{"id":1750,"date":"2014-03-18T16:46:17","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T16:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abbeylandsresidents.org.uk\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2014-03-22T14:12:34","modified_gmt":"2014-03-22T14:12:34","slug":"proposed-waiting-and-loading-restrictions-dunbar-we-asked-you-said-we-did-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/proposed-waiting-and-loading-restrictions-dunbar-we-asked-you-said-we-did-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Waiting and Loading Restrictions: Dunbar – We Asked, You Said, We Did Not!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consultation is increasingly a bit of a sham. Yet democracy relies on it.\u00a0The deeply held notion in some areas of public policy that consultation is in itself a problem is obviously a barrier, but there’s plenty been written on participation myths and I ain’t gonna expunge any here. But here’s a thought. To my mind too few, politicians and the public, appreciate the difference between gauging public opinion and gathering information that helps improve public policy decision-making.<\/p>\n

In the latter the quality of opinions is more important than quantity. The role of the latter is much wider ranging and useful in developing policy than the former, which typically results in the unsatisfactory polarisation of opinion. Some like the simple duality of binary decisions: the ayes have it. But public policy is more often nuanced, and is not about creating winners and losers. It involves careful balancing of public and private interests, the weighing up of risks, social and environmental impact, costs and benefits, and mitigation of negative impacts and increasingly important identifying possible unintended consequences (the known unknowns).<\/p>\n

I suppose it doesn’t help that today we have increasingly low barriers to entry. There’s a proliferation of amateur practitioners, who hold no particular qualifications bar a computer, email or website and a clip board. DIY consultations and the “have a go” lot are well meaning, but can be a menace –\u00a0you have been warned.\u00a0But more insidious still is that band that simply use consultation as a fig leaf.<\/p>\n

Now, to my mind poor consultation<\/strong> is probably worse than no consultation at all<\/strong>, as it can really cloud sensible debate e.g. confusing voting on options when you’re actually information gathering, or the information gathered is no more representative than asking randomers in the street. But my favourite pet hates are: the premeditated consultation<\/strong> that is used to rubber stamp a proposal, regardless of the weight or quality of the views – the odds have been fixed and they are going to do exactly was they please; the sterile consultation<\/strong>, like consulting publicly on term dates, which is an utterly pointless waste of time and taxpayers money. We can save money by not bothering with the latter, but rooting out the former is more difficult, as this is often rooted in some statutory process, which encourages notional compliance.<\/p>\n

So, when ELC opened up eastlothianconsultions.co.uk I was not exactly holding my breath, but I figured this was not a bad place to start. Today I am not so sure. The We Asked, You Said, We did<\/strong><\/em> section is only complete for a handful of consultations. So I decided to do my own for the recent Dunbar TRO, as ever with tongue slightly in cheek.<\/p>\n

\"dontbotherasking\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consultation is increasingly a bit of a sham. Yet democracy relies on it.\u00a0The deeply held notion in some areas of public policy that consultation is in itself a problem is obviously a barrier, but there’s plenty been written on participation myths and I ain’t gonna expunge any here. But here’s a thought. To my mind … Continue reading Proposed Waiting and Loading Restrictions: Dunbar – We Asked, You Said, We Did Not!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":1343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12,11],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-dunbar-high-street","tag-tro"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2013\/09\/1-DSC_0106.jpg?fit=800%2C536&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1142,"url":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/letter-not-everyone-wants-public-car-parking-at-abbeylands\/","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":0},"title":"Letter to press: Not everyone wants public car parking at Abbeylands","author":"templar","date":"August 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Not everyone wants public car parking at Abbeylands, Dunbar. Over 50 signatures, all people who live nearby, believe resident parking is a higher priority. Residents have no dedicated parking provision, unlike in Haddington or North Berwick, and what long term parking is now available will be reduced to nothing if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/topics\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1164,"url":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/ten-things-to-improve-our-high-street\/","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":1},"title":"Ten things to improve Dunbar High Street","author":"templar","date":"August 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There are literally dozens and dozens of ways to improve our High Streets and as you would expect some people have thought about this at greater length than me, so I am not going to give you an orthodox list. Some of the issues that are faced are structural and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"Opinion","link":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/topics\/opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1773,"url":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/what-connects-dunbar-and-tranent\/","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":2},"title":"What connects Dunbar and Tranent?","author":"templar","date":"March 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Not a lot, perhaps. Today it would be the old A1, but both towns are, thankfully in many respects, bypassed. In the eighteenth century, it was the main road from Edinburgh to Berwick upon Tweed, which in George Taylor and Andrew Skinner's 1775 map shows the towns incongruously side by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"Opinion","link":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/topics\/opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2014\/03\/dunbartranent.png?fit=1000%2C361&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2014\/03\/dunbartranent.png?fit=1000%2C361&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2014\/03\/dunbartranent.png?fit=1000%2C361&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2014\/03\/dunbartranent.png?fit=1000%2C361&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1200,"url":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/form-an-association-of-residents\/","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":3},"title":"Form an association of residents","author":"templar","date":"September 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A primary motivation for setting up a residents association might be to organise and articulate the residents' perspective, which to my mind has long been neglected on Dunbar High Street. 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Now there are plans for a Road to Nowhere.\u00a0Just weeks after we heard that the Abbey Church is once again on the market, with any prospect of much needed sensitively designed housing development being stymied, we hear that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/topics\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"goodforresidentsandwildlife","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2013\/08\/goodforresidentsandwildlife-1024x459.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2013\/08\/goodforresidentsandwildlife-1024x459.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/files\/2013\/08\/goodforresidentsandwildlife-1024x459.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2212,"url":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/abbeylands\/the-decline-and-decline-of-tourism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1750,"position":5},"title":"The decline and decline of tourism","author":"templar","date":"July 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I met an engaging old lady the other day\u00a0while I was\u00a0sweeping away the debris of vomit, fag ends and takeaway detritus brought up by the\u00a0predictable\u00a0Friday or Saturday night tide, which day I cannot remember exactly. 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