Balancing budget praise surprising

Dear Sir,

I'm surprised Coun Rachel Bailey praises Cheshire East Council for balancing its budget for the 2017/8 year.

This was done by postponing the repayment of some loans, thus increasing interest payments and storing up challenges for the future.

She, in the same letter of last week's Chronicle, says Cheshire East is now past its legacy issues and identifi es the recent report of its Audit and Governance Committee as evidence of its commitment "to conduct matters in an open and transparent way".

If this is her idea of acting transparently, I cringe at the thought of what doing things in a close and opaque way would mean.

As I have mentioned before, the issue with the council is the culture of secrecy that pervades it, and this will not be altered by writing letters to the Chronicle such as this one.

I hope that the electorate of Congleton is beginning to realise that the only way forward is for the Conservatives to lose their overall majority on the council at next year's local elections.

Yours faithfully,

(DR) PETER HIRST

Chairman, Congleton Constituency

Liberal Democrats.