Dear Editor,
I sometimes think of this council’s elected leadership as the second or third man in a 4-man bobsleigh… involved, but not in control.
£22k spent on ‘dishwashers’, recent parking charge increases, the A500 fiasco with a rough surface nobody local asked for and rumble strips so vicious your teeth wince… all unwanted by locals but decisions supposedly taken by officers.
Don’t get me started on the non-decisions taken by officers under their powers when a councillor asks for something to be fixed, repaired or changed.
This situation exists because councillors have allowed it to be so.
Since taking control of the council some years ago, the labour/independent administration quickly started the transition to a committee system.
Their chairmen and women oversee the business agendas for each meeting and they have enough votes to pass any business they wish.
As every year passes more and more democratic decision making power is given away by councillors and delegated to officers.
This doesn’t sit well with me in the slightest and residents are forced to fund it. There is a huge and growing local democratic deficit.
This latest example about a Cheshire community losing their local tip and then being denied the promised pop-up/mobile service sums things up in a nutshell…
“He (the local councillor) has since tried to challenge this and had hoped to bring the matter up at last month’s environment and communities committee meeting.
“But acting chair Liz Braithwaite (Macclesfield, Lab) refused to let anyone discuss the HWRC decision at the meeting, on the advice of officers.” (Full article link in comments)
In effect you have the situation whereby an officer ‘advised’ an elected chairwoman not to let a local councillor raise an issue concerning an officer’s unexpected decision that is effecting their local residents who pay the tax that actually funds the council.
No matter what the fine print in the council’s self-imposed constitution may or may not say on the matter, I would hazard a guess that to local ratepayers this comes across as daft and frustratingly does nothing for the residents.
Sadly elections at Cheshire East are over two years away, but I would urge you to only vote for people who don’t want to keep delegating away the power over how YOUR money is spent (or not spent) on your area.
Hope you are enjoying the spring sunshine, at least they can’t delegate that away from us!
Cllr Allen Gage
Willaston and Rope
Cheshire East
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