Winsford Salt of the Earth

^{*Published on Sun 5th Nov - No WSotE Cllrs were hurt in the making of this article.}

WSotE councillors seem to be doing very little overall, but luckily, a few positive posts have made it to Facebook - We assume this is part of WSotE's much vaunted public Transparency…

Cllrs Beveridge, Welch, Newton, Mellor, and Murphy have all promoted Boogie Bingo, which seems to be fairly popular, unlike the Remembrance event, which only Cllrs Hulmston and Newton, ahem, remembered to publicise.

Most of WSotE seem to be looking forward to the Winsford Town Council bonfire, with Blitz! putting on the fireworks display. Meanwhile, the Winsford Cricket Club will be thankful to Cllrs Newton and Mellor for sharing their GoFundme, following the vandalism of their pitch.

Cllrs Mault and Fletcher seem to like promoting activities for children, and posting about their apparent new special interest - road closures. Similarly, the re-opening of Tarporley Station has apparently pleased Cllrs Boone, Newton, and Daniels for some reason, and although this is no bad thing in and of itself, it's unclear why this would be of any interest to Winsford residents.

The coffee morning¹⁾ hosted by Cllrs Daniels and Edwards was attended by a handful of people. Both councillors were willing to talk to residents on a variety of issues, although reportedly not in great depth. That said, it would be nice if other WSotE Cllrs felt like following their example, either putting in an appearance or running a similar event elsewhere in the town.

Not to be outdone, Cllr Welch felt the need to thank CWAC for doing their job, which is nice of him, but perhaps not very useful to residents who would probably like to hear about more pressing issues from the Mayor.

Last, but not least, Cllr Mellor have been busy on a variety of topics. Residents will likely approve of Cllr Mellor's frank reminder that women book their mammograms, however they may be less amused by her drunk-posting sideways Halloween video clips.

It's not that watching her fall over drunkenly outside a club isn't funny - it'd just be easier to find her Halloween antics amusing if she'd actually done anything of note since the Pride event.

Aside from the few notes above, WSotE have done little other than public infighting. Cllrs Boone and Mellor have been having a public spat on Facebook, to the surprise of nobody.

Not only have several other WSotE (WTC) councillors publicly expressed frustration and anger with serial liar Cllr Boone as well, but residents of his Swanlow ward are contacting us, complaining that his surgeries are not accessible, and that he does not care about charity work being done by volunteers in his ward.

Cllr Boone has (once again, sigh) attacked Cllr Pardoe - who is presumably disappointed not to have made the shortlist for Labour MP for Mid Cheshire - in a mean-spirited post where he repeats his oft-retold despicable lie²⁾ that Cllr Pardoe distributed “illegal” “smear campaign leaflets”, insinuating in his post that this is the reason why Labour did not select him as a candidate. This is clearly ridiculous, since the leaflets in question were approved by Labour.

Rather than ask Cllr Pardoe to work with him on the issue of unfinished housing³⁾, Cllr Boone felt that a public demand for action was the proper way to raise his concerns with his fellow councillor.

Cllrs Clare and Boone decided to advertise (with less than 24 hours notice) a surgery⁴⁾ for the Winsford residents to ask questions. Only one person listed themselves as going at the time of press. Perhaps the public might be better served by having a little notice of important events?

Residents would probably rather see less vaguebooking from Cllrs Mault and Mellor. That said, Cllrs Fitzsimmons and Ford appear to not even have managed that, which is rather dissapointing and shows little respect for the townspeople who lent them their vote.

Cllr Welch has posted little beyond adverts for his mates businesses.

Cllrs Clare and Boone have both gone digging⁵⁾ and are gleefully accusing Cllr Pardoe of mis-spending £81,000 - a sum which they believe could have been spent on town centre toilets.

In an apparent attempt to discredit Cllr Pardoe, Cllrs Clare and Boone deceptively assert that this money has been earmarked for the Cinewindow. In reality the money - half of which is for 2024 anyway - is for a “programme of cultural activity in the town centre” to be run by Crosshatch Studios, who happen to also operate the Cinewindow. Which makes much more sense.

The funding was one of 29 applications for the CWAC Shared Prosperity Fund, which provides opportunities for the arts and local communities. We're not sure why two CWAC Cllrs can't simply make a similar application, should they wish to secure funding for new toilets, instead of getting upset about £81,000 being spent on cultural enrichment in Winsford.

The simple fact of the matter regarding the toilets is that they could be re-opened. Cllr Pardoe has stated quite clearly that should WSotE (WTC) bring a coherent plan to him in his role as CWAC cabinet member for Regeneration - a plan which would explain how WSotE (WTC) intend to fund the provision of toilets - he will meet with them.

The ball is literally in WSotE's court.