Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chair for the municipal year.

RESOLVED

That Councillor J Bratherton be appointed Chair for the current municipal year.

To appoint a Vice-Chair for the municipal year.

RESOLVED

That Councillor A Martin be appointed Vice-Chair for the current municipal year.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

The Sub-Committee was advised that Sub-paragraph (h) of Paragraph 30 of the Cheshire East Member Code of Conduct recorded a dispensation effective until 28 September 2024, which allowed Members to take part and vote on Community Governance Review matters in which they had disclosable pecuniary and prejudicial interests. Due to the prevalence of ‘dual hatted’ Members, membership of a town or parish council did not of itself need to be specifically declared by virtue of the dispensation. However, if the Member was aware of some compounding factor, or any other pecuniary or prejudicial interest that could not reasonably have been anticipated by the dispensation, that interest should be declared.

There were no declarations of interest.

Whilst the Council’s rules on speaking at committee meetings impose a strict time limit for visiting speakers, the Chair will adopt a flexible approach and will seek to allow, all those wishing to do so, the opportunity to speak on any matter relating to this agenda, subject to the following:

• If you attend the meeting with others who wish to speak on the same subject, please nominate one spokesperson to speak.
• A maximum period of 3 minutes will be permitted for each speaker to make their representations.
• There should be no repetition of points made earlier by other speakers.

Members of the public or visiting Members, wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.

Prior to public speaking, the Chair thanked the members of the Sub-Committee and the officers for their work over the last three years of the community governance review which had continued over the period of the pandemic.

The following is a brief summary of the submissions made.

Councillor Ken Edwards, Bollington Town Council, began by congratulating the officers on what he said was a clear and well organised report. He went on to express his council’s disappointment that the report did not recommend the Town Council’s proposal that the boundary between Bollington and Rainow be amended to include the settlement at Ingersley Vale within Bollington. He asked that the matter be reviewed as part of the next Cheshire East ward boundary review.

Mr Brian Jones, Tytherington Lane, Bollington, objected to properties in Bollington being transferred to Macclesfield.

Councillor Fiona Wilson, Deputy Mayor of Macclesfield, welcomed the revised recommendations for Macclesfield that the current seating allocation worked well and that a community governance review of the Town Council would be premature.

Councillor Chris Jackson, Chair of Holmes Chapel Parish Council, expressed the council’s disappointment that the area comprising the Bluebell Green and Dunkirk Farm residential developments was not to be transferred from Brereton to Holmes Chapel.

Mr Peter Turner, Town Clerk of Crewe Town Council, expressed the council’s disappointment that the proposals for Crewe did not address issues of underrepresentation within Crewe or the significant residential developments that had taken place on the outskirts of Crewe outside the town’s boundary.

Councillor Roger Dawson, Vice-Chair of Alpraham Parish Council, expressed his council’s disappointment that the proposed merger of Alpraham and Calveley did not include the parish of Wardle.

Councillor Andy Lindsay, Chair of Brereton Parish Council, congratulated the Council’s officers on what had been a difficult task in dealing with so many consultation inputs. He indicated his council’s support for the proposals for Brereton, including the retention of Bluebell Green and Dunkirk Farm within the parish of Brereton and the adjustment of the boundary with Somerford to align with Holmes Chapel Road.

Councillor L Smetham, expressed her support, and that of parishes and residents, for the recommendations relating to parishes within the Gawsworth ward and asked that the Sub-Committee support them. She also asked Democratic Services to consider bringing Daintry Hall back into availability as a polling station for North Rode.

Councillor L Gilbert, disagreed with the proposal not to transfer the area of Bluebell Green and Dunkirk Farm from Brereton to Holmes Chapel and asked the Sub-Committee to support the transfer for reasons of community identity.

Councillor D Murphy, speaking as the Mayor of Congleton, expressed the Town Council’s view that all housing and business development on land contained within the new link road should be included within the area of Congleton Town, the link road forming a natural boundary.

Councillor J Clowes began by thanking the Sub-Committee and the officers for their work on the review. She then indicated that with regard to Doddington and District, Hatherton and Walgherton, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To give consideration to the review of Town and Parish Council Governance.

The Sub-Committee considered a report which sought resolutions of the Community Governance Review Sub Committee, Corporate Policy Committee, and finally Council, following a Community Governance Review of Town and Parish Council Governance.

The review had been in progress for over three years. Engagement with the public, town and parish councils and other stakeholders had been central to the review. There had been an informal pre-consultation survey, as well as a formal consultation process which, together, had secured over 5,000 responses.

The background to the review, including the terms of reference, guiding principles and process followed, were set out in the report.

Appendix 1 to the report provided a summary of the review’s final recommendations. Appendix 2 contained maps showing recommended changes to parish and parish ward boundaries. Appendix 3 set out in detail the evidence and analysis on which the final recommendations had been made.

Councillor S Edgar, on behalf of the relevant parish councils, asked that the style of the new Weston and Crewe Green council be changed to from ‘Community’ to ‘Parish’. With the Sub-Committee’s agreement, the officers undertook to change the recommendation to Council accordingly.

RESOLVED

That

1.    the Sub-Committee recommends to the Corporate Policy Committee that the recommendations made in the review of Community Governance, contained in Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to the report, will ensure that:

A.   The proposed community governance arrangements reflect the identities and interests of the community in the Borough of Cheshire East; and

B.   The proposed community governance arrangements are effective and convenient; and

2.    in order to minimise unnecessary printing of agenda papers, it will be assumed that all Members of the Corporate Policy Committee, and Council, will rely upon the electronic link to the appendices of the report, and that the appendices will therefore not be printed for each Member; further, that if any Member has a specific need for any part of parts of the appendices to be printed, they will make their own arrangements to print limited sections of the appendices, or request such printed sections to be provided by officers.