Cheshire West and Chester Council

Cheshire West and Chester Council is the local authority of Cheshire West and Chester. 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 legal powers on 1 April 2009. After an election in May 2019, no party holds overall control.[1]

Cheshire West and Chester Council
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Founded	1 April 2009[lower-alpha 1]
Preceded by	Cheshire County Council District councils: Chester City Council Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council Vale Royal Borough Council
Leadership
Lord Mayor	Cllr Mark Williams, Conservative since 3rd May 2019
Chair of Council	Cllr Bob Rudd, Labour since 2nd May 2019
Leader of the Council	Cllr Louise Gittins, Labour since 10th May 2019
Chief Executive	Andrew Lewis
Structure
Seats	70 councillors
Political groups	Labour (35)      Conservative (27)      Independent (5)      Liberal Democrat (2)      Green (1)
Committees	13 (excluding the cabinet)
Joint committees	Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership Cheshire Fire Authority Cheshire Police and Crime Panel Shared Services Joint Committee (with Cheshire East Council)
Elections
Voting system	First past the post (single-member wards) Plurality-at-large (multi-member wards)
Last election	2 May 2019
Meeting place
Chester Town Hall, Chester Wyvern House, Winsford
Website
www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. It has a 'general power of competence' as described in the Localism Act 2011, i.e. it is permitted to act in any manner whatsoever which is not unlawful. For the purposes of local government, Cheshire West and Chester is one of the fifty-five unitary authorities in England. This means that is the only principal authority in its territorial jurisdiction, and it has the statutory powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and a non-metropolitan district council. The only exceptions to this are the fire and police services, which are still provided on a Cheshire-wide basis by joint boards composed of elected councillors and are funded by a Council Tax precept. Conversely, it is unnecessary for Cheshire West and Chester Council to set a precept for itself as it is also a billing authority.

Political control

Further information: Cheshire West and Chester Council elections

Since the first election of the council in 2008, political control has been held by the following parties:[2]

Executive		Leader	Term of office	Elections won
	Conservative	Mike Jones	15 May 2008 – 21 May 2015	2008, 2011
	Labour	Samantha Dixon	21 May 2015 – 3 May 2019	2015
	No overall control	Louise Gittins[1]	3 May 2019 – present	2019

Council seats since 2008

Election		Conservative		Independent		Labour		Liberal Democrats		Green Party
2008	55		0		13		4		0
2011	42		0		32		1		0
2015	36		1		38		0		0
2019	28		4		35		2		1
Current	28		4		35		2		1

Cabinet[3]

Position	Councillor	Party
Leader of the Council, including Wellbeing, Culture, Leisure, Heritage and Greenspace	Louise Gittins	Labour
Deputy Leader of the Council, including Environment, Highways and Strategic Transport	Karen Shore
Children and Families	Nicole Meardon
Democracy, Workforce and Localities	Paul Donovan
Housing, Regeneration and Growth	Richard Beacham
Adult Social Care and Public Health	Val Armstrong
Finance and Legal	Carol Gahan

Committees[4]

Committee	Chair	Party	Deputy	Party
Cabinet	Louise Gittins[1]	Labour	Karen Shore	Labour
Overview and Scrutiny
Cheshire West and Chester Overview and Scrutiny	Martin Barker	Independent	Robert Cernik	Labour
Health Overview and Scrutiny
People Overview and Scrutiny	Mark Stocks	Conservative	Peter Wheeler	Labour
Places Overview and Scrutiny	Sam Naylor	Labour	Mike Baynham	Conservative
Regulatory
General Licensing Sub-Committee	Peter Rooney	Labour	Andy Williams	Labour
Licensing Act (Hearings) Sub-Committee	Peter Rooney	Labour	Andy Williams	Labour
Licensing	Peter Rooney	Labour	Andy Williams	Labour
Planning	Christine Warner	Labour	Robert Cernik	Labour
Other
Appeals	Andy Williams	Labour	Diane Roberts	Labour
Audit and Governance	Robert Bisset	Labour	Andrew Cooper	Labour
Community Governance Review	Paul Donovan	Labour	Richard Beacham	Labour
Health and Wellbeing	Louise Gittins	Labour	Dr Chris Ritchieson	N/A (NHS)
Local Plan Working Group	Robert Bisset	Labour
Staffing	Shelia Little	Labour	Paul Donovan	Labour
Standards Dispensation

