Dear Sir,

In the three parish polls on June 10 this year residents voted by massive majorities against the changes proposed by the Cheshire East Council.

In Leighton, 98 per cent voted against abolition. In Woolstanwood 97 per cent voted against abolition. In Minshull Vernon, 68 per cent voted against merger with the Church Minshull Parish Council.

So has Cheshire East Council now dropped their deeply unpopular proposals? Not in the least.

It is now proposing to have a 12-week consultation on its plans, which were roundly rejected by the residents concerned.

What is the point of further consultation when the residents have responded with a gigantic raspberry? Cheshire East is just playing for time in the hope that the parish polls, which were a massive dismissal of their proposals, will go away. They won't.

Cheshire East should stop wasting council taxpayers money with yet more consultation, when the views of residents have already been declared forcibly.

Following such a vote of confidence in the existing Leighton, Woolstanwood and Minshull Vernon parishes, that form the Minshull Vernon and District Parish Council, Cheshire East Council has no option but to drop immediately its plans for abolition/merger.

Further consultation would be a pointless, expensive exercise, which will only deliver the same results as the polls.

Instead, Cheshire East Council should be speaking to the parish council about how the two councils can work together better in the future, in the interests of all residents.

Yours faithfully,

Cllr. Brian Silvester