'That's the trouble with public office,' he'd said. 'Everyone will have a pop, even those who have nothing to do with the situation and know even less. All they see is the final decision. That's what they question. What they don't see is the hours of work that go on behind the scenes, the toing and froing between the planners and the developers, the public consultations, the discussions in the chamber. It can take us weeks to reach the right decision and it can get quite heated. But that's because the decisions we're making are important. They affect people's lives. We have to get it right. But of course, Joe Public doesn't know any of that. They just read the final outcome in the paper and automatically assume there's been something dodgy going on. We just have to rise above it all and keep our mouths shut. It's never easy.'
