Real pavement politics

Just back from holding a street surgery with my Fortis Green ward colleagues Cllr Martin Newton and Cllr Sara Beynon. It's the first time we've tried this approach, leafleting around 500 flats and houses in the area in advance - we already hold three fixed surgeries a month.

We were outside Mansfield Heights on the Great North Road and in the end, we had four people come and talk to us. Which might not sound like a great return, but I was pleased with that - bearing in mind the other demands on people's time and the fact that we get plenty of casework in through the quick'n'easy route of email.

Interestingly, all the residents raised the same issue (along with some other individual stuff including recycling facilities) - the state of the pavements along Great North Road. Attached is a photo which gives an idea of the problem, although there are worse slabs along there. The beauty of e-mail means that I have already contacted the Council about all the issues raised with us - now the chasing begins and we have to make sure that there is a follow through on the action.

But standing this morning on the pavement talking to residents about problems with the pavement... You don't get much more 'pavement politics' than that!