So here we are in a New Year. A conversation I had recently reminded me that next year it will be ten years since the millennium, and who would have thought that in such a space of time we would be in a so called ‘credit crunch’.

It is a serious time for everyone in business and from a personal perspective. Those with long memories can think back to 1979 when we had to contend with another serious time during the ‘winter of discontent’; rubbish not being collected, piling up on the streets, graves not being attended to, and an interest rate approaching 20%. Times were hard then, but we came through it in the end, so there must be hope for improvement as we move towards the second decade in this century.

There has also been a series of name changes over the years. Even Stockport Council now refers to ‘Social Services’ as ‘Adults and Communities’, and certain basic council services such as street lighting are now administered by ‘SK Solutions’. We have gas companies selling electricity, and vice versa, plus various telephone companies vying for our business, when in the old days, the phone system used to be run by the Post Office, remember?

Talking of the Post Office, we are now seeing closures of offices nationwide, but no great improvement in the services. Last week, I wanted to send a package with a guaranteed next day delivery via the local Post Office. This was a standard service guaranteed first class not so long ago. I was told that to guarantee next day delivery, it would cost £12 if I wanted it to arrive at 9am and £5 if I wanted it to arrive after 1pm!

If we are to emerge from this credit crunch syndrome, we must start to see improvements in basic services to the public, and that includes service from the local council. That should be the New Year resolution from both national and local government.

Thankfully, we have had some good news recently. The much maligned congestion charge has been widely condemned and thankfully rejected by the Stockport electorate. When our present government came to power, they promised ‘massive’ improvements in public transport at the expense of road building. Have you noticed any real difference in public transport and why should we need a congestion charge to make long promised improvements?

Anyway, let us all hope that 2009 proves to be the year of recovery, and a prosperous UK can emerge once again.

Cllr Paul Bellis
Bramhall South
Conservative

This article, by Cllr Paul Bellis, was first published by the Stockport Express 14/01/2009.