I say that the good people of Lymm should give Netto a go!

The Cheshire Village of Lymm fits many people's picture of the postcard perfect English Village.  Countless celebrities and footballers have at some stage lived in Lymm.

It would appear the tranquility is currently under threat from news that the site of a rundown petrol station has been leased to Netto, the Danish discount food retailer.

One local Conservative Councillor went on record to state that she had never even heard of Netto!  Other local people have been making noises that they would have expected the old petrol station to have been leased instead to a more upmarket retailer.

My own most vivid memory of Netto concerns someone close to me teaching in a very deprived area of Liverpool.  One day a pupil wrote a poem, which read, "I went to Netto in the  middle of the night and bought a bag of *****."

I must admit that as your average bloke I have had little opportunity to shop in a Netto store down the years, due mainly to geography.  I have though from time to time used other discount retailers.

The hierarchy at Netto are surely not fools.  They will know exactly what kind of area Lymm is.  From their perspective, a move into an area like Lymm could be part of a strategy to target a different type of customer.

As for the good people of Lymm go, it would be worth mentioning that the quaint village does also have a council estate.  Plus, you can't tell me that millionaires never go out of their houses and dress in scruffy clothes.  Oh yes, is someone seriously going to tell me that affluent people will never be tight with their money and shop for a bargain?

I SAY THAT THE GOOD PEOPLE OF LYMM SHOULD GIVE NETTO A GO!

Elected Representatives must be required to be local residents!

It beggars belief that a Conservative County Councillor on Suffolk County Council is able to move to the United States and possible retirement, yet is not required to resign his seat!  Apparently, all this chap needs to do legally is attend one council meeting every six months!

A similiar situation happened last year in Devon, when another Conservative County Councillor moved across to other side of the English Channel, after her husband started a job in France.  This change of circumstances has put this lady in a position in which she has to commute 150 miles by road and ferry, and has since faced calls for her to resign.

When I grew up in the old Merseyside Parliamentary Seat of Crosby, local Tory MP Sir Malcolm Thornton did get the odd criticism for living on the Wirral!  It didn't particularly bother me, as the Wirral was still in Merseyside.

Another precedent that would suggest to me that you don't have to have the elected representative living directly in the area they represent is the husband and wife former MPs Nicholas and Ann Winterton.  As representatives of neighbouring Cheshire Constituencies, at least one of them was always going to live slightly outside their parliamentary patch.

For me there should always be a common sense rule that an elected representative lives or (in the event of relocating) pledges to live within a certain distance of the area they represent.  But the two county councillors I have referred to here are a joke.  CEASING TO BE A UK RESIDENT SHOULD ALWAYS AUTOMATICALLY COMPEL AN ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE TO GIVE UP THEIR ELECTED OFFICE!