Happy new year....

Happy new year to all Maxonians - lets hope that it's a positive year for Macclesfield and that the new Cheshire East council will herald an era of localism which gives us some real choice over our future. An example of which would be the mass rejection of an 8 storey concrete car park in the middle of what should be, by rights, an historic market town.

I've had a bit of a holiday, after having resolved to do nothing work or politics related between Christmas Eve Eve and new year.

This means that I got the chance (lucky me) to do copious amounts of cutting, hammering, and painting and we now have a freshly decorated landing. Bethany is very pleased. I didn't find it much of a holiday.

The "no politics" rule didn't really get off to a great start as I bumped into an old friend and raving socialist on Christmas Eve. We got into a spirited discussion about the merits of Hayek and why there's evidently no such thing democratic socialism (I rejected the term social capitalism as she refused to accept it as conservatism with a social conscience), as the nature of socialism demands that all serve the "common good" which will obviously lead to totalitarianism.

She disagreed.

Suffice to say there didn't seem to be anyone else in "The Skylark" that wanted to get involved in the discussion, and I seem to remember that the outcome was that I was definitely right and she was definitely wrong.

Again she disagreed.

Anyway....Inevitably the new year brings soul searching and I will indulge for just a minute or two.

It was an interesting year. This time last year I wasn't sure if getting involved in local politics and standing for the council was the right thing to do. Now I'm a Councillor and Chairman of the local Conservative Association - and I'm still not sure if it's the right way to make the world a better place.

The truth is that it's painfully difficult to get any information from the council or to impact decisions. It took me about 9 months to get two white lines painted on a road junction, and I don't think they're in the right place even now. Is democracy always like this, or are things more difficult than normal because of the Cheshire East transition?

I'm stubborn, and so I won't go along with something I disagree with just to get along with people, but I know many characters who will. It's easy to see how the beast of a machine that is local government swallows up them and all their good intentions.

For example: am I really the only Councillor who thinks that the Town Centre development is completely the wrong direction for Macclesfield? Or am I the only one with the guts to speak out?

This website has now been operational since 15th August and I've made 137 posts in that time. In that time there have been 332 unique visitors who have visited the site about 1,500 times. Not that much...but as it's the only website by a Cheshire East councillor I'm winning amongst that lot. I'm still undecided on whether it's a good form of communication or not - I know that not all 332 are constituents of the ward, and it's only a small proportion of the 5,500 households within my realm. Whilst I get the odd comment I've had no direct feedback to say it's a good replacement for stuffing leaflets through everyone's door. Perhaps that's because it's too passive, and relies on people chosing to visit the site. Perhaps only 300 people read my leaflets anyway....

As for the rest of the year - boundary reorganisation, general election?, new council, and coat of paint for the office are all on the cards. There's a lot I'd like to get done, and only time will tell if I manage any of it.

Should be interesting. For now I'm off for a run, going to clear out the rest of my emails and prepare to start work properly on Monday morning.