Egremont Town Council statement

Following this week's meeting of the council, Egremont Town Council has today published the following statement on Facebook here:

"Egremont Town Council is saddened to report that recently, one of our Town Councillors was at the receiving end of malicious remarks on social media where a Town Council employee was also named.  Town Council employees act on the direction of the Town Council and it is not acceptable to drag them into disputes or issues that people may have with individual Town Councillors or Egremont Town Council as a whole.

Any kind of abuse towards Councillors and/or employees whether it is face to face or hidden behind the screen of social media is NOT acceptable and the Town Council will utilise their right and report such issues to the police.

Unfortunately, there is evidence that abuse is so high that well respected Councillors are leaving their post and it is deterring future potential Councillors from standing, thankfully it is only a minority of people who, rather than contact the Town Council to raise their concerns, would rather spread this gossip whether it is true or not and without any thoughts for the person it is directing this abuse to or their family members.

Despite what people think of Town Councillors, it must be stressed that each and every one of them are volunteers who give up their free time to attend monthly meetings, site visits etc to fight for all they can to try and improve our community and the Town Council would more than welcome any member of the public who feel that they can give their time and bring their skills to the table, there are currently two vacancies, so if you are interested, then please come forward.

Please remember that Councillors are not miracle workers, they are volunteers who want to make a positive impact for the good of what we all call home, we can and do make mistakes and we will hold our hands up to this. We are a cohesive Council who work well together and do a lot for the community, we wouldn’t have a Egremont Winter Wonderland event or Christmas Lights, we wouldn’t have maintenance of the Castle, one of the towns greatest assests,we wouldn’t have had the new street

Our Councillors are very approachable but cannot make any decisions as an individual Councillor, however you can also pop into our Town Council office where you will find our staff are very helpful and will do their best to assist you.

Therefore please think twice before posting on social media, follow the correct procedure and act with respect and courtesy as you too would expect to be treated."

In my humble opinion it is very sad that Egremont Town council, of which I am a member, has had to post that statement.

I don't share the politics of the councillor who was subjected to these remarks, but I don't think what was posted was appropriate nor was it right that he and his family have had to put up with the hostility which was generated as a result. I endorse every word of the council statement.

MPs and councillors are not perfect and it is absolutely right in a democracy that we should  be held to account. 

Councillors are legitimately subject to criticism and disagreement if people do not like something we have said or done, but one would hope this could be expressed in a respectful and courteous way. And it is worse that a council employee was dragged into this for no legitimate reason.

We should all make every effort to debate our public services and the future of our country and our cities, towns and villages in a positive and constructive way.