Let’s respect those who choose to be councillors
ICAME back from a trip to Mid -Wales today where I learned there will be more than 70 uncontested council seats at the next election due to the online abuse of councillors.
The internet has brought us massive changes in our ability to communicate with each other and the world.
Some, like the ability to talk to our loved ones both near and far, have brought us closer together.
Social media enables us to witness what powerful people (like Putin) do not want us to see and hold them to account.
It also facilitates great ideas to reach an audience otherwise denied.
I use Facebook regularly and have developed a following among dog lovers all over the world.
I never have any abusive comments and would instantly block the author were I to do so.
Social media also attracts those who employ personal and aggressive abuse to make their point.
Sadly, many platforms do not act swiftly to delete such attacks causing victims and their families to suffer greatly.
Of course, councillors are there to be challenged, it goes with the job, but unsubstantiated personal attacks are no way to behave.
The anonymity the internet provides enables unpleasant characters to lash out with impunity.
I regard all anonymous posts with scepticism and rarely read them but they are out there often using language unfit for a public forum.
Being a councillor is a thankless task.
Those whopping salaries and pensions you see reported relate to fully employed officers, not councillors who received an average of £15,274 each last year.
Not everyone wants to do the job so let us show those respect.
●●I WAS stunned and amazed to hear that during 2021 one motorist received 58 parking tickets from Cheshire East totalling £3,320. that do some
The majority of these were in Whalley Hayes car park. CEC revealed that as of March 14 this year not a single ticket had been paid.
Considering the cost of patrolling and monitoring their car parks one has to ask why one motorist has been allowed to avoid payment. Clearly, this motorist has no respect for the council which I suspect he/she has learned from their total impotence.
This is not the first case I have followed where, when, faced with a stubborn uncooperative individual, Cheshire East drag out the proceedings in the vague hope that the problem will somehow resolve itself.
Put plainly CEC pursue the line of least resistance which is usually those that respect the law and pay up promptly.
The lesson CEC seems determined to teach us all is to ignore the fines and by the time CEC get around to prosecuting you could be living in a tree-house in the
Amazon rain forest.
Allowing someone to owe the council that much money for so long is an insult to those who do care and who do pay their fines.
This is not money owned by the council it is money owed to the taxpaying public. CEC need to remember that when whinging about being underfunded.