DEATH THREAT THROUGH DOOR SEES COUNCILLOR QUIT AT NEXT ELECTION
Extra security brought in for meetings as members reveal abuse from the public
A COMMUNITY leader is planning to stand down at the next county council election after abuse and a death threat posted through her letterbox.
Conservative Carolyn Trowbridge moved house with her family after receiving the anonymous letter, which was reported to police and came after she was re-elected to Staffordshire County Council in 2021 to represent the Stafford West division.
And Labour councillor Syed Hussain, below, who represents the Burton Trent division, told colleagues he had been subject to online comments about his faith and the colour of his skin.
Extra security staff provided a visible presence in County Buildings for a full council meeting last month.
The move follows disruption to a council meeting in Walsall where protesters interrupted proceedings to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and a pro-palestinian protest that led to the cancellation of a fundraising dinner in support of Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner candidate Ben Adams in Stoke-on-trent.
Councillor Trowbridge said she was pleased to see security staff present for members’ safety following events elsewhere in the country. But she added: “I personally think, in this day and age, it’s pathetic we have to have extra security and politicians aren’t safe when they’re going about their day to day business.
“Some of the councillors are feeling targeted – it is an absolute joke in this day and age that anyone should feel targeted in any way. I had to move house because I was targeted – it frightened me for my children.
“I received a death threat hand delivered to my house. It was anonymous so I couldn’t go and ask ‘what do you think you’re playing at?’
“I haven’t had anything else like that since we moved. I’m not standing for re-election, but I will carry on helping the community. “
She stood for re-election to Stafford Borough Council last year, but failed to retain the Rowley seat. She said she had received abusive emails following her attendance at last year’s public inquiry that considered controversial plans to house asylum seekers in former university accommodation in Beaconside.
She added: “I had the same with Burleyfields [a major housing development approved in the Castlefields area of Stafford]. We managed to change it from 2,200 homes to 1,500 with green space, but I had about 100 emails after that and they said what a waste of space I was.
“It’s a thankless job. The harder you work, the more abuse you get.”
Councillor Hussain, speaking at Thursday’s meeting, thanked fellow members, including leader Alan White and cabinet member Mark Deaville, for supporting him through his own experiences of abuse. He said: “Some of the words used against me in 2024 are totally abhorrent. When I became the Mayor of East Staffordshire [in 2023], some individuals online said ‘another brown, another Muslim in power.
“When I was elected as the first Muslim in this chamber I was the only BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] councillor.
“After the first elections I got ‘now you have got elected you can get a free ticket to Pakistan. I am proud of this place and my colleagues for their support. And I am sure this place will continue to be a place of local government excellence.
“Racism is a poison and should have no place in our society. I deplore racist attacks on any politicians based on their skin colour, faith or gender.”
Councillor White said: “I have stood with you on a number of occasions on this and I wholeheartedly condemn the perpetrators of this racism.
“We live in a society which is sadly polarising, in a way which I have not seen in my lifetime.
“That polarisation leads to limited dialogue. If we are able to speak to each other, it is so obvious that there is so much that unites us and so little that actually divides us.”
A Staffordshire County Council spokesperson said: “Due to recent incidents nationally, we were asked by county council members to increase security for some meetings in County Buildings over the next few months, including full council. These measures have been introduced to provide reassurance to our members and members of the public when attending our meetings.”
WHILE I love living in Stoke-on-trent. I am not a ‘local’ as in I haven’t always lived here. I have an accent that gives me away as a Geordie!
My life and work has taken me to various places, mainly in the North-east of England and for seven years I used to live near the North York Moors. If any of you are familiar you’ll know that it can get extremely foggy there! I distinctly remember travelling back home from visiting my brother and his family in Scarborough, late in the evening and we found ourselves driving in thick fog.
It struck me how things can look so different when the situation around isn’t as it might normally be. What is often familiar to us, the twists and turns on the road, the bridges to cross, the areas surrounded by trees and those of moors, all looked so different when we were engulfed by fog and only able to see a couple of metres ahead. We were so grateful to get home in one piece, safe and sound!
There are times when the path ahead becomes obscured for us in life too. We find situations around us are not what we expect and suddenly that which has once been known to us is unfamiliar and we sometimes feel the anxiety and uncertainly this brings.
Jesus found himself in unfamiliar territory too. The Easter account reminds us of Jesus’ journey towards Jerusalem; the acclamation and welcome of the crowds on what we know as Palm Sunday leads to rejection as Jesus is arrested, tried and ultimately crucified. This was a path Jesus had never walked before, the journey to the cross was unknown territory and Jesus struggled as he wept in the Garden and fell with the weight of the cross.
Of course the amazing good news of Easter is that it does not end with the darkness of Good Friday. Only a few days ago we found ourselves at Easter morning, resurrection morning when the darkness of death is defeated by the light of new life!
I take huge comfort in this! It reminds me that whatever struggles we face, even those times when the path is totally unknown to us, we’re in unfamiliar territory, we’re not sure which direction to take and not sure how we’re going to put one foot in front of the other, God IS alive and IS at work!
One of the songs we sometimes sing in the church I minister to (Swanbank in Burslem) reflects this truth of God at work even in the hard times. The song includes these lyrics ‘even when I don’t see it, You’re working. Even when I can’t feel it, You’re working. You never stop, you never stop working.’ (From the song Waymaker) The good news of the love of God is not that God stops us going through times of trouble (though, actually, sometimes he may) but that God understands, is active, is ‘at work’ and crucially, remains with us throughout.
My faith tells me that Jesus, in his faithfulness, love and care continues to travel with us….maybe a good challenge is this: will we open our hearts, minds, and lives to the reality of this and will we decide to travel with him?