An open letter to Cheshire East

Occasionally, we receive at AudlemOnline correspondence that says what we guess many may be thinking. As we published the lengthy press release from Cheshire East earlier this week about its latest initiative, we believe this open letter from Problem Child, an Audlem resident, is very worthy of publication too:

An open letter to Cheshire East
from Problem Child

So, after a 'radical overhaul' Cheshire East is to become, simultaneously, both more 'strategic' and more 'holistic', at least according to the blathering press release published by
Audlem Online.

This squaring of the circle is to be achieved, it appears, by 'commissioning local public services from a wide range of quality providers and an ambitious programme of 'service transformation'.

Mealy mouthed words for, in more plain-speaking terms, sacking 1,000 council staff, shaving £5 million off the wage bill and farming services out to the private and voluntary sectors.

We are all urged to welcome the 'holistic, joined-up management structure' and the end of narrow 'silo' working which has held the council back, according to interim chef executive Kim Ryley.

Which begs the question of how narrow 'silos' got built in the first place and why 'holistic working' does not simply mean fewer people having bigger workloads.

And this shake-up will make Cheshire East a 'modern, agile and more effective 21st Century council' with not a word on why it has never managed to be 'modern, agile and effective' before now.

'Strategic commissioning' is not the only new buzzword to bedevil this blustering council press release. We will have 'greater choice, early intervention, unlocking resources, strategic
approach'- a whole lexicon of blathering nonsense which means in essence – Cheshire East is going to be doing a lot less for anybody.

For hidden away in the press release, should you manage to get that far, is the nub of the matter, an early warning on how the new approach will actually affect us in Audlem. It will, says the document, 'create more resilient and self-sufficient communities, which reduce unnecessary demand on public services'.

Now tell me that is not just council-speak for 'sort it out yourselves and don't bother us as we plan to do a lot less from now on.'

As Councillor Michael Jones, Leader of Cheshire East Council, added "... there is a 'Cheshire East way' of doing things". Well, no-one is going to disagree with that.

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