"I found recent reports of an elected Bridgwater Town Councillor spending their time travelling to Birmingham and London to take part in oil protests (probably guzzling a considerable amount of oil on the way) and subsequently getting themselves arrested and sentenced, remarkable.

With so much going on around us, aren’t there any issues closer to Bridgwater to address? And what good are our elected Councillors if they’re locked up?

If you don’t like something you can complain about it in a number of ways. Perhaps by arranging a demonstration, writing to the local paper, voting for candidates who support your idea, running for council, writing to your local MP, or even becoming your local MP.

Some of these are more effective than others, but the advantage of all these ways of protesting? They don’t stop anybody else living their life and making their point too.

Many of these oil protestors are smart, politically motivated, and usually highly educated people blocking the right of totally ‘normal’, non-political people to go about their business.

Making a political point is important, but so is the right to make your way to work or walk down the road.

These are people who think blocking traffic by gluing themselves to the roads and damaging property by throwing paint all over shop fronts is a way to win over minds.

For me and many of my friends and neighbours it does the complete opposite.

I recently came across an oil protestor who thought of himself as some sort of Martin Luther King Jr. He is not."

Cllr Diogo Rodrigues

County Councillor for Bridgwater East & Bawdrip