Councillor Peter Hayes has resigned from Cabinet only two months after taking up the position of Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing because he saw little point being there whilst his views were completely ignored.
Councillor Hayes is the newest member of the Cabinet and the fifth councillor to leave the Cabinet since the beginning of last year.
Chief Executive of Cheshire East Council, Erika Wenzel, issued the following statement to her colleagues "I wish to advise you that the Leader of the Council has informed me, that he has received and has accepted the resignation from the Cabinet of Councillor Peter Hayes, Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing. This will take effect immediately.
"In the very near future the Leader of the Council will make an appointment to the vacant Cabinet position and I shall let you know as soon as he has done so."
Councillor Peter Hayes was appointed to the Cabinet in May to oversee the health and wellbeing portfolio, following his election as councillor for the Bollington Ward.
At the time Councillor Fitzgerald said "With regards to the major changes which will take place within the NHS, I believe that over the next five years, the joining together of primary care and public health is an absolute necessity.
"It will be vital from at least two view points: firstly, for joined-up provision of preventative health care and the promotion of good health and, secondly, for greater co-operation and coordination in provision of care for the sick.
He added "Reflecting my comments on the growing importance of joined-up health care, I have appointed new member Cllr Peter Hayes to oversee the health and wellbeing portfolio.
"Cllr Hayes has considerable experience within the health service, having chaired the Macclesfield NHS Trust for 11 years and sat on national health committees."
I spoke with Councillor Heyes to find out why he had resigned so soon after taking up the Cabinet position.
He told me "I resigned because I was utterly prevented from carrying out the role assigned to me and the reason why I was appointed to the Cabinet two months ago.
"I was chosen by the Leader of the Council immediately after having won an election in May and parachuted straight into the Cabinet. i didn't know any of the 8000 employees apart from Wesley Fitzgerald who I had served with decades ago at Macclesfield Borough Council.
"I know about as much about the NHS as anyone in the country that is my expertise, yet for whatever reason the Chief Executive, Erika Wenzel decided she wanted her own advisor. She wants to control everything and pay over £100,000 to get somebody in. Wesley was clearly going to back her so I got out. Wesley always goes with the Chief Executive.
"He is not very good at keeping his Cabinet, he has lost half of them in a year and I don't think I'll be the last to go.
"On the same day that Erika was wanting to take on her own advisor at over £100,000 we were talking about cutting subsidiaries for school buses. I can't sit there and let that go unnoticed that's outrageous.
"I was completely ignored and it was pointless sitting there doing nothing whilst earning a large salary."
Commenting on the situation Councillor Frank Keegan said "I am very sad and disappointed at this news. The NHS is transferring workload to local Councils, and I had hoped that because of his vast NHS experience, Cllr Hayes would have led the elected Member commentary on whether we were receiving sufficient resources for the tasks being undertaken. If he has resigned, he must have been very frustrated with the support he was receiving in carrying out this important role.
"The failure to support Cllr Hayes will have financial implications for Cheshire East, I believe."
The Council have stated it will not be making any further comment at this time.
Comments
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Erika Wenzel, seems not to understand that the actions of her Council affect everyone in the area. Councillor Hayes, had arrived, with a great will to serve the public interest - as I clearly saw when I met him in Knutsford . It seems that 'serving the public interest' was not a practical idea in Cheshire East Council.
So now the Council needs to answer to the public, which pays its wages and expenses. If any Councillor or employee is allowed to stay in place then because of the shortage of funds, they should accept both lower wages and less for their expenses.
Small point: we pay for this.