The newly elected Leader of the Conservative Group in Cheshire East has expressed her disappointment that the Independent Group have decided to join forces with the Labour Party to take control of the Council.
The Conservatives lost their majority on Cheshire East Council at the local elections on May 2nd for the first time since the council was formed in April 2009.
As a result the Conservatives now occupy 34 of the 82 seats, whilst Labour have 25, Independent candidates have 19 and Liberal Democrats have 4.
Cllr Janet Clowes, who replaced Rachel Bailey as Conservative Group Leader following her resignation last week, said "Following a week of intense discussion and negotiations with both group Leaders and defining a solution that was acceptable to both the Labour Group Leader and myself on Friday, the decision of the Independent Group to form a coalition with the Labour Party is clearly disappointing.
"It was evident throughout the Local Election campaign that residents are frustrated and angry over the failure of Government to deliver Brexit.
"We saw this on the doorstep and I believe it influenced many residents in the polling stations. However, voting on national issues has now resulted in many committed Conservative councillors, who worked tirelessly for their constituents, losing their positions.
"We now have in Councillor Corcoran, a Labour Council Leader at the helm who has openly expressed through social media, his opposition to Brexit and his ardent support for Jeremy Corbyn.
"Together with local Conservatives, I share the frustration of residents over the Westminster Brexit impasse but am deeply sceptical that hard-working Cheshire East tax payers in areas such as Knutsford, Wilmslow and Alderley Edge really want the hard-left in control of their Council.
"Through our Scrutiny functions we will ensure that the new administration is held to account and residents' best interests are represented."
Labour group