I'm an engineer by trade. If you ask any engineer what the biggest problem they face is and it will not be the laws of physics or thermodynamic engineering issues. It is the scourge of modern life, the bean counters. The biggest curse in a modern capitalist society is that the absolute key to delivering any new product is "time to market". That is why so many apps don't work properly, so many products are badly engineered, why kettles spill water when you pour tea, why your new car has a blind spot when you overtake. It is why Volkswagen rigged the results of their pollution tests, it is why your iphone annoyingly switches itself off randomly. Companies are always looking for ways to get products out quicker and this inevitably means cutting corners in testing and rushing things out too quickly.
Whilst it is understandable how bean counters damage private industry, what is less understandable, is how we've let the beancounters ruin local politics. This has resulted in councils constantly looking for easy targets to cut, things that won't lead to major demonstrations. Maintenance of historic woodlands, that bring no cash in, or enforcement of planning laws where selfish residents encroach on public space is not seen as a economically beneficial by the bean counters. We have the perverse situation where deelopments which blight the landscape, cause pollution and ruin the quality of life of local residents are passed so that the council can get hold of the development dividend. For the best part of a decade of austerity, local politicians have ruthlessly cut the money they spend on the environment. It is not entirely the fault of the local politicians. If you have the choice between cutting care for disabled children or maintaining ancient woodlands, what would you do?
The problem is that local elections, where the decision makers are selected have become an issue about how much tax we pay. Political parties have become conditioned to the concept that no one will want to vote for a party that says it will raise tax. There is a completely bogus argument that if an authority needs to charge residents more money for better services, it is in some ways inefficient. Whilst the well off, middle class residents of areas such as Barnet will happily buy expensive German cars, because they recognise that quality comes at a premium, they are not prepared to apply the same thinking to local government. In short, there is a perception that a majority of residents couldn't give a stuff about anything in their community that doesn't directly affect them. Whilst so many residents will pay a fortune for a premium coffee in one of our upmarket coffee chains, they will not forfeit the cost of just one cup a week for better local services.
In the Borough of Barnet, this ultimately has translated into the ridiculous situation where the council are trying to flog off local nature reserves. From the perspective of the council's balance sheet, this makes perfect sense, but it is a leap into the unknown for our environment. Groups of local residents groups and local charities are vying for the contracts in the anticipation of cash grants etc. These groups believe that they can do a better job than the local council. The problem is that if they fail, who will pick up the pieces and what damage will be done?
It is not just the local environment that is suffering at the hands of the beancounters, but I believe this has been hiot harder than any other aspect of local government, because it is seen as non key to the council. I've spent my whole life regularly walking around Mill Hill and the surrounding areas and the deterioration is heartbreaking. Local wildlife needs a clean, available supply of water, and much of this dried up last summer. The Council refused to acknowledge that there was a crisis and refused to call an emergency meeting of the urgency committee to address the issue. I am convinced that this was purely down to keeping the beancounters happy.
Local politics and local politicians have spent the best part of a decade failing the enviroment, purely to keep the beancounters happy. We urgently need some more enlightened politics in the UK. We need a realisation that if we don't look after the environment, then we will suffer the consequences. Whether humans realise it or not, we are animals living in an eco system that is reliant on a whole food chain of all manner of plants, fungi, insects, mammals and other organisms. If we don't respect the flora and fauna on our doorstep, we have no moral authority to criticise anyone else. If no one takes responsibility, ultimately the human race runs the risk of destroying itself. Maybe you don't care about the world you leave to your Grandchildren (maybe you don't have any). I believe that we would never knowingly harm ourc children, so why don't we recognise the damage that our actions will have on their future? This should start locallly, with a new generation of local politicians who have the guts to do the right thing on our doorstep.
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