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And finally we get another account of what's been going on with APC and Turnpike field. It's good that AOL has published Jean Stainthorpe's account from someone who was actually involved in trying to get Turnpike Field into FIT. Let's not lose sight of the fact that the majority of Audlem voted for Turnpike to go into FIT. Our Parish councillors at the time did their best to make this happen. There have been a few things that with hindsight could have been done better as Steve Elliot said on his post.

The fact is that we had a statement from APC at the meeting that was very well attended by concerned residents, including the police, where accusations about lying to the council etc were made. We have the APC statement that went on record in the minutes and now two different statements that seem to support each other from people who were actually involved. Will the APC at the next meeting clearly with OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY explain why we have two very different accounts. Accusations about lying were made, surely we need an explanation as to how this can be, not too much to ask for.

Having previously been an Independent member of Cheshire East's Audit and Governance I had to deal with quite a number of issues relating to complaints about the way that Parish councils were run. The recurring theme of many of the problems stemmed around co-option and the lack of means by which to make councillors accountable and to removed the bullies and poor performers.

Yes, as suggested by numerous people, the answer in Audlem would be to have a complete clear out but, as is so often the case, who is going to replace them? It is clear by the fact that most, if not all, Audlem PC members have been co-opted at some time or other that there would not be enough people who would put their names forward. The answer should be to hold proper elections rather than councillors being appointed on a nod and a wink, in that way they would be truely accountable to the people who voted for them.

The Doomsday scenario is to have no Coucil and for Cheshire East to take over in the interim – god forbid!!

Well said J.Jones on your comment on Audlem Parish Council. As Steph has intimated in her post today things will only get better if all the existing Parish Councillors relinquish their membership and a new Parish Council is elected. A Council that would adhere to the Nolan principles of governance which include openness , honesty and integrity.
Have the Parish Council responded to the proposal made by the Audlemonline web team for regular 2 week updates of progress in resolving issues relating to Turnpike field?

There is a lot of useful information on the Fields in Trust website explaining what type of use or change in the area requires special permission . This small quote may be of interest as it means that things like our village fete seem to be unaffected.

"Consent for an event or festival is required where more than 25% of the protected space will be closed for more than 21 consecutive days "

After recommendation on AOL I contacted WHS LTD. 07526563723 a young man named William.
I sent photos of our damaged guttering on the Friday, he sent quotes for the replacement and removal of the existing guttering on the Sunday and came to do the work on the Tuesday. He was very knowledgeable and an excellent work ethic.
Would definitely recommend him. Thank you AOL and William.

Well said J. Jones, and all other contributors to this topic. I have only attended a few meetings, and on these occasions there were clear instances of bullying by certain councilors. Who are these councilors accountable to ? Surely there must be a body that monitors such behaviour

When can we expect the rest of the Councillors to do the right thing and fall on their swords ? Dysfunctional meetings, blame games, veils of secrecy, Police presence needed to keep order, and good people forced out. – what on earth is it coming to ? Clearly this Parish Council is no longer fit for purpose. To lose one Councillor is unfortunate, to lose so many demonstrates that there is something very wrong with those who now appear to be clinging on to power. Remaining APC members, for the good of the village, please take your leave, so the Parish, and not politics, can be put first again ! You no longer have the backing, nor the confidence, of this village.

Three questions – 1)Within the last year there have been two other Parish Councillor resignations – Adrianna Roscoe and Tim Lawson + at least 2 clerks. Is there a common denominator I wonder? Perhaps we ought to try and find out.
2) Now that the Turnpike Field working group has now been suspended and several of them have resigned , will the ongoing maintenance continue and who by?
3) Will there be any apologies for the wrong accusations made by some parish councillors at the previous meeting?
It is interesting to think that by preventing Steve from speaking he has now reached a much wider audience.

Finally some transparency and openness regarding the APC and Turnpike Field fiasco. Unfortunately, though not unsurprising, it's not come from APC! I think there are many who just want to get some common sense back into our Parish Council and appreciate Steve Elliot's clear account of what has actually happened (.....from someone who was actually there). It is a terrible shame that so many good residents who gave their own time freely have been treated in such a way that they felt the need to resign from APC. As Steph said in an earlier post our parish councilors are all unpaid and "apparently the satisfaction of sorting out village problems is payment enough"! I have also said in a post supportive of APC a few years ago that there are three types of people. Those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that ask what's happened.

APC's minutes of the meeting, that was very well attended by the public, and took place on the 29 July 2024 give an account of what was said by APC, it gave a very damning account of actions taken by councilors and members of the public in the past. This account was disputed and a very different account of what happened has now been given in a statement. Although I was not at the last council meeting, from what has been widely reported it is disgraceful that Steve Elliot was not allowed to put the record straight at that meeting and I question which bit of openness we are missing! Thank you AOL for allowing Steve's response to be made available.

