by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Bureacracy is getting in the way of volunteers improving the places they live – according to a Dorset councillor.
North Dorset councillor Sherry Jespersen, the Tory group’s environment spokesperson, claims that over the last decade volunteers who used to carry out a variety of tasks – including cutting verges, cleaning out streams and litter picking – are being told they can no longer do so.
She said even planting daffodil bulbs seemed to have become difficult.
Cllr Jespersen, Hill Forts and Upper Tarrants, told Dorset councillors that sometimes the unitary council was to blame, sometimes it was others, including insurance companies who were preventing the voluntary work by not offering cover, or even the Police or Environment Agency… but the outcome was less volunteering in towns, villages and other places to keep communities looking good.
“We need to clarify the messaging we send out to volunteer groups and town and parish council about what they are and, what they are not, allowed to do to keep their own areas beautiful,” she told a Place Overview committee.
“We have taken that away from communities piece by piece because we have said ‘health and safety’ or ‘you haven’t got insurance’ or you have to do a risk assessment – we put all this bureaucracy in the way,” she said.
She said she had been told, in her area, that many local people were saying the floods were worse now because volunteers had been stopped from doing jobs that they used to do – such as clearing streams and roadside gullies.
“I don’t think we meant to get to the place where we are now where people think that we have said they must not do these this stuff and I think we have an un-intended consequence… perhaps we could have some advice to perhaps make risk assessments simpler,” she said.
Portfolio holder for highways Cllr Jon Andrews told the meeting that when it came to any work on the roads anyone undertaking it needed to have received formal training and obtain official permission, but he said that for other areas volunteer help was usually welcomed.
