Absurd rules

COMMON sense legislated out of existence.

I read with disbelief that Cllr 'Eggie' Abrahams has been found to be in breach of the code of conduct by the standards committee.

I was even more aghast to read that the committee found "the public perception of his conduct would have been such as to have brought his office into disrepute".

As a member of the public I believe this not to be the case, in fact far from it.

I do believe it highlights further the endemic nature of over-regulation administered by small-minded, officious individuals with an over inflated sense of their own importance, which is currently destroying this country.

Reading the parish council minutes for the particular meetings in question, Cllr Abrahams was appointed to the jubilee fields committee as the parish council's representative, the purpose of such a position, I believe, is to communicate between the two bodies. Difficult to do if you have to leave the room!

It appears to this member of public that Cllr Abrahams was acting entirely with the best interests of the village as he has done faultlessly for the last 44 years.

For the parish clerk and councillors to report him to the standards committee was absurd. For the standards committee to agree to hear the case over £15 at the cost to the ratepayer of thousands of pounds (but I understand UDC has a bottomless pit of money!) was ludicrous and for them to find that he had acted incorrectly thereby damaging his unblemished reputation, was reprehensible.

We all accept that rules are necessary but it is time that we, the public, the tax payers, insisted that the rules are applied using common sense and interpret the spirit of the rules and not dogged adherence of the often badly drafted text.

Can we the public, the man on the street, please have our country back or am I the only person who thinks this way?

Bill Bampton

Langley Upper Green

Saffron Walden