On May 7th I was elected as a Councillor on Lambeth Council – 35 years after standing down as a Councillor in Kingston after a 9-year spell.

So, what have I found is different – and what is the same?

The first big difference is the amount of casework – it is far greater – I would estimate 5-10 new items per day, plus the follow up on existing cases.

I think the big difference here is emails and mobile phones/WhatsApp. They have made it far easier to contact a Councillor with associated increased expectations of speed of response.

The outgoing Labour Councillor prided herself on responding to emails within half an hour! The other Labour candidate made a public pledge to respond to residents within an hour throughout his 4-year term!

Residents have come to expect that – within 3 weeks I had an email on Wednesday at 8.05am complaining that I had not responded to an email sent at 9.40pm on the Monday evening. Such expectations make it difficult for anyone who has a full-time job and/or caring responsibilities to fulfil the role. That to me is a real concern about how representative Councillors can be of their local community.

Secondly, the shift to a Leader/Cabinet model means that a backbench Opposition Councillor has relatively little power compared to a committee system. Even though we hold the balance of power on the Council the only power Full Council has is to set the Budget, the Borough Plan which is the policy framework for decisions and to elect the Leader. When I was previously the Leader of a No Overall Control Council the Opposition Councillors had real decision-making power. The Leader/Cabinet model in local government in my view is fundamentally undemocratic.

The third big difference is, in Lambeth’s case, the lack of local press/media. Even 15 years ago there were 2 weekly free newspapers and one paid for newspaper coming out twice a week. There is now nothing, other than a website covering Brixton whose contributors make no secret of their political affiliation (which is not Liberal Democrat!). So, other than through FOCUS, the only way to get our messages out is through social media (which I need to get much better at – work in progress). This is a big negative development as residents are simply unaware of the issues affecting their local Council.

There are however obvious benefits of modern technology for campaigning. Whilst street/estate WhatsApp groups make you far more accessible to residents it is also a lot easier to report back on street level casework accomplished than to do a street letter.

But the fundamentals of being a Liberal Democrat Councillor and campaigner are no different. Knock on doors to find out what residents’ issues are, communicate what you are doing about them (through FOCUS, street letters, WhatsApp, social media), be accessible and campaign to ensure the Council is responsive to their needs rather than it adopting a ‘we know best what is good for you attitude’.

* Chris Nicholson is a Councillor for Clapham Common and Abbeville ward on Lambeth Council and was previously a Councillor, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Council on Kingston Council (1982-91).