XN000022-1982-10-19 — Page 14

As I said in my speech to the Legislative Council on 6th

October, the matters with which District Boards deal have a direct

bearing on the daily lives of the people in the distriot and it is

important that their voice should be heard. This in turn makes it

necessary for all Board Members to make every effort to liaise closely

with their local communities, to find out what they want and to reflect

their feelings, aspirations and needs, faithfully and forcefully.

---

I understand that this year the Southem District Board has

devised a number of ways of improving contact between members and the

people in the district. These include members' "meet the public"

sessions, constituency-based visits, seminars with specialised groups,

and a Suggestion by Post scheme. These contacts have led to Board

Members putting forward their views on euch isques as the need for

additional secondary school places, passenger shelters at bus stops,

safe passage for pedestrians across the Aberdeen Main Road, community

facilities for the waterbome residents of the Typhoon Shelter, and the

wish for taxis not to charge the return toll fare for the aberdeen

Tunnel

-

all of them issues which directly affect the daily lives of

the residents of the District.

In my Legislative Council speech, I said that the Government

would give due weight to views expressed by people in the district when

decisions are being taken. I am glad to see that this is happening in

the Southern District. The Board's advice has been accepted, and has

been or is being implemented as regards passenger shelters, the dropping

of the return toll charge for taxis using the Aberdeen Tunnel, the provision

of shelters at bus stops and the improvement of community facilities in

the typhoon shelter.

Government cannot meet the Board's views. In such cases the reasons

Sometimes there will be good reasons why the

/must be