Recently APC have been described as being 'toxic', it's hard not to agree with this. Probably too much has been said and can't be unsaid but I'm sure there are many in our village that wish we could get back to how things used to be and our original team of dedicated councillors could take a more conciliatory approach to fixing the problem. There is a solution out there, there always is. The question is how much more money will be wasted by APC on solicitors fees and also stress caused to people who in the past have done their best to make things happen.

We had 2 large conifers very nicely lopped by SML Tree & Hedge Services earlier this year . Completed in one day , all tidied afterwards including logs to make a pathway and bulk eucalyptus mulch at no extra charge . Contact Sylvester on 07459 902072 or https://www.smltreeservices.co.uk/ , fully certified and insured .

I must apologise that the name I gave for our local chimney sweep mentioned in my article was, of course. Ian Reynolds.
Apologises to him and anyone else who was confused.

Like many I am dismayed at the appalling situation we find ourselves in regarding Audlem Parish Council. In the minutes following the APC meeting on the 29th July it reads "Effectively, and unbeknown to the majority of Councillors, APC have lied to new Councillors, the Clerk, the previous owners, our solicitor and the people of Audlem". How can this situation be allowed to continue? At the meeting last Thursday Councillor and Head of the Turnpike Field Committee, Steve Elliot was not allowed to speak regarding untrue responses to the public at the previous meeting whilst he was on holiday. Also at that meeting in answer to a question from the GP regarding transparency APC responded by saying in future there would be more transparency however from the evidence witnessed at the last meeting this does not seem to be the case. I am disappointed that Steve Elliott was not allowed to speak and felt the need to resign but can fully understand it. He has carried out so much work on Turnpike Field in his own time for the benefit of the village and he will be a great loss to the committee along with Nigel Mottershead who also feels he cannot continue with the current situation. I do hope Steve Elliott is given the chance to put the record straight.

I'm seriously disappointed that some of our dedicated Parish Councillors have been forced to resign--it's like losing the A-team of our village! Our Parish Councillors volunteer their time, because apparently, the satisfaction of sorting out village problems is payment enough! Their departure is a huge loss for us all, and frankly, we're going to miss them. I admit that some of their actions have been about as clear as mud, sparking a bit of well-deserved frustration amongst our community. In a democracy, we're all supposed to have our say, but it seems poor Steve Elliot was left out in the cold on this one. Let's make sure next time we don't leave anyone out of the conversation--or at least give Steve a megaphone!

At Thursday night's APC meeting, the council received information from a previous councillor, past chairman of the Turnpike Fields Working Group, Jean Stainthorpe, who informed council that following from last years village referendum, all the paperwork and forms had been signed off and submitted to Fields In Trust in the full knowledge of the then Clerk (recorded by email trail) and the understanding had been that the registration, although submitted, could not proceed until the Fields In Trust registration had been recorded by the Land Registry which at that point it hadn't been, because of the continual delays resulting from the Change of Use planning application. So, it all appears to be a misunderstanding exacerbated by the high turnover of clerks and councillors and no deliberate actions on behalf of third parties as had been alleged at the previous meeting. The actual registration being in the clerk's possession for some months prior. The important thing is that the field is now registered and under the protection of FiT and once registered, it cannot be deregistered, so good news to most and the facts speak for themselves.

Just sharing details of forthcoming road closures within the area, as reported to Audlem Parish Council on 8th August:
12th – 16th August – A529 Audlem Road closure at junction with Peter De Stapleigh Way.
12th – 15th August – A530 Whitchurch Road, Broomhall – 2 way traffic control.
27th – 29th August – Closure of Monks Lane for UU works.
In addition an emergency closure of Mill Lane, Swanbach is likely due to an overhanging tree adjacent to the Old Railway Bridge.
Cllr Rachel Bailey
Audlem Ward

At Thursday's council meeting the council opened the floor to concerned residents following on from the unopposed actions of Cheshire East in destroying the mountain bike trail adjacent to the playing field, which had been constructed on waste ground to provide a useful facility for Audlem youth. It's removal at the start of the summer holidays rubbed additional salt into the wound.
There is a pressing need to provide a facility for the young people of the village, especially as the village has had a growth spurt in housing in recent years providing much needed and long overdue accommodation for young families and mention was made of the Turnpike Field as a possible location for such a facility. The field is eleven and a half acres and certainly large enough to allow for part of it to be used as a mountain bike trail without putting the lives of wildlife and dog walkers at risk providing it is carefully set up, say by the creation of a trail club membership to oversee safe running and to agree on a trail course to minimise disturbance and danger to the public. Nothing can be done until the legal issues over use of the field have been resolved but now is the time to plan.

