Tories lose majority on Cheshire East Council

by Lisa Reeves

Saturday 4^th May 2019

Sat 4^th May 2019

The Conservatives have lost their majority on Cheshire East Council for the first time since the council was formed in April 2009.

Conservatives now occupy 34 of the 82 seats, down from 48 prior to this week's local elections.

Labour gained nine seats to take their number of members to 25, whilst Independent candidates and those representing local groups, such as Alderley Edge First, Residents of Wilmslow and Handforth Ratepayer's Association, won 19 seats.

The Liberal Democrats also gained two seats to take their total to 4.

Tags:: 2019 Local Elections, Cheshire East Council

Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Janet Taylor

Saturday 4^th May 2019 at 8:07 am

They will no doubt blame Brexit and central government when this needs to be a clear sign that residents have had enough of being embarrassed by Cheshire East Council, time to get your act together guys, lets hope the independents can work together for the good of the residents.

Sally Hoare

Saturday 4^th May 2019 at 8:35 am

I agree Janet. The reason most people I have spoken to for voting this way was mismanagement of Cheshire East not linked to Brexit.
Let’s hope there is enough new blood to be able to influence change.

Chris Wigley

Saturday 4^th May 2019 at 10:49 am

I agree with Janet. I welcome the breaking of one party rule in Cheshire East. We have seen a series of wrong (as in the case of Lyme Green) and questionable practices (all committees chaired by the ruling group). In addition we have seen either poor implementation or poor compliance with procedures leading initially to all the senior management at the Council being replaced, then what appears to be a trickle of those who replaced them going. Cheshire East was referred to the Dept of Communities and Local Government which according to the Local Government Chronicle was 'monitoring' the council.
What a state of affairs it has been whilst I feel sorry for hard working councillors who have not been involved in this but have lost their seats I really think they would have done a far better job if they had resigned from the party and sat as independents when the rot began to become apparent.

Jonathan Follows

Wednesday 8^th May 2019 at 9:47 am

Rachel Bailey has now resigned as Conservative leader. I got the impression that she had attempted to undo some of the mess she inherited from Michael Jones but the task was too much for her or she wasn't up to it. Some of her public statements were delusionally optimistic.

Whether the new leader, Janet Clowes, is able to be effective under the new minority administration remains to be seen. I agree very much with Janet Taylor and some of the new independent councillors that "Brexit" is not the only reason for the change we're seeing, and I think that some Conservatives are saying that it is in the hope that it becomes the new truth.

The new administration needs to demonstrate that it works for the residents and voters of Cheshire East in a new way, embracing openness and transparency, and I hope that they can do so with the support of the newly elected independent councillors.