Report by our archive and research editor

Updated - see Menu.   As previously stated, communications with NPT councillors appear to be lacking.   If councillors cannot answer questions for one reason or another, they should refer to the council's full time officials.   Apart from this, a council press officer should be considered so that the council speaks with one voice.

Having said this, the question arises:  'Are we having benefit from having councillors?'    If there is no response from them perhaps it could be looked upon as a nail in their coffin?    Surely councillors are expected to represent their constituents - if there is no feedback and no answers one must ask if they are on the way to making themselves redundant?

When will the penny drop?   Residents are becoming more and more aware of the situation.   They do not want rubber stamp councillors - they want ones who can answer questions - or get them from someone.

Editorial Note    Several readers have responded to this report - one such letter appears on our Readers' Letters page.

We quote: "It is not too long to the next election. Perhaps that would be the very time to start using the Neath Ferret to print leaflets so that people would know what the person asking them for their vote has done during the last 4/5 years.
This would be innovative in that the internet would have been used to come back and bite those who ignored it."

It should be made clear that this a matter for third parties - or perhaps we should say, another political party.  The function of this website is to report and reflect the feelings of the community in a fair and balanced way an effort to make Neath a better place to live and bring up our children.