdale Lane in Mill Hill, but BRIAN COLEMAN, the Conservative London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden, has no intention of going.

Yes, I am guilty as charged.

I admit it. I am a politician who has dared to stand for democratic election on a manifesto and having won, I have endeavoured to implement that manifesto.

Apparently, spending five years campaigning on an issue, delivering thousands of leaflets and knocking on hundreds of doors does not count as consulting the public. So says a High Court judge.

Now, it is generally assumed that the political process and politicians in general are held in very low esteem by the general public. Turnout in elections is falling, with more people voting for the winner of Big Brother than for the Prime Minister.

Have you ever wondered why?

Parliament changed the structure of local government a couple of years ago, forcing councils to adopt a so-called executive structure and abandon the committee system which had functioned fairly efficiently for more than a century.

The executive system was supposed to be streamlined with decisions being made much quicker.

I, as a member of that executive, having been duly elected on a party ticket which won a majority of the seats on the council and a substantial win in the popular vote, take an executive decision on an issue on which my party and I clearly campaigned in the local elections.

I am then taken to the High Court by a small group of residents (who can afford to do so) and lose on the grounds that I have predetermined views.

Now call me old fashioned, but I have always been one of those politicians where what you see is what you get.

If you do not like my views, well that is fine. In our democratic society you can vote me out and put someone in whose views you do agree with.

I am not one of those politicians who manage to make contradictory promises on successive doorsteps.

Now apparently, that is not good enough for one of Her Majesty's High Court judges, appointed by that strong defender of democracy, Lord Derry Irvine.

So be it.

Several opposition politicians, including a local Labour MP, have demanded I resign.

Funny that. I did not hear him demanding David Blunkett resign as Home Secretary when he lost a recent court case over the payment of benefits to asylum seekers.

If local democracy is to mean anything then trust local politicians to make decisions and trust local voters to vote them out when they take the wrong ones.

Ponder that as you sit in the traffic jam that is Frith Lane.

April 7, 2003 13:30