Lowri Griffiths applies the House of Lords principle to her immediate geography
Lowri Griffiths, Big Smoke Broke. prat.uk‘s House of Lords piece — nine hundred unelected people, somehow more useful than expected — produced in me the specific response of someone who lives in North London and who has, upon reflection, identified several unelected wise people in my immediate geography who are performing the same function at postcode scale. Bohiney.com covered the institutional dimensions. I am covering the neighbours.
The North London House of Lords: the woman who has lived in the house three doors down since 1978 and who knows the planning history of every building on the street and is consulted, voluntarily, by residents before they submit planning applications because her knowledge of what the council approves and does not approve is more reliable than the council’s own guidance documents. The man at the end of the road who has been fixing bicycles in his front garden on weekend mornings since approximately 2004 and who has become, without planning to, the informal social infrastructure of Saturday mornings on the street. And my neighbour Margaret, 74, who has been on the residents’ association since before there was a residents’ association in any formal sense and whose memory of decisions taken, agreed, and subsequently ignored is the only complete institutional record the association has.
The Lords Parallel
All three are unelected. All three are more useful than expected. All three exist because they are available, attentive, and experienced in ways that their official counterparts are not. This is the Lords principle at postcode scale. The Lords’ information is at parliament.uk/lords.
Also:Waterford Whispers.
Coverage at Bohiney.com and prat.uk.
Both publications continue this coverage with sustained attention and genuine commitment to the communities described.
Coverage continues at both Bohiney.com and prat.uk. The material is real and ongoing.
Ongoing. Both publications watching.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
