City Councillor: Kevin

Andrew:  In Cambridge there is a City Council and a County Council.  Kevin is on the City Council.

So, what does a City Council do?

Kevin:  It provides services to the public of Cambridge - right from the basic services such as rubbish and recycling collections right through to providing leisure facilities, community activities, and lots of other service responsibilities in between.

Andrew:  Is there a difference between a City Council and County Council?

Kevin:  Yes.  It normally goes down to the type of services that they are responsible for.  For example, the County Council is responsible for education within the county, whereas the City doesn't deal with education in that respect.  Similarly social services provision for care and other social services are County Council responsibilities, therefore the City does not do the same - otherwise there would be duplication and obviously there's no point to that.

Andrew:  Why did you want to be a councillor?

Kevin:  Originally I was asked to stand to be a local councillor when there was a huge discussion about Parkside Pool.  They wanted, I think, somebody who had a sports and community sort of background to argue the case for that in the local area.

Andrew:  Fascinating.  What sort of responsibilities do you have?

Kevin:  I'm actually an opposition councillor on the City Council, so I don't really have responsibilities in terms of decision making, other than to influence those who do make the decisions.  So hopefully we try and put those who are making the decisions on the right track, and, hopefully, they will make the right decision on different matters as a result.

Andrew:  What decisions are you interested in?

Kevin:  I'm interested in all decisions that are made within the city, but some I leave to other colleagues to assist with.  And the ones that I do get involved with are housing matters, and planning and development type matters.