He has one of the most high profile jobs in local government and as such comes in for quite a bit of flak from time to time. But for Duncan McGinty, the leader of Conservative run Sedgemoor District Council based in Bridgwater that comes with the territory.

He said: “If you are prepared to do something in life and put your head above the parapet then have to expect to take criticism from time to time.”

Well he gets a lot of brickbats hurled at him and his colleagues. The roads, the litter, the parks, the police, Hinkley C, schools, housing, roads – you name it and Sedgemoor gets it. But he points out many of those issues are within the council’s remit. Many are down to the County Council such as roads and policing down to the Government and the PCC.

Duncan was an only child with a father who was in the Royal Airforce. “My father was stationed to various places and served briefly in Northern Ireland where I was born. He got rheumatic fever and was invalided out and we moved to London where he started a hardware shop in the early 1960s.

“It was traditional old hardware and the premises was an old cinema. There were tin baths, paraffin heaters, watering cans, crockery, cutlery with products on display some on the pavement outside. It was in Battersea, although they call it South Chelsea now!”

His father has since died although his mother is still going – although she’s not too strong these days he said. He attended the local schools and admits his favourite activity as a boy was “to do as little as possible like most teenagers,” although he said he had an interest in music as the 1970s dawned.

It was the era of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over troubled Album, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, of Saturday Night Fever and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. For Duncan it was the music that mattered and the era of lounging about and trying to look cool was coming to an end. When his parents decided to retire Duncan decided to take on the store but also branched out with shops selling records. Although the yard brushes and feather dusters continued to sell he was now busy marketing albums by Elton John and Blondie as his retail empire if not mushroomed, but did alright.

“I’ve got a fair knowledge of how to survive in retail,” he said, “with the impact of business rates on the bottom line. I have a sympathy and an empathy with those in business especially in the high street and of the problems of how to make a living there.”

However it wasn’t this business environment that brought him into politics it was a neighbour’s planning application. He retired and moved to Somerset with his wife and his Great Dane dog called Max to live in the quiet village of Sutton Mallet near Bridgwater after his father had died.

Duncan takes up the story: “I just wanted to move out of London and have a nice quiet life. But when you move from London it is a sterile environment as you don’t know many people. Somerset is an extremely friendly area and people talk to you – something that was alien to me. I had moved to a village where everyone spoke to you.”

“There was a planning application in the village which I felt was wrong. It was a small village but the application was for a large number of houses and even the design was alien I felt. So I got involved and complaining and writing to object. I went to the parish council and then wrote to the district council and got a site visit – there was a slight change to the plans but not enough, and it was as a result of that somebody popped round and said I should go onto to the parish council.”

“My name was put forward for the parish council and they said you might as well put yourself forward for the district council at the same time – which is what I did – and I thought oh my God I don’t want to do that and tried to withdraw my application but it was too late. The dye was cast.”

It was back in the 1990s when according to Duncan district councils were “more benevolent structures with committees.” However times changed and the conservatives took power in Sedgemoor and Duncan found himself the leader of the council. He likes to explain the chairman opens the meetings but the leader closes them and has to make the harder decisions.

He admits to not being a natural political animal, without strong political affiliations and feels (like many in local government) that politics can often get in the way of doing the best for local communities.

“My feeling is if you are going to do something then you should do it to the best of your ability,” he said, “I like to be certain of what’s going on so I do a lot of hours at the council. I usually start around 10am as I’m not that keen on early mornings and ends at 11pm which leaves little time for dog walking although Max prefers to walk himself at his own pace. I still retain an interest in music but there’s little time outside of work.”

Does criticism of his work as the Tory leader of the district council ever get to him?

“I’m fairly laid back, but sometimes it does upset me,” he said, “but in the main a lot of the criticism that comes is due to lack of knowledge. I fell we’ve let people down when they criticise as we haven’t got the message across and that’s down to communication. But you don’t stand for election and expect it to always be comfortable. We make mistakes and we learn from them, and hopefully make the area a better place to live which is all any of us want.”

He said Bridgwater in the last 10 to 15 years had changed massively with new roads and new houses. Sedgemoor was seen from the outside as a good place to do business. The town of Bridgwater had suffered losses and closures he said but had always recovered in short space of time.

“We’ve gone from about the highest unemployment rates in the South West,” he reflected, “to certainly one of the lowest in the West Country, so there has been massive change and investment. We do one job and then get on with the next one and if there was any criticism I would have with myself is that I don’t stop sometimes and look back and see what has been achieved.”

If there was one thing he could do if given a magic wand would it be?

“I’m a man of simple tastes,” he replied. “I’d just like to get a good road network.” Would that include a bypass I asked? A smile was his only answer.

Duncan McGinty was in conversation with Harry Mottram.