A councillor has been dismissed from Wilmslow Town Council for non-attendance just weeks before the forthcoming elections.
Chetan Katre failed to attend a single meeting during a six-month period, which is a requirement for a local councillor. Despite this, he has put himself forward as a Local Conservatives candidate for the forthcoming Wilmslow Town Council election on May 4th representing the East Ward.
Town Clerk Matthew Jackson conformed to wilmslow.co.uk "The vacancy exists due to a failure to attend a qualifying meeting over a continuous 6 month period [ LGA 1972 s85(1) and (2)]."
He added "The vacancy will not be filled before 4 May."
Chetan Katre was chosen by members to join Wilmslow Town Council to represent the Lacey Green ward in July 2017.
Following the resignation of Bradley Russell, voters in the Lacey Green Ward didn't request an election so, because the Council's term had more than six months to run, they were required to co-opt an individual to Wilmslow Town Council.
Dr Chetan Katre previously stood as a candidate for the Wilmslow East ward in August 2016 when voters chose Mark Goldsmith (Residents of Wilmslow) to represent them. He then stood as a candidate for the Wilmslow East Ward at the 2019 May elections which was uncontested.
I am trying to contact Chetan Katre regarding his intention to stand on May 4th, however the deadline for withdrawals of candidates was 4pm on 4th April so presumably he is standing, whether he now wishes to or not.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
You will appreciate that, as one of only a handful of people doing what he does, he has rightly had to prioritise that, at a time when there was been pressure to clear backlogs in the NHS.
His operating days have now changed and therefore he has stood again as a candidate.
Angela McPake
In any case, as Mr Jones has said above, the Wilmslow Public deserve better than an empty chair when important local issues are being decided upon.
Perhaps better that, given the parlous state of the NHS at the moment, Dr Katre concentrates his doubtless considerable abilities to that cause rather than become involved in the absorbing churn of local politics.
Surprisingly, he stood again in the May 2019 elections and was re-elected, again without a vote. He was one of only four candidates on Wilmslow East for four council seats, so no contest was needed.
Perhaps the Conservatives thought they could do the same again and get him re-elected without a vote? Who knows. However, in this May's elections, Residents of Wilmslow have fielded 15 candidates for all 15 town council seats, so every councillor will now be elected by the people,
At Residents of Wilmslow, we expect all our candidates to actively participate and will ask them to stand down if their life changes and they cannot do this. This happened with our councillor on Lacey Green. He quickly stepped down when his job changed and he could no longer commit to the position. We did not contest his replacement and was happy for the seat to go to someone who could be more active, even though they represented another group.
Unfortunately, the Conservatives don't have the same ethos. Neither do the Lib-Dem's. Last year, one of the few remaining Lib-Dem town councillors disappeared for six months and then announced he was living in Scotland. He only resigned the day before he would also have be kicked out for non-attendance.
Both this and Dr Katre demonstrate that members of political groups are more loyal to their party than they are to the people they represent. For them, being a councillor is all about keeping power for their party. However, this is the complete opposite of Residents of Wilmslow. We only care about how we can improve the town. That is why our only ideology is 'Do What's Best for Wilmslow' and always put 'People Before Party'.
So, on May 4th, you will decide who makes up the next council and whether Dr Katre deserves to represent you or not. Or perhaps you will prefer someone who will be more active on your behalf and actually do something to improve Wilmslow.
It's your choice.
Well done to Residents of Wilmslow for what you have done so far, I’m sure even brighter days are ahead.
I know he lost one WTC election to Councilor Mark Goldsmith,we can clearly see the input from Mark at both CEC and WTC - a very clear benefit for WIlmslow and local voters..Dr Katre serial loser. I don't believe the voters of at Ward or Wilmslow need this unreliable individual to represent them at any time of his choosing.
I was a former chairman of the local Conservative Party,I clearly saw the arrogance, bullying that was attempted upon the fledgling RoW by the Conservatives and disrespect shown by that party to Wilmslow voters then and now. This led me to instigate Residents of Wilmslow, was soon joined by other very concerned residents. RoW has no party allegiance or hierarchy unlike our opponents- we are only acting for the benefit of the people of Wilmslow, "People before Party" is our mantra. We trust our elected councilors to vote on maters they see as a benefit for Wilmslow. Can you trust any elected Conservatives to vote against their leadership's desire? The past shows none can be trusted to defy their "local" leadership
We are seeing tangible benefits now from our RoW Cheshire East councilors and more to come from our Wilmslow Town councilors. They're all working diligently to improve our town, therefore deserve your votes next month.