CONSULTATION is the buzz word in Wirral in 2014.

There are, however, key elements in consultancy of any kind – it’s called listening and acting upon it.

This week Jane Kennedy, Merseyside Crime Commissioner, starts her consultation on police station closures.

And we are also approaching a council-initiated Halloween hoe-down.

At noon, this Friday, a consultation called “Future Council” ends.

This on-line questionnaire offers you the chance to influence spending.

Time will tell if we have been tricked or treated but the idea of just an online survey is disappointing.

Not everyone has a computer and not everyone can get to a library or One Stop Shop.

Why not a more general way of conducting such a survey?

There could have been a letter sent out with council tax bills.

Or councillors themselves, taking time off from producing self-promoting leaflets, spending more time on the Wirral streets meeting people. These face-to-face encounters are called “Vox Pops” which means voice of the people.

Politicians can hear first-hand what people actually feel about decisions made, or those about to be made, on such issues as job losses, car parking – overspending on consultants and town hall carpets.

Outgoing chief executive Graham Burgess said in September “ It is important that people share their views so that they can be taken into account by elected members when they make their budget choices in December.”

I hope this is a productive swan song from Mr Burgess and does not turn out to be a lame duck.

Just over 6,000 have so far responded - a fraction of the resident adult population - but let’s hope they have all been listened to and their suggestions do not fall on deaf ears.

 

SSSHH! Did you hear about the university in Holland which has studied gossip?

This isn’t hearsay.

The Dutch boffins claim gossip can actually be a positive, motivating part of our lives. Researchers say it allows us to compare ourselves with others. It boosts self-reflection and self-evaluation. It questions egos. And gossip columns are here to stay. It is an accepted social media tool.

Can I suggest the council now appoint a Wirral Gossip Officer?

Oh, silly me, there are plenty of councillors out there doing that job already.

 

KATIE Price, aka Jordan, has come up with the best ever review for her latest novel.

She can’t wait to read it. KP admitted that a team of ghost-writers fleshed it out, confessing: “I didn’t write it myself as I wouldn’t know how.” What the Dickens is going on ?

It is insulting to every struggling writer reluctantly collecting rejection slips.

At least they have integrity, unlike this millionaires- turned-virtual reality author who, with her publishers, blatantly uses her own vanity to keep in the public eye...at any Price.

 

GRANT'S TV Rant: In my career as a TV editor, I was always irritated that the same people would appear on quiz shows. June Whitfield, Lorraine Chase and Christopher Biggins were regulars with pre-scripted “spontaneous” answers.

We now have a conveyor belt of smug comedians - Alan Davies, Phil Jupitus, David Mitchell and his wife Victoria Coren to name the select chosen few. There are many new comedians out there who are performing regularly across the UK who desperately need a break on the telly.

Let’s give the audiences a rest from the same old Oxbridge mirth-mafia.

 

AND finally...How apt. I once met a charity worker called Robin Hood; a painter called Matt Finish and while watching Come Dine With Me recently I noticed that one of the backroom staff was a certain Katie Scoffham.

Now I wish Constable Charlie Farley good luck in his role as part of the local policing team for Liscard.

That also happens to have been the name of a character in the classic Two Ronnies sketches featuring a dedicated policeman played by Ronnie Corbett.

A job in local policing is no laughing matter – particularly with the increased areas that each community team is now responsible for. But Charlie we’re right behind you. Evening all.

Peter Grant