Willaston and Rope Ward UKIP Councillor Brian Silvester is calling on the Cheshire East Council to end their regime of secrecy. He said, " The Council set up, last year, six Policy Development Groups (PDGs) of Councillors and Officers that meet in secret.(See below) Councillors who are not members of these secret groups are not even allowed to attend the meetings to observe, let alone contribute to their discussions. No agendas or minutes are made public so residents and other Councilllors do not have a clue what is being discussed behind closed doors in secret. I have been a Councillor for 37 years and I have never experienced the exclusion of Councillors and secrecy like this.Obviously a few subjects have to be discussed in private but there is no need to exclude other Councillors, prevent them speaking and refuse to issue minutes of the meting. This is just the latest example of Cheshire East's obsession with secrecy. They have refused to publish the independent report on the Lyme Green fiasco, which cost Council taxpayers £225,000, the Information Commissioner ordered them to release details of the Macclesfield town centre and the Bewilderwood Tatton Park developments, that they tried to keep secret. Also the Ombudsman ordered the Council to pay a fine and apologise after it was found that the Council had, 'knowingly and persistenly misled the public'. I am calling on this obsession with secrecy and cover up to end immediately and for all the papers and minutes of all the PDGs to be made public unless there is a good reason to keep parts of them secret."
Cllr Brian Silvester BA (Hons)
UK Independence Party Councillor
Willaston and Rope Ward UKIP Councillor
Cheshire East Council
Tel/fax 01270 567757
Twitter @CllrBSilvester
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