Councillor abuse ‘becoming a national problem’

A council is set to sign off plans to bring in measures to tackle abuse of councillors, after a survey found around a third had considered standing down over abuse and harassment.

Fiona Wilson, who chaired the review at Cheshire East Council, said it was “disappointing” that the authority had to look into the issue but said the council needed to “accept” it had to protect members.

The council’s deputy leader Michael Gorman said there needed to be a “national response” because abuse was “becoming a national problem”.

Councillors will discuss the plans at a meeting later.

Two-thirds of Cheshire East’s councillors responded to a survey on harassment, abuse and intimidation and said they had faced incidents including death threats, stalking and damage to their cars or property.

In total, 82% of the harassment reported was on social media, with 62% in person, 51% via email and 20% over the phone.

Labour’s Fiona Wilson, who was in charge of the group set up to look into the problem, said she thought the public would be “surprised and disappointed” about the levels of abuse.

“It does concern me because there’s the impact with councillors wanting to stand down – experienced councillors working hard for their communities who may not want to stand again,” she said.

“We have to accept that we need to protect councillors going forward, and we’ve worked really hard to bring forward a whole range of procedures that will support councillors if they have any concerns in this area,” she said.

Michael Gorman, the council’s deputy leader and leader of the Independent group, said the figures reported in the area were “shocking” but said there were similar problems in other councils.

“I think we need a national response. This is becoming a national problem,” he said.

“I think this government is listening and I think they really do need to take some action,” he said.

He added he felt social media platforms needed to “get a grip”.

“My dad and my grandad both fought in the trenches in WW1 and WW2 for democracy and against dictatorship, they’re probably spinning in their graves now looking at this because I just think, this is not this country.

“England is based on democratic values, not on hate and abuse,” he said.

“What we can’t have is people who are giving up their time and energy being intimidated and abused constantly online and through email and face to face, having their cars damaged, all the things we learned from this report and the reports nationally… it’s time to start doing something about it.”

The council is looking introduce a formal reporting process, run training in conflict prevention, and issue safety devices.