Little festive goodwill at Cheshire East

Cheshire East Council leader Michael Jones took a swipe at the outspoken UKIP councillor Brian Silvester on Christmas Eve.

He sent a long and angry email to more than 50 media contacts which accused Cllr Silvester of bullying tactics, questioned his use of council resources and dredged up a 2012 conviction for fire safety breaches at a rented property.

In the statement he called Cllr Silvester a “fantasist” and a “failed man”

It followed the councillor’s decision to go public with legal threats from his own council after he criticised an officer who had worked on the authority’s flawed local plan in a BBC radio interview. Last month he discovered the council had spent £3.7m on the plan which has been heavily criticised by a government inspector.

The council hired Birmingham law firm Bevan Brittan which wrote to Cllr Silvester warning him that such statements, if repeated, could lead to an action for defamation.

In response Cllr Silvester posted the letter on Twitter and said: “These heavy handed, bully boy and intimidatory tactics by Cheshire East Council, against one of their own councillors, are unprecedented and cannot be allowed to succeed. It is the duty of opposition councillors to draw the attention of residents to where the council is performing badly and to put forward alternatives. That is all part of the democratic process.”

When Mr Jones entered the fray he said: “It is perverse that councillor Brian Silvester attacks the council in his latest tirade, yet claims that he is the one being bullied. I make it very clear that his action in making the CEO’s legal letter to him public on Twitter illustrates the bully-boy tactics of councillor Silvester and his UKIP party.
 
“Personally I do not support suing him and wasting Cheshire East residents’ money. That would benefit no one, especially as councillor Silvester was left with a £70,000 bill in fines and costs (editor’s note – £45,000 fine and £22,000 costs) following a court appearance only two years ago… Constantly tweeting personal attacks on me and Cheshire East Council, he has now resorted to deliberately attacking hard working officers of the council.

“Councillor Silvester accuses me of abusing council resources and equipment for political purposes, but I have evidence that he is the one with questions to answer in this area. He claims the council purchased my Samsung tablet to tweet on but I paid for it myself. He is a fantasist with his claims.”

He added: “Cheshire East Council has an outstanding reputation, admired by other local authorities, government ministers and big businesses. It continues to bring jobs into the area and drive the local economy forward for a better future. Brian Silvester dismisses all this with his erroneous tweets. This is the season of goodwill but clearly there is no goodwill in the Silvester household or UKIP. He is a failed man who is bullying people and he should be the one to resign.”
 
In a separate statement the local authority said: “He has not chosen to engage with the chief executive over this important matter and he has failed to respond to the formal request made to him to apologise to the Council for the remarks he has made on local radio.

“We are disappointed that an elected and experienced member of this council has chosen to politicise what is a professional matter and continues to make his views public despite the council’s request for an apology.”