Further to the previous post : my wife called into the Shroppie after playing tennis with visiting players. All three drivers put their Reg details in the machine . They checked each other to ensure correct procedure was followed and my wife took a photo of the screen with the correct details on.
All 3 ladies have had £100 fines.
I popped into the Shroppie today and was dealt with by a pleasant lady who had a handful of these fine letters saying there must be a " glitch " with the system.
It is frustrating and just another thing to deal with....one of the ladies is away now so will have the stress of this on holiday.
Not the pubs fault per se but they must sort this issue out going forward because it doesn't do much for the feel good factor.
The lady said she would sort it out so I will keep AOL appraised of the outcome.

Hi, trying to aquire 4 tickets for Elvis at the Overwater Marina. Please if anyone has spare please get in touch.
Many thanks.

At last night's parish council meeting, it was sad to note the resignation of the Chairman of the Turnpike Fields Working Group and parish councillor, Steven Elliot following upon what he described as gross inaccuracies, given in response to MOP questions about the TF which he discovered in the last edition of the APC minutes Public Forum section, following his return from holiday. He attempted to make a statement regarding his concerns at the outset of the meeting but was prevented from doing so by the extraordinary interruption from the Ward Councillor, who is not on the parish council.

As a result, he gathered his documents and left the room, but before he did so, I thanked Steve for all his hard work on the working group on behalf of the community of Audlem and he was applauded by the approximately thirty MOP's present. You will remember that he was instrumental in the installation of the raised boardwalk and pathway down by the brook and also in the safety improvement to the vehicular access, amongst many other things. His skill and abilities will be missed.

Also, as an adjunct, I read today that Nigel Mottershead has also relinquished his membership as a member of the TFWG volunteers. Another blow to the working heart of our community.

Is anyone able to recommend a tree surgeon please?

Well, yet another Parish Council meeting that has descended into farcical chaos. Where shouting 'points of order' have taken precedence over using common sense and another honest and intelligent councillor resigning. Thank you Steve Elliott for all the hard work you have done. I hope that you will be able to publish what you were trying to say before you were shouted down, because I would have liked to hear your version of events. I hope that Audlem on Line will find the backbone to do it.

We had lunch at the Shroppie Fly some weeks ago and although my guest took a photo of my car reg number and entered it on the Car Park Computer correctly I still got a bill for £100.
Appealing the charge took me half a day on the parking company's website where I found the "Appeals Procedure" which is not simple. I gave details of precisely what we ate, drank and paid for but retained the receipt as evidence pending the threatened court action. Eventually the appeal was accepted but the company still insisted on charging a £20 admin fee supported by pages of explanation for their action.
We love the Shroppie but who wants to sit there eating a relaxing lunch and wondering if the same will happen again?

In answer to the question of the Nantwich road closure yes. cannot get to first dig lane ,also whybunbury road closed; the main road from Nantwich to crew also no through; as are at least another four main roads through Crewe today 7th August, a nightmare be warned if going to the hospital allow extra time .

After recommendation on AOL I contacted WHS LTD. 07526563723 a young man named William. He came to the house the following day, cleaned said gutters, resealed some joints and re-configured a down spout. Excellent attitude explaining what he was doing. Fully recommend . Thank you AOL and William.

There seems to be a spike in fraudulent telephone scams at the moment, thankfully it's fairly easy to avoid becoming a victim when armed with some basic information.

Fraudsters will often phone you claiming to be from Microsoft, BT or even your bank, claiming they are calling you to help with some problem they have discovered.
Firstly, it's very unlikely any of these companies would ever call you so this should alert you that the call is likely to be a scam.
You will likely find the person on the other end of the call is polite, professional and well spoken.
They will often attempt to validate their identity by "spoofing" their phone number, for example in a common bank card scam the call will appear to have come from the fraud team number printed on the back of you bank card.
Spoofing simply means that that the number displayed on your phone is not really the number they are calling from.

In my opinion the quickest way to protect yourself is to politely end the call thanking them for their help.
Maybe say you are busy at the moment and will call the company fraud number later.
Past experience shows that simply hanging up will likely result in them calling again.

Sadly these people are very good at what they do, rest assured everything they are saying is almost certainly untrue, there likely isn't anything wrong with your computer and no one (other than them) is trying to access your bank account.

Goes without saying really but never give anyone pin numbers, passwords and most importantly never allow anyone to remotely access your computer.
Security is generally good, no one can access your computer or bank account unless you let them.
If your bank ever did detect fraudulent activity the FIRST thing they do is freeze the account then wait for you to call them.
They do not call you.

If you happen to receive such a call and you really do think they're telling the truth the advice is still the same, end the call.
All companies and banks have dedicated fraud investigators, their legitimate numbers are readily available on their genuine websites, in the case of your bank the legitimate number is printed on the back of every bank card.
If you really think something is actually wrong, call the genuine legitimate fraud team and report the incident.

Julian
TechMedia