Cllr Tim Barnes is the newly elected local councillor representing the West End. Ahead of his first councillor's surgery since his election, Tim explains all about surgeries and how easy it is to come and meet your Conservative councillor.
"Councillors and indeed MPs and elected officials sometimes hold surgeries. Informal opportunities for people, for residents to drop by and ask questions, raise issues and explore concerns of various sorts.
"And these are free. They're part of the democratic process of ensuring that people have access to their elected representatives.
"And they're usually in public places.
"It used to be that they tended to be in private meeting rooms, but unfortunately, in recent years, security concerns have tended to mean that they now take place more frequently in open forums such as cafes and things like that.
"My surgeries will be taking place on Saturday mornings at 10 am on the first Saturday of each month here in Soho at the Sacred Grounds Coffee House, in order to just make it an easy point of access and an easy place for people to find.
"You don't have to book.
"You don't have to tell me that you're coming. Just show up, look for me.
"Come down and have a chat.
"Sacred Grounds is a wonderful community space.
"And this is just the sort of thing that it was brought into being to do.
"And I'm really looking forward to trying to answer people's questions and give any form of help that I can to people who turn up. So 10 am first Saturday of every month here at Sacred Grounds if you want to come to my councillor surgery."
