To receive such announcements as may be made by the Leader.
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council congratulated the Mayor upon her election to the Mayoralty and Councillor Arthur Moran upon his appointment to the Deputy Mayoralty.
She then addressed Council and made a number of key points:-
1. She believed that the year would herald continued innovation and a focus on CE’s Residents First principles.
2. The commitment she had made just two months ago was undiminished, to serve the Council and to deliver transparency and fairness to its staff and residents and to work with business and deliver that vital partnership working across all areas of service be it Police, Health, Fire or the invaluable voluntary sector.
3. Seven years on the Council had revisited its Corporate Strategy and “Ambition for All” was the renewed concept of the Local Strategic Partnership. Partner Forums underpinned the key arenas of the Safer Cheshire East Partnership and the Health and Wellbeing Board. As the recently elected Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, she particularly referenced its work in relation to the Better Care Fund, the responsible approach to joined up working and the patience and attention to detail of the lead officer, Caroline Baines. She was equally heartened by the manner in which it had embraced responsibility for the continuing improvement journey for the Children and Families Safeguarding Service. She referred to the positive Ofsted judgement of “requires improvement to be good” and the adoption service, which had been rightly recognised as good.
4. She referred to the number of Councillors who sat on Scrutiny Committees. Of the 82 Councillors, around 40 committed to this vital area of governance; a telling measure of the commitment made by Cheshire East Councillors, which she considered was reinforced by the recent Task and Finish reports received by Cabinet, in respect of, for example, section 106 agreements, apprentices or the rightful focus on appropriate funding of the award winning team who provided vital support to families who found themselves in a violent relationship. Under the leadership of Cllr Jos Saunders, Health Scrutiny had worked with the North West Ambulance Service, not least on the issue of response times in the rural borough. Recommendations had now been agreed and she hoped that a report in respect of this would be received by Cabinet in the fullness of time.
5. As she had announced in February, she believed that it was now the time to review the Council’s Scrutiny function, in order to free it up to deliver even more focussed Task and Finish forums. A group of Conservative members had shaped a potential model to come forward through the Council processes and ultimately for consideration by the Constitution Committee. She thanked Cllr Margaret Simon for her leadership and Cllr Gail Wait for her organisation in this matter.
6. With regard to the Cabinet membership, she asked officers to circulate the list of Portfolio Holder names and responsibilities. She had opted for a Cabinet of nine Members. She had, however, appointed an additional Deputy Cabinet Member. At this point, the Leader also put on record her thanks to Cllr Tony Dean for his work in regeneration and welcomed his agreement to serve on the energy company. She also welcomed a new Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Chris Andrew and for Health and Communities, Cllr Liz Wardlaw.
7. The Leader referred to the recent Cabinet meeting, where she had expressed thanks to the Council’s Directors, staff, residents and Councillors for their engagement in Cheshire East throughout the political year and referred to a few of the achievements as follows:-
· Tatton Park - Such an appropriate and beautiful setting for our Annual Council Meeting; crowned Best Large Visitor Attraction in the Country.
· Tour of Britain stage 3, with Tatton Park as a focal point.
· Cheshire East’s Libraries are No 1 for lending books and third lowest cost per head in the North West. From the most recent survey of customers 93% rated the service as good or very good.
· There was a 24/7 single point access service for anyone affected by Domestic abuse and one of the first in commissioning a whole family model of service delivery in this area.
· Crewe Lifestyle Centre – The official opening was to take place on May 26, by Sir Philip Craven.
· HS2.
· The award winning Crewe Green Link Road/aka David Whitby Way, and pinch point funded improvements which saw Jack Mills Way and the incredible difference at junction 16 of the A500 and M6.
· Bollington - The best place to start a family.
· Cheshire East was one of the first to ban payday loan websites and adverts on our computers in public buildings.
8. The Leader referred to the rightful focus on delivery of the leisure led option for Macclesfield continued. Cllr Ainsley Arnold took a shared responsibility, with Cllr Don Stockton, who focused on heritage, ably supported by the Heritage Champion Cllr Ellie Brookes. She believed that there was the opportunity for a 360 degree offer in Macclesfield of heritage, leisure and retail, along with 360 degree connectivity emanating from Crewe, with the opportunity of HS2 Hub Station modelled on 7 train stops per hour.
9. She also referred to the commitment made by Cheshire East to new bus station for Crewe and the revamped Royal Arcade Development and the celebration of 18,000 + businesses in Cheshire East. She was just beginning to understand the diligence of the Council’s team. In recent weeks she had visited, AO.com; Royal London; Alderley Park; shared in the 50th birthday celebratory lunch at Astra Zeneca, Hurdsfield, recognising the phenomenal achievements in the discovery of drugs which made such a difference to the lives of all.
10.Cheshire East had actively supported the creation of up to 800 jobs. Highlights were Autoliv, Congleton; Sanofi, Holmes Chapel; Wex in Crewe and not least Waters at Wilmslow.
11.Skills and growth would continue to be a feature of Cllr Bailey’s leadership. She thanked Cllr Paul Bates, Cllr Bernice Walmsley, Cllr Ellie Brookes and Julian Cobley for their tremendous work in setting up the Skills and Growth Company. She welcomed Cllr George Hayes as its new Chair and appreciated the experience that Cllr Sarah Pochin had brought, following a years work in EoTN.
12.Cheshire East Council was committed to working in partnership within and across the North West region, building stronger collaboration with Cheshire West and Chester and Warrington Borough Councils. She believed that a refresh of the Local Strategic Partnership was key to that strong working relationship with Police, Health, Fire and voluntary and business sectors. She welcomed and extended her congratulations to David Keane upon his election to the office of Police and Crime Commissioner for the Cheshire Police area and she was currently making arrangements to meet with him. She also thanked John Dwyer for his work since 2012.
13. Finally, the Leader reaffirmed her commitment to do all in her power to deliver for the Council, the residents and businesses of the borough.