No surprise that there's a couple of people up in arms about parking charges being bought introduce in parts of the new Cheshire East:
http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/crewe-news/local-crewe-news/2009/02/04/shoppers-fury-at-town-centre-charging-plan-96135-22851175/
I've been vocal about two things for a while:
1) There's going to be a mini-riot when the charges are introduced
and...
2) We'd be much better off making shoppers parking free everywhere.
And how did I vote on the issue? Ermm.....well I didn't. Because we don't get to vote on much really....
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
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2 comments:
"And how did I vote on the issue? Ermm.....well I didn't. Because we don't get to vote on much really.... "
So what is the point of you or any other elected reps being there?
An excellent question....
The council follows the new cabinet/scrutiny system where decisions are made by a small group of 10 Councillors and can then be called in for scrutiny if there is a problem with this decision. Therefore, it is fair to ask what the rest of us are here for.
Certainly I have already made myself useful with constituent matters, and many committees are vital to the running of the council such as planning and licensing. But the fact remains that there is very little way that I can impact on the salary set for our Chief Executive, or how much we charge for parking.
In fact, it's worth noting the local businesses have been "consulted" more on the council budget than I have been.
To make matters worse, some contentious decisions are being made by Macclesfield Council now to reduce accountability post April. This is causing me a lot of problems because people expect answers from me for MBC issues which I cannot give.
The system was introduced for expediency. It's very easy to make quick dramatic changes if only a few people contribute to them. But it doesn't seem very democratic, does it?
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