I hear that the ODPM is going to drop the e from everything next year. Good idea too. But let’s hope not all the projects and ideas that have started stop altogether. In some areas there are still continuing problems.

Without wanting to sound like Mr Outraged, I have still received no response from either the district council or the county council on an ongoing traffic problem in the town.

I’m not the only person who has got questions about this. Last week the local paper had a big story about how some local businesses are claiming losses of up to 60% because of ongoing road closures. (As I’ve pointed out to the council, I’ve seen multi-storey office blocks built in the middle of cities without so much as a pavement being closed so why the building of 14 small flats warrants closing a fairly busy road in and out of town for 3 weeks is a complete mystery).

And if councils think they can ignore discourse by either ignorance or incompetence they should really think again. Last week the FT had a two page - yes, two full pages about a council in the south east that repeatedly did not respond to a simple request from a journalist.

I also hear that the powers that be are concerned about the lack of involvement in local issues and local democracy - but if simple questions are ignored, then why would anyone be encouraged to ask more complex ones? Or why get involved if your views, along with many others views, are ignored?

Or perhaps there’s something else going on here. Perhaps there’s such a gap between the spin of the politicians and the reality of people’s lifes that the concerns that most people have - speeding traffic, long hours at work, poor and expensive public transport, lack of facilities for young people, overpriced housing - don’t register.

Or maybe its because George Bush controls the world and believes so strongly in burning oil that the answer is more cars and that cars should have priority over people.

Or maybe its because in the absence of powerful community campaigns based on militant direct action the people who make decisions will do so without regard for many people.

Take your pick. Whatever the answer is, the lesson seems to be that e-government might mean your bin gets collected more quickly if it’s missed but in many cases it does not mean any better response from the local council and if it is anything to do with speeding traffic you might as well forget it.

I was interested to see a small group of citizens using the web to organise around such issues:

http://ktbypass.co.uk/

http://www.banwell.org/trafficfrontpage.htm

http://www.sandfordonthames.co.uk/appraisal/resultsd.htm#rsD5