Last updated 05:39, Friday, 26 September 2008

SINCE the dawn of time, or however long council tax bills have been issued, people in Cumbria and the rest of the country have been given an element of choice over their public services: like it or lump it.

Now, however, a spirit of real democracy is in the air. Communities will have the chance to influence council services, policing and health.

In North Allerdale, which includes Wigton, Silloth and Aspatria, residents’ boards will work with various agencies to find solutions to local issues. A community says what it wants and agencies co-operate to achieve these goals. Interlinked issues like unemployment, crime and poor health can all be addressed.

Pilot schemes in Workington and Whitehaven have proved successful and this way of working is due to be routine throughout Cumbria in the next two years.

There is plenty to applaud in such an outbreak of people power. It certainly constitutes a welcome about-turn from the traditional policy of the public being told what’s good for them. Who better to say what an area needs than the people who live there?

Yet any thought of Joe and Jean Public marching on their police station and deploying its officers where they see fit should be tempered by realism.

Experts are employed to use their expertise and they must be allowed to do so without being impeded at every turn. But their work can undoubtedly be improved by listening more closely to the people who pay their wages.