All good points.

And without any particular councillor or party in mind, if councillors believe that they hold such powers as you describe to themselves, it is disappointing to observe that the power, used at their discretion individually or collectively, is not exercised more often.

I think the granting of Planning Consent to buildings that include an indisputable surplus of un-lettable retail units, albeit in conformance with local Planning Policy, and issuing of Completion Certificates to buildings that have little better than temporary wooden shutters festooned around their ground floor elevations to the detriment of the areas in which they are built is a very strong case in point.

Elected members could directly influence how our council conduct themselves at both stages of this process and provide significant improvements in a myriad of ways. These temporary shutters almost inevitably become permanent - as exampled by City Walk which has been occupied for some time now and the shutters there are still in place and completion of blocks in Phase Two at Bell Green and in the block across the road show no early signs of interest from prospective retail tenants.

The concept of how amenity societies can improve their influence on Local Planning Policy would be be greatly enhance by their contribution to the formulation of Neighbourhood Plans and by societies' dialogue with developers and council.