Cheshire East Council

Cheshire East Council is the local authority 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.[4] The civil parish of Sandbach hosts the administrative headquarters for the council.

Cheshire East Council
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1 April 2009
Preceded by	Cheshire County Council Congleton Borough Council Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council Macclesfield Borough Council
Leadership
Mayor of Cheshire East	Cllr Barry Burkhill[1] since 22 May 2019
Leader of the Council	Cllr Sam Corcoran, Labour since 22 May 2019
Chief executive	Lorraine O'Donnell since 30 March 2020
Structure
Seats	82 councillors[2]
Political groups	Administration (41)      Labour (24)      Independent (17) Other parties (40)      Conservative (32)      Liberal Democrats (4)      'Real Independent Group' (2)      Independent - non grouped (2) Vacant (1)[3]
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	Plurality-at-large
Last election	2 May 2019
Next election	4 May 2023
Website
www.cheshireeast.gov.uk

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:[5]

Executive		Leader		Term of office	Elections
	Conservative		Wesley Fitzgerald	2008–2012[6]	2008, 2011
	Conservative		Michael Jones	2012–2016	2015
	Conservative		Rachel Bailey[7]	2016–2019[8]
	No Overall Control		Sam Corcoran[4]	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 appointed councillors met for the first time and elected Labour's Sam Corcoran as leader, after the party came to an agreement with independent councillors.[4] The following cabinet positions were announced on 22 May 2019:[9]

Cheshire East Council
Post	Cabinet		Opposition
Leader		Sam Corcoran		Janet Clowes
Deputy Leader		Craig Browne		Liz Wardlaw
Children and Families		Kathryn Flavell		Jos Saunders
Adult Social Care and Health		Laura Jeuda		Liz Wardlaw
Public Health and Corporate Services		Jill Rhodes		TBC
Communities		Mick Warren		TBC
Planning		Toni Fox		TBC
Highways and Waste		Laura Crane		Don Stockton
Environment and Regeneration		Nick Mannion		Paul Findlow
Finance, IT and Communications		Amanda Stott		TBC

References

1. "The Mayoral Team". Cheshire East Council. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
2. "Local Democracy- Voting and Elections". Cheshire East Council. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
3. "Notice of postponement of poll in Crewe West" (PDF). Cheshire East Council. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
4. Phil McCann (22 May 2019). "Cheshire East Council elects first Labour leader". BBC. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
5. "Cheshire East". BBC News Online. 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2009-11-20.
6. "Cheshire East Council leader Wesley Fitzgerald to resign". Macclesfield Express. Trinity Mirror. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
7. "Cabinet Members". Cheshire East Council. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
8. Howarth, Rachel (29 February 2016). "Cllr Rachel Bailey is Cheshire East Council's new leader after landslide vote". Middlewich Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
9. "Cabinet members". Cheshire East Council. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.