Cheshire East council leader Michael Jones must be aware of his council’s current lack of credibility in the public’s eye.

Some issues date from before his leadership.

Councillor Jones wasn’t at the council when it appointed a £226k-a-year chief executive, claiming it was ‘reaching for the stars’.

He wasn’t in charge when the BeWILDerwood deal was struck leaving CEC with a £6m gamble, or when Wilson Bowden was chosen to develop Macclesfield town centre.

He may not have been at the helm when CEC denied they were building an illegal waste transfer station at Lyme Green until the Express caught them in the act, or when the town hall refurbishment went £600k over budget but he is in charge now.

It was the council which told us its estimated cost for the Lyme Green report was £100k and its press office now revealing the total cost to be £225k.

It’s not an impressive start to a new beginning, is it?

Given the denials, obfuscation and cost, there is no way taxpayers, who have footed the bill for this monumental blunder, will accept a condensed version of the report’s findings.

Attempts to deny access to the full report will simply stoke the fires of distrust. Some issues fade with time, their impact negligible. This isn’t one of them. As Coun Jones is fond of saying, we should draw a line under this and move forward but we’re never going to be able to do that without full disclosure.

It’s totally unrealistic to expect residents to pay almost  £250k for a report they’re not allowed to see.

Residents want a council they can trust to act in their best interest.

All they’ve seen see so far is denial of Freedom of Information requests and a determination to redact and withhold information.

Councillors claim the £225k report is about a lot more than Lyme Green and they are absolutely right.

It’s about transparency, credibility and trust, none of which will be achieved by anything less then full disclosure. Expecting the people of Cheshire East to ‘draw a line under this and move forward’ while pressure groups spread like wildfire and internet forums rage with resentment is more than wishful thinking – it’s delusional.

Let’s have the whole Lyme Green report out in the open. Residents have paid a huge price for this entire fiasco. Further prevarication serves only to heighten suspicion.

Let the full truth be revealed and maybe then, we can all finally move forward.