A county councillor in Bridgend wants the local authority to record the real reasons behind public dissatisfaction against it, saying the council is “not responsible for everything that goes wrong”.
Councillor Martyn Jones said it was important to capture data around dissatisfaction so it could be used when monitoring contracts for companies or when working with the police to improve services.
Speaking at a recent Bridgend County Borough Council scrutiny committee meeting on communication and engagement, he said: “I get a little bit annoyed when people out there assume this council is responsible for everything that goes wrong.
“From litter bins not being collected by a contractor, vehicles causing obstruction on the highway, to antisocial behaviour – it’s always BCBC.
“People don’t get it sometimes that services have been procured out – they see the lorry has BCBC branding on it
“We are not responsible for all the ills that are out there.
“We are part of the problem but we don’t have sole responsibility for the problem.
“I think that those who do have responsibility are probably getting away with it.”
The Bettws ward councillor said the public were sometimes being wrongly advised to call the council.
He said: “I have personal experiences of dealing with major contractors in this authority who are very keen to signpost complainants who are dissatisfied with the service to this authority.
“During the contract monitoring process we need to sit down with them and say: ‘We have received X number of dissatisfied customers last month from these areas – is there a thematic problem in these areas, do you have problems with members of your team in these areas?’
“And we need to look at the trends in what police and community support officers are advising the public to do.
“If there is a trend in relation to vehicle issues we need to go to the police and crime commissioner and say ‘Let’s work together on this’ because the people who are losing out are the public.
“They’re becoming disorientated, disinterested and, I’m afraid, they’re taking up their discontent with members of staff in this authority.”
The scrutiny meeting took place on Monday, June 3.
