As I may have noted before, I’m a parish councillor in a small, but perfectly-formed, village in Suffolk’s Gipping Valley. And, generally, the role isn’t that stressful. After all, my council provides no services of a life or death nature, nor do we provide services which impact hugely on people’s lives, like education, social care or housing. But, even here, there can be contentious issues which impact on us. Planning applications for example, and whilst we have no decision making powers there either, as a statutory consultee, our residents expect us to represent their views to the powers that be. They believe, not unreasonably, that the powers that be must listen to us – if only that were true. And discussions can get a bit heated, even when party politics isn’t in play.

But I’ve been, on the whole, pretty lucky. I’ve received very little hassle, and all of that has come from outsiders. But I was reminded at the weekend that, that is increasingly not true of my fellow councillors at all tiers of local government. A report issued by the Local Government Association on Saturday noted that, in a survey of its members, 22% of respondents stated that they had received death threats or threats of violence against them.

And it’s not just the public who can make life difficult or impossible for an individual councillor. Opposition councillors and, even more depressingly, members of your own Party can be the source of behaviour that is designed to humiliate, embarrass or even frighten you. Too many of us have witnessed that, or been the victim of it.

Coincidentally, I attended ALDC’s second Conference for Town and Parish Councillors on Saturday morning and, in particular, a session on building emotional intelligence and resilience. Resilience because, sometimes, the job is hard (even harder than it can be if you’re doing it properly) and developing coping strategies helps you get through the difficult days. But emotional intelligence because, sometimes, we fail to consider what the people around us are going through and how what we do and say impacts on them and their responses. It wasn’t an entirely comfortable session because sometimes, you need to leave your comfort zone and see yourself through the eyes of others. And, in our increasingly impersonal lives, where social media brings out the worst in some people, it’s easy to forget that, in front of a screen somewhere is a human being rather than a punching bag.

In my role as Chair of the Micro Councils Network of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), I am reminded that, at my hyper-local level, all politics is up close and personal, and that personality clashes can wreck even the smallest group, making it impossible to function.

And the Local Government sector is well aware of the issue. Principal authorities, through the Local Government Association, have the Debate Not Hate campaign, whilst Town and Parish Councils have the Civility and Respect Pledge, which has been signed by more than 1,600 town, parish and community councils across England and Wales, sponsored by, amongst others, NALC and One Voice Wales.

But, ultimately, we all have a part to play in maintaining, and enhancing our democratic institutions at all levels. Encouraging better behaviour, intervening earlier when individuals misbehave, and a degree of self-reflection are key to that process, as well as getting out there the message that abuse and threats against those elected to represent us are beyond the pale, and that there are consequences for doing such things, as opposed to justified criticism or respectful disagreement.

Otherwise, the risk is that people who simply want to make their communities a bit better get driven from the field, and that’s never going to good for our democracy or our politics.

* Mark Valladares is the Monday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and a member of the National Assembly of the National Association of Local Councils.