A LEADING Harlow councillor has slammed one of his colleagues for going for a walk.

On Thursday night, Harlow Council hosted a meeting of their Covid-19 Resilience Group on Youtube.

One of the items was on “messaging”. Toddbrook councillor Tony Edwards told the meeting that he had walked to a number of hatches near where he lived.

Cllr Edwards wondered whether there could be Covid messages in the areas.

Sure enough, a few days later, an LED sign appeared in The Stow informing/reminding shoppers that Harlow has one of the highest infection rates in the country.

The chair of the meeting, cllr Eugenie Harvey acknowledged his points, said she had been out as well and asked council officers to take relevant action.

However, cllr Tony Durcan, who has worked in the NHS for nearly forty years, severely criticised cllr Edwards.

He said: “We are supposed to be ambassadors and so for us to be walking around, carrying out observations, is not the right message”

A number of Conservative councillors nodded their heads in agreement.

He continued: “You can put all the posters in the world but there are people who think they are immune to it.”

Cllr Harvey defended Cllr Edwards stating that he had only walked to The Stow which was “just by where he lived and mine are from Old Harlow where I live but your point was well made.”

You can see the item from the 14th minute onwards.