Winsford Salt of the Earth

“Ensure all our Councillors take a direct advocacy role on behalf of residents suffering long term neighbourhood crime and anti-social behaviour.”

Another disappointingly vague pledge.

Ignoring for a moment the fact that it's literally the job of a town councillor to champion the issues of local residents, it would appear that WSotE are pledging to do more than just that.

This of course, begs the question as to WHY. Are WSotE suggesting that the local police are not doing enough to make residents feel safe? Is antisocial behaviour so bad that drastic measures must be taken?

Unfortunately, aside from Cllr Fletcher¹⁾ and Cllr Mault ineptly²⁾ sharing a GoFundme for the recently vandalised Winsford Knights Cricket ground, and a photograph of three youths purportedly running from an overturned bin³⁾, neither of which fit the definition of “long term” problems, there appears to be little evidence that WSotE are doing anything active about this pledge.

Confusingly, Cllr Mault's only action regarding the bin appears to have been to ask the youths' parents to contact him personally - why he didn't simply ask the parents to talk to their children isn't known.

Cllr Fletcher since posted “names have been gotten and police will be informed.”.

Even this online slacktivism seems to be inconsistent, with another post⁴⁾ from a local resident being ignored altogether.

Ultimately, this pledge could still be fulfilled - if only WSotE councillors would do their job - so we're giving this one a “We'll see…”.