Councillors

Further information: 2019 Cheshire West and Chester Council election

Ward	Councillor	Political party	Council profile
Blacon	Carol Gahan	Labour Party	Profile
	Sheila Little		Profile
	Trish Richards		Profile
Central and Grange	Karen Shore		Profile
	Robert Bisset		Profile
Chester City and The Garden Quarter	Samantha Dixon		Profile
	Bob Rudd		Profile
	Martyn Delaney		Profile
Christleton and Huntington	Mark Williams	Conservative Party	Profile
	Stuart Parker		Profile
Davenham, Moulton and Kingsmead	Helen Weltman		Profile
	Elton Watson		Profile
Farndon	Paul Roberts	Liberal Democrats	Profile
Frodsham	Andrew Dawson	Conservative Party	Profile
	Lynn Riley		Profile
Gowy Rural	Margaret Parker	Conservative Party
	Graham Heatley
Great Boughton	Steve Collings	Labour Party
	Keith Boards	Conservative Party
Handbridge Park	Razia Daniels
	Neil Sullivan
Hartford and Greenbank	Phil Herbert	Independent
	Patricia Parkes	Conservative Party
Helsby	Paul Bowers	Green
Lache	Val Armstrong	Conservative Party
Ledsham and Manor	Peter Wheeler	Labour Party
	Christine Warner
Malpas	Rachel Williams	Conservative Party
Marbury	Lynn Gibbon
	Norman Wright
	Phil Marshall
Neston	Andy Williams	Labour Party
Netherpool	Diane Roberts
Newton and Hoole	Richard Beacham
	Adam Langan
	Gill Watson
Northwich Winnington and Castle	Kate Cernik
	Robert Cernik
Northwich Witton	Sam Naylor
Parkgate	Martin Barker	Independent
Rudheath	Helen Treeby	Conservative Party
Sandstone	Hugo Deynem	Conservative Party
Saughall and Mollington	Simon Eardley
Shakerley	Mark Stocks
Strawbery	Gareth Gould	Labour Party
Sutton Villages	Paul Donovan
	Nicole Meardon
Tarporley	Eveleigh Moore Dutton	Independent
Tarvin and Kelsall	John Leather	Conservative Party
	Harry Tonge
Tattenhall	Mike Jones
Upton	Matt Bryan	Labour Party
	Jill Houlbrook	Conservative Party
Weaver and Cuddington	Gillian Edwards	Independent
	Paul Williams	Conservative Party
	Charles Fifield
Westminster	Lisa Denson	Labour Party
Whitby Groves	Brian Jones
Whitby Park	Peter Rooney
Willaston and Thornton	Myles Hogg	Conservative Party
Winsford Dene	Mandy Clare	Labour Party
Winsford Gravel	Joanne Moorcroft
Winsford Over and Verdin	Tommy Blackmore
	Gina Lewis
	Mike Baynham	Conservative Party
Winsford Swanlow	Mal Gaskill	Liberal Democrats
Winsford Wharton	Nathan Pardoe	Labour Party
Wolverham	Michael Edwardson

Notes

1. The first elections to the then shadow authority were held on 1 May 2008, the first meeting was held on 15 May 2008.

References

1. Phil McCann (22 May 2019). "Cheshire East Council elects first Labour leader". BBC. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
2. "Cheshire West and Chester". BBC News Online. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
3. "New Cheshire West and Chester Council leader promises 'stronger communities'". Northwich Guardian. Retrieved 2019-06-01.
4. "Committee structure". cmttpublic.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk. 2019-06-01. Retrieved 2019-06-01.