To many are in it for the dubious power they think they have and the fact they can call themselves Councillor. The few good active representatives we have are excellent but are far out numbered by the others who only come out of the woodwork at election time.
Maybe the time has come to cut the number of councillors and pay those who remain a wage ( I will duck the flack
), but give the public the ability to kick them out mid term if they are useless.
Local politics should also be completely non political as these people are there for the good of the area not to blindly follow or oppose the dictates of whichever party is in power.