Cheshire East Council

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See also: Cheshire East Council bullying and misconduct allegations
Cheshire East Council
Arms of Cheshire East Council
Cheshire East Council.svg
Type
Type
History
Founded1 April 2009
Preceded byCheshire County Council
Congleton Borough Council
Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council
Macclesfield Borough Council
Leadership
Mayor of Cheshire East
Cllr Sarah Pochin[citation needed]
since 19 April 2021
Leader of the Council
Cllr Sam Corcoran, Labour
since 22 May 2019
Chief executive
Lorraine O'Donnell
since 30 March 2020
Structure
Seats82 councillors[1]
UK Cheshire East Council 2019.svg
Political groups
Administration (41)
  Labour (25)
  Independent (17)
Other parties (40)
  Conservative (32)
  Liberal Democrats (4)
  'Real Independent Group' (2)
  Independent - non grouped (2)
Length of term
4 years
Elections
Plurality-at-large
Last election
2 May 2019
Next election
Meeting place
Westfields, Sandbach
Website
www.cheshireeast.gov.uk

Cheshire East Council is the local authority of the Borough of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Tax billing, libraries, social services, processing planning applications, waste collection and disposal, and it is a local education authority. The council was first elected on 1 May 2008, a year before coming into its powers on 1 April 2009. After an election in May 2019, no party holds overall control.[2] The civil parish of Sandbach hosts the administrative headquarters for the council.

Powers and functions[]

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, Cheshire East is within a non-metropolitan area of England. As a unitary authority, Cheshire East Council has the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. In its capacity as a district council it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, it processes local planning applications, it is responsible for housing, waste collection and environmental health. In its capacity as a county council it is a local education authority, responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal.

Political control[]

Further information: Cheshire East Council elections

Since the first election to the council in 2008 political control of the council has been held by the following parties:[3]

Executive Leader Term of office Elections
Conservative Wesley Fitzgerald 2008–2012[4] 2008, 2011
Conservative Michael Jones 2012–2016 2015
Conservative Rachel Bailey[5] 2016–2019[6]
No Overall Control Sam Corcoran[2] 2019–present 2019

In May 2019, following local elections, the Conservatives lost control of the council for the first time since it was created in 2008. On 22 May 2019, the newly elected councillors met for the first time and elected Labour's Sam Corcoran as leader, after the party came to an agreement with independent councillors.[2]

Police Investigations[]

Cheshire East Council has a number of outstanding Police Investigations. At one point there were 7 investigations, four of which are outlined below;

  • Investigation into (former) Leader of the Council (Michael Jones) illegally awarding a contract to a friend (Amanda Moris of Core Fit) - Launched 2015 - dropped 2020 due to lack of evidence[7]
  • Investigation into a Grant to Berkeley Academy in Wistaston for £70,000 awarded outside of contract rules[8] Dropped due to insufficient evidence [9]
  • An investigation into allegations of manipulation of air pollution data [10]- ONGOING
  • Land transfer for the ANSA Waste Management Facility in Middlewich[11] - ONGOING

References[]

  1. ^ "Local Democracy- Voting and Elections". Cheshire East Council. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Phil McCann (22 May 2019). "Cheshire East Council elects first Labour leader". BBC. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Cheshire East". BBC News Online. 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2009-11-20.
  4. ^ "Cheshire East Council leader Wesley Fitzgerald to resign". Macclesfield Express. Trinity Mirror. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Cabinet Members". Cheshire East Council. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  6. ^ Howarth, Rachel (29 February 2016). "Cllr Rachel Bailey is Cheshire East Council's new leader after landslide vote". Middlewich Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  7. ^ "Ex-Cheshire East Council leader fraud probe dropped". BBC News. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  8. ^ "Three police probes into Cheshire East Council". BBC News. 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  9. ^ "Police probe into two Cheshire East Council allegations dropped". Nantwich News. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  10. ^ "Cheshire East council admits air pollution data was falsified". The Guardian. 2017-08-02. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  11. ^ "OPINION: Time for a change". Northwich Guardian. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
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