EVERY week I try to keep abreast of local news and issues by reading the three local weekly newspapers covering events in the constituency as well as the many parish magazines published in villages right across our area.

Particular favourites of mine are the Burbage News which features a brilliant “Introducing” column profiling a local person, and the Collingbournes and Everleigh Courier from which I have got some great gardening tips and recipes!

There is so much voluntary effort that goes into the creation and distribution of these invaluable local magazines, and so much of the reporting showcases the herculean efforts of local people to support a cause or improve the communities in which they live.

This prompted me to think about the interaction of personal or local responsibility and different tiers of Government, or to put it another way, who does what? As Coun Richard Gamble, who represents The Lavingtons and Erlestoke asked in his recent local column – where does responsibility start? In my view it starts with us, as individuals, and above that are tiers of family, community, our own nation and human society as a whole. In terms of administration the tiers of authority are parish/town council, unitary council, national government and the European Union.

So where to go to get something done? In my view, the best place to start is at the bottom with your own efforts then the next step is to ask neighbours or family to help, then the parish/town council, then Wiltshire Council, then government.

If you see litter, why not pick it up yourself rather than relying on someone else to do it? If your footpath needs clearing and you can’t do it yourself, ask the parish council (but then why not volunteer to help?). Notice a pothole in the highway? That’s a job for the professionals, so Wiltshire Council are the ones to call (and have just been given another million pounds from the new £250m National Pothole Fund to help with the problem). Worried about national defence? Best leave that to the government.

Of course, you may be a person (like at least one of my children) who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power and that can sometimes be a way to make real changes, but selfish individuality or free riding simply does not work in a family, let alone in a community – and our local papers and magazines celebrate the achievements of the unselfish and the community-minded every week and month of the year.