Hundreds call for an inquiry into council ‘They seem to lurch from one scandal to the next’
HUNDREDS of residents have signed a petition calling for an independent enquiry into Cheshire East Council.
The petition calls for the Secretary of State for Local Government Sajid Javid to launch an independent inquiry and has been signed more than 1,400 times.
The petition refers to the fact that Cheshire East Council recently admitted that someone had deliberately falsified air quality data readings for three years, and the suspension of its chief executive Mike Suarez and head of legal services Bill Norman while an investigation into officer conduct is carried out.
The petition says the air quality scandal ‘has finally destroyed what remained of our confidence and belief in our council members and officers’. Among those who have signed the petition are Heidi Reid from Bollington. She wrote: “Cheshire East Council seem to lurch from one scandal to the next and yet still carry on as though they are unaccountable... This has to stop.”
Angela Roberts, from Macclesfield, added: “I have totally lost confidence in our council on so many issues and this is the latest scandal in a long, long line of an uncaring council.”
The petition is galvanised by community action groups in Sandbach and Wilmslow, who have both written to letters written to the secretary of state requesting an external investigation, with Residents of Wilmslow campaign group has asked the Secretary of State to put the council into ‘special measures’.
Wilmslow MP Esther McVey has also written a letter to the campaign groups saying she has ‘raised this matter’ with the Secretary of State.
Community interest group Make It Macclesfield (MiM) has also called for the council to ‘put its own house in order’ and recognise the seriousness of ongoing problems at the council, particularly ahead the ambitious Town Centre Regeneration scheme.
In an open letter Ian Knowlson, from MiM, said: “It was recently announced that Cheshire East Council intend to embark on a major regeneration project in Macclesfield Town Centre. The success or otherwise of these efforts is contingent on public trust and respect for the Council. We fear that at this time, Cheshire East cannot rely of the prerequisite levels of public confidence required for it to function adequately.”