A former Alsager town councillor, who quit after suffering a stroke during a council meeting, now hopes to be re-elected since becoming a “stronger person”.
Sue Helliwell, who was a member of Alsager Town Council for seven years between 2015 and 2022, said she was “putting her head above the parapet” again by standing in the east ward by-election in a fortnight.
Mrs Helliwell, who has previously been a member of both Labour and the Conservative party, will be running this time as an independent, against just one other candidate, Labour’s Gavin Soulsby.
A third candidate for Reform UK, Coun Mark Whittle, who is a member of Church Lawton Parish Council, initially said he would be standing but then did not put his nomination forward, saying he “could not get the backing”.
The winning candidate will complete the council as its 15th member, following the co-option of Coun Susan Ovenden which took place during a meeting last Tuesday.
It will be the first time the town has had a full suite of councillors since the local elections in May 2023, when 13 candidates took their seats uncontested.
While the more common process of filling a town council seat is through co-option after a members’ vote which costs the taxpayer nothing, a by-election can be triggered if 10 or more residents write to Cheshire East Council to request one.
The costs associated with holding an election, including the staffing of polling stations from 7am to 10pm, come at a cost of around £12,000 to the town council.
Mrs Helliwell told the “Chronicle” she was one of the 10 residents of Alsager’s east ward who wrote to Cheshire East to trigger the by-election.
She said: “The town council has not paid for an election since 2019, and there is no price for democracy. People have fought and died for the right for people to vote and I want the person who is elected to have a mandate from the residents.”
Mrs Helliwell stepped down from her role on the council in 2022 due to ill health, shortly after having stroke during a council meeting.
As we reported at the time, in March 2023, she called for former Coun June Buckley to resign, claiming she “took the mickey” out of another stroke victim during a council meeting she attended as a member of the public, which left Mrs Helliwell in tears.
Speaking at the time, she said “the whole lot of them” (town councillors) should resign for not speaking out against the comments.
But Mrs Helliwell said she was ready to stand again and that she was still active in helping members of the community.
She said: “I spoke at a Cheshire East meeting about the housing application for Linley Road and residents there were asking me why I didn’t consider becoming a town councillor again. So, I have decided to put my head above the parapet again and seek election.
“I’m a stronger person now and I have a strong network of supporters as well as my family.”
Running against Mrs Helliwell, Mr Soulsby also said he wanted to be a voice for local people and that he was proud to have lived in Alsager for the past eight years with his wife, who is from the town originally and his two daughters.
He said: “I think the town is a great place to live and bring up children and I want to do all that I can to make it even better.”
Mr Soulsby said he wanted to focus on taking action to tackle speeding, protecting open spaces and continuing to put on community events.
With just two candidates in the running, the “Chronicle” asked Lib Dem Cheshire East Coun Rod Fletcher, of Alsager ward, why his party had not fielded a candidate.
He said: “We’ve been staying clear and hoping there was only one nomination so that the election wouldn’t have to happen, and it wouldn’t cost council taxpayers too much money.
“It is a shame that it has gone to an election when we have been running with one or two vacancies for the last 18 months so there has been ample opportunity for people to put themselves forward for co-option.”
Coun Patrick Redstone, chair of the Congleton Conservatives, agreed: “We felt that contesting the election would cost unnecessary expense to the town council.”
The by-election is due to take place on Thursday, 10th October.
(Photo: Michael Unett).
