I was fascinated by the current councillor's "remunerations" listed in Lewisham's 2005 Member's Allowances booklet.
Councillors are currently paid £9,025 pa. Those who sit on the Cabinet (currently three out of six Sydenham and Forest Hill councillors) receive an additional £11,282 pa.
I fully support payments of this kind for local politicians. But I also think that because of such payments by the taxpayer we should expect a professional job to be done on our behalf - and frankly I'm not at all certain that's what's happening in this neighbourhood.