A few days ago Launceston councillor Alex Folkes posted on his blog details of 27 rural bus routes which were under consideration for having the plug pulled on their off-peak subsidies.
BBC Radio Cornwall noticed the post and investigated further - it was a really strong story which lead the breakfast programme this morning, prompting dozens of phone calls from listeners. It seems a fair number of councillors were also keen to know more, because at the scrutiny committee meeting today the proposal was scrapped in favour of an alternative way to save the money, which left the bus routes intact.
The list of threatened bus routes had not been among the official council background papers released to members of the press, public or councillors and I was curious to know where Alex had obtained his information. "I asked for a briefing," he told me. Simples, but only Alex thought of doing it.
I wonder if the bus routes would have been saved if Alex had not taken the initiative and made his inquiries. I wonder if the bus routes would have been saved if Alex had not blogged about it and other media, including other bloggers, not then piled in. I rather suspect that it would have been much easier for councillors to vote through a package of transport cuts if the details had not been in the public domain.
I know that some councillors feel they are sometimes ignored by the media and that some of their colleagues get more than their fair share of coverage. The simple fact is that those councillors who work hard to dig up important stories, and then make them known, will inevitably get more attention than those that don't bother.
Hearty congratulations to Alex on his scoop.
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