EVERYONE and his wife has seen fit to comment on the proposal for a rising bollard to stop "rat-running" along Straylands Grove in York.

But one resident of a street which would benefit from the traffic calming proposal has remained silent.

Until now.

As acting director of environment and development services, Bill Woolley is in charge of the council department which would be responsible for fitting and maintaining the bollard. As a private citizen, that same bollard could make his life quieter and easier.

So how does he square the two roles? By keeping them apart.

"I certainly have no involvement in promoting the scheme, or influencing what goes on in the council about where the bollard is ever built," Mr Woolley told the Diary.

"And I'll continue to take that stance because clearly it would be inappropriate to be involved."

He pointed out that it is the politicians, rather than the officers, who will take the decision, and they must declare any personal interests under a strict code of conduct.

But council officers are expected do the same. In a small city such as York, it is not uncommon for a Guildhall civil servant to have a personal interest in a council matter - although it is rare for such a senior officer to find himself bang in the middle of such a hot topic.

"I have been watching the debate in the Evening Press with interest," said Mr Woolley. "It's obviously a very legitimate story.

"There will be a decision taken, but I don't even know when that decision will be taken.

"Whatever the decision, like any other resident, I will live with it one way or another."

Most of the residents in the Straylands Grove area who responded to a council survey said they wanted the bollard. Did Mr Woolley vote in favour? That's private, he said.

Well, we had to ask...

NO sooner has the Grand Opera House printed its summer 2005 brochure, announcing that posh boy band G4 would play the York theatre on June 13, than the classically-trained new darlings of popera have changed their tour plans.

So instead of The X Factor, the Opera House is now experiencing the ex-factor. G4, runners up in last year's X Factor final, are capitalising on their debut album entering the charts this week at number one.

On the June night they were to play York, they will now play a much larger venue in Glasgow.

Record company SonyBMG will be delighted G4 are outselling their nearest competitor by three to one, clocking up 224,000 sales in the opening week - more than any debut album since 2001. The Opera House will be less than chuffed, fielding calls from disappointed fans when tickets don't go on sale in York on Friday at 8am - unlike in Cardiff, Blackpool, Manchester, London, Birmingham, Ipswich, Grimsby (Grimsby?) and so on.

For the record, the York prices were scheduled to be £17.50 and £14.50; the tour ticket price has since risen to £25.

Ah, the carefree innocence of the pop industry.

SEEN on the River Foss behind the old FR Stubbs building yesterday: a cock pheasant swimming along as if it were a duck. The game bird's aquatic antics astonished passers-by and left a greylag goose heading in the other direction completely baffled.

Updated: 10:07 Thursday, March 10, 2005