Cheshire East in Private Eye again

Yet again, Cheshire East Council has made it into Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs column making our local authority one of the most regular 'contributors'. This time it's the council's media relations that has caught the attention of the satirical magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.

The magazine says: "Hats off to Beverley Walkden, 'media relations officer' at Tory Cheshire East council (CEC). On 6th June we tried to follow up a tip about a named senior officer at CEC. The officer, we were told, had been asked to leave because he did not possess the appropriate professional qualifications for his role. Furthermore, in his time at the council he had received free Manchester United tickets as a perk.

"Despite several polite reminders, Ms Walkden, supposedly a public servant whose salary is funded by the taxpayer, has still not deigned to answer our simple questions. She was, however, very keen to know who our source was. Sadly, we were unable to help."

AudlemOnline adds: If this exchange reflects Cheshire East's view of media relations, it is very worrying as this attitude could so easily lead to cover-ups and indeed witch hunts of whistle-blowers. While it is tempting for any organisation to try and pull down the shutters when a series of mistakes and scandals hits the media – as has happened at Cheshire East – to not respond to legitimate media questions is not what a taxpayer-funded organisation should even contemplate, never mind reveal to an organ like Private Eye.

It is the responsibility of the media to hold local government to account and it should be the responsibility of local government to be open and honest in its dealings with the media. At AudlemOnline we know to expect a call from the council if they think anything we publish is unfair or inaccurate and that is perfectly reasonable. But we also expect honest answers to any legitimate queries we might have.

Such as, is there any truth to the allegations Private Eye rang about and what has happened to the senior officer in question? And what was his area of responsibility? Especially, given local concerns, was he involved in Planning?

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