“Mr Prosser said; “You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time you know.”
“Appropriate time?” hooted Arthur, “Appropriate time? The first time I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked him if he’d come to clean the windows, and he aid no, he’d come to demolish the house….”
“But Mr Dent, the plans have been available at the local planning office for the last nine months.”
“Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean, like actually telling anyone or anything?”
“But the plans were on display …”
“On display? I had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a torch.”
“Ah well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur,” I did. It was on display at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard.”
Douglas Adams
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
This is a not very much more exaggerated account of planning and consultation processes than the one we are currently engaged in locally. Last September one of our rural primary schools was starting the academic year with a headteacher and rising numbers of pupils. By October the headteacher had gone to another job and the county council was pushing through a policy for re-organisation that put schools like this one well below a threshold for “viability”. Suddenly we found ourselves in a battle for survival against a local government bureaucracy that seems willing and capable to use any methods to get its policy passed and implemented. But all while punctuating its actions with letters which say
“Appropriate time?” hooted Arthur, “Appropriate time? The first time I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked him if he’d come to clean the windows, and he aid no, he’d come to demolish the house….”
“But Mr Dent, the plans have been available at the local planning office for the last nine months.”
“Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean, like actually telling anyone or anything?”
“But the plans were on display …”
“On display? I had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a torch.”
“Ah well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur,” I did. It was on display at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard.”
Douglas Adams
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
This is a not very much more exaggerated account of planning and consultation processes than the one we are currently engaged in locally. Last September one of our rural primary schools was starting the academic year with a headteacher and rising numbers of pupils. By October the headteacher had gone to another job and the county council was pushing through a policy for re-organisation that put schools like this one well below a threshold for “viability”. Suddenly we found ourselves in a battle for survival against a local government bureaucracy that seems willing and capable to use any methods to get its policy passed and implemented. But all while punctuating its actions with letters which say
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
When we contribute opinions, when we ask questions, when we seek clarification, we are treated as meddlers, mischief makers, nuisances. Then another letter comes back:
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
When we try to correct inaccuracies, they express dismay that the professional competence of council officers has been questioned. Then a letter comes round;
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
We offer to resign as governors, demand the resignation of the chief executive, threaten to block the lanes with tractors, and all we get is another letter;
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
Six months of this, and our volunteers are exhausted, even the most optimistic is despairing of ever getting our points across, but still they reassure us
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
All we want is for our school to continue to deliver its first class education for the local children, half of whom walk to school, all of whom love it very much. The council tell us that we must all work together; that consensus is what is required; yet everyone is in agreement against what they propose, but still they will not give in and do not listen.
Almost a quarter of the village population turned out today, got on a coach and came up to make their views known by their presence. Including several elderly ladies, and a gentleman suffering badly with Parkinsons Disease. Mums with babies on their arms. Dads taking a day off work to be there.
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
Almost a quarter of the village population turned out today, got on a coach and came up to make their views known by their presence. Including several elderly ladies, and a gentleman suffering badly with Parkinsons Disease. Mums with babies on their arms. Dads taking a day off work to be there.
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT TO US
Sorry, but we find that hard to believe.
“People of Earth, your attention please. This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. Plans for the development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and, regrettably, your planet is scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.”
Douglas Adams
“People of Earth, your attention please. This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. Plans for the development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and, regrettably, your planet is scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.”
Douglas Adams
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