cost of democracy - Council Tax hike - chief executive appointed

Dear Editor,

Cheshire East Council is run by Macclesfield for Macclesfield.

Sadly the biggest and most economically deprived town in the borough, Crewe, does not get a look in.

There are two Council by-elections Crewe on May 6th. One for a Borough seat and one for the Town Council.

Both in the Crewe West Ward. Amazingly, nomination papers for these by-elections had to be hand delivered (not
posted) to Macclesfield, which is a round trip of 46 miles.

This is an outrage.

And especially so during COVID, when we are told repeatedly not to make unnecessary journeys.

But it gets worse.

The counting of the votes is to be in……you guessed it….Macclesfield.

The opening of the postal votes is to be in…..you guessed it….Macclesfield.

Crewe is the biggest town in Cheshire East but candidates in Crewe are required to travel all the way over to Macclesfield to hand in their nomination papers for a CREWE by-election and to
watch the votes being counted.

There is absolutely no reason at all why the nomination papers could not be handed in at the Municipal Buildings or Delamere House in Crewe.

There is absolutely no reason at all why the votes could not be counted in Crewe.

To make Crewe candidates travel all the way to Macclesfield, to hand in their nomination papers and to see the votes counted, is uncalled for and is a gross insult to the people of Crewe.

It just emphasises how Cheshire East is run from Macclesfield for Macclesfield and Crewe citizens are treated like second class citizens.

You would expect Labour run Crewe Town Council to protest strongly about this but as usual there has not been a squeak out of them.

It could be that now that Cheshire East is led by Labour, they don’t want to upset their Labour comrades.

This practice of making candidates in Crewe HAND DELIVER their nomination papers to Macclesfield and counting the votes of Crewe residents in Macclesfield, needs to stop. It is crazy.

Because of COVID the number of signatures for a Borough Council nomination was reduced from 10 to just 2.

That makes sense, but it makes no sense at all to make candidate travel 46 miles to deliver their nomination papers and watch the votes being counted, in the time of COVID.

Yours faithfully,

Cllr Brian Silvester
Candidate, Crewe West
Putting Crewe First

3 Comments

  1. Simon Howells says:

    Macclesfield is benefiting from some brilliant Council decisions. They are currently redeveloping Castle Street by repaving it and putting some seating on it. (Very comfy for the drunks and smack heads)…… Castle Street is the only part of the town’s “pedestrianised” area that doesn’t have any shops on it……
    What’s on it are two banks, a building society, a bookies and a chip shop.
    All this development comes in at a bargain £1.8 million
    This Macclesfield resident isn’t happy….

  2. Chris Moorhouse says:

    This seems to be a padded out version of what Brian wrote a few months ago. For once I think he has a fair point. It would be interesting to see if CEC explain why papers and count could not be dealt with locally. There can’t be that many votes etc to count.

  3. Typical o a councillor to warp facts to suit themselves. You must be a conservative, and a fan of Boris.

    Crewe has had significantly larger investment and development from CEC since the day the corrupt organisation was formed. Macclesfield latest major council investment in the Town, is the “redevelopment” of the town centre, yes they are repaving an 800m road that has a 3 banks a chippy and a cafe and have told us this is so therestaurants can use it for alfresco dining.

    CEC have failed Macclesfield time and again. With planning decisions being made in Crewe with a general bias of award to those decisions which generate CEC more income regardless of the negative impact they have.

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