Not so quiet for July ...

There are a distinct lack (not a single one in today's diary!) of formal Council meetings at the moment - July recess does tend to be 'comparatively' quiet on that front - but I've noticed a big difference this year at a local Ward level ... I appear to be getting as many constituent and 'local group' queries as ever, despite it being July.

It's undoubtedly partly to do with the increased size of the new multi-Member Wards, but also - I think - a sign that the mythical "Member-Ward Link" is actually not about to collapse and fall apart under the new electoral system.

All the evidence - in particular from both Northern and Southern Ireland - does show that the Ward-Link actually strengthens under STV-PR, but it's only now that the reality of the situation is very slowly starting to sink in with most elected Members.

It's all pretty obvious really - 3 elected Members (4 in some parts of the city) for each Ward; mostly from different political parties; bit of internal Ward competition ... the result is hardly rocket-science? Elected members have to work harder ... no wonder most of them wanted things to stay as they were :-)

Indeed, some readers will know that in Southern Ireland the politicians loved the system so much they held a referendum (twice!) to try and get the voters to scrap it ... the voters (twice!) elected to keep STV-PR.

That says it all really.