ALL good things come to an end and so does my tenure as Herefordshire’s local democracy reporter. I am moving on to a new challenge.

Holding those in public office to account in the county of my birth has truly been a privilege and I have enjoyed every second.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has been vital over the last few years in helping shine a light on local government failures and pushing for more openness and transparency.

The scheme is a unique partnership between the BBC and local news organisations and was set up in 2018 to improve coverage of councils across the UK.

When I started in Herefordshire, I found a local authority that did not, in my opinion, particularly like scrutiny.

OTHER NEWS:

The council was so secretive about councillors who had been found in breach of their code of conduct that they would not name the parish councils they sat on, let alone who they were.

What kind of democracy is this, I thought at the time.

How could the electorate make an informed decision at the ballot box if councillors caught misbehaving were quietly given a telling off, but the public was none the wiser?

The council would also bar reporters from certain conduct hearings while allowing them into others. One rule for one and one rule for another.

The council’s then Independent Person [a watchdog role] had raised concerns about this lack of transparency to no avail.

Nobody seemed to listen or want to listen. Until we started reporting on it.

Bringing issues to the public’s attention seems to have a miraculous effect on those who govern over us.

Reporting on this lack of openness sparked a public petition calling for more transparency with thousands of signatures and it soon brought about a change in attitude among many councillors.

Constitutional changes were also approved, which now means upheld complaints against councillors, albeit with very little detail, are published.

In 2018, council officers also opposed a freedom of information request about ex-councillors who had breached its code of conduct.

I had to appeal their decisions and take the issue all the way to the Information Commissioner. A year later, they ruled in my favour and ordered the council to release this information.

Openness in local government should not be this difficult. The council is there to serve the public and the public has the right to know.

The irony of it all is that openness and transparency are meant to be some of Herefordshire Council’s core values.

And although councillors are much more open now than they were three years ago, resistance from many to enquiries over how they voted on the decision to axe the Hereford bypass shows there is still some way to go. Some declined to say, as if what they do on behalf of the taxpayer is none of anyone’s business, only for the details to be released later under a freedom of information request.

Since our coverage of this issue, group leaders have agreed for all votes on decisions at online council meetings to be recorded and published. This is another positive step towards transparency.

However, the council has also been slow to act on serious safeguarding issues which were raised to them.

Time and time again, parents raised the alarm only for their concerns to be ignored or any action to be delayed for years.

In one case, councillors admitted recommendations from a report into student sex abuse should have been shared three years ago to protect other children.

Another extremely serious issue facing the county is the phosphate pollution in local rivers.

Levels are so bad in the Lugg that a moratorium has been placed on planning applications which is currently crippling the construction industry.

It is vital for democracy that a vibrant press can cover these issues to inform readers, foster public debate and aid those trying to solve the problems affecting our county.