Correction to recent article

Audlem Parish Councillors have taken a decision not to respond to articles in AudlemOnline or Chatbox comments. However, I have to take issue with the recent article 'Deadline for standing for Election' as it gives a misleading impression of what is involved in being a Councillor.

The article states: "The time you would need to commit is not onerous and the work is very rewarding. Opportunities to become a Parish Councillor are infrequent , so now is the time to put your name forward."

Being on the Council is, indeed rewarding, but if anyone is standing in the belief that their only involvement will be attendance at a monthly meeting then I have to disabuse them. Audlem needs people on the Parish Council who are prepared to roll their sleeves up and help deal with the many (often unseen or unnoticed) issues that are brought to their attention.

Your current Councillors have given many hundreds of hours working on behalf of the village. The Planning Group has had to prepare lengthy documents opposing a number of planning applications, poring over statistics, getting to grips with planning legislation and attending Appeals.

A team of Councillors has been working extremely hard to get all the information together to justify a take-over of the playing field, tennis court, play area and car park. A full written report is required under the Financial Regulations which govern Parish Councils showing that the financial, Health & Safety, insurance and all other matters have been properly addressed before any final decision can be taken.

Some Councillors are giving up several days a week of their own time, working alongside an excellent group of volunteers to draft the Neighbourhood Plan so it will be ready for the Annual Village Meeting at the end of the month.

This has to demonstrate compliance with EU and national legislation, the Cheshire East Council Local Plan and many other building, environmental and transport requirements.

Councillors regularly attend additional meetings throughout Cheshire, in the day and in the evening, and are expected to attend training to ensure they fully understand the responsibilities of their position as representatives of the people of Audlem

Finally, far from this being an infrequent opportunity, for many months there has been an opening for a co-opted Parish Councillor. Nobody put their name forward despite repeated requests through AudlemOnline and on the Council noticeboards advertising the vacancy.

We hope this recent publicity will encourage more people to come forward for election so that we have a full set of Councillors from May onwards.

As Chair of the Parish Council for the last 12 months, I would like to put on record my thanks for the enormous amount of time, hard work and commitment which has been (and continues to be) given by my fellow Councillors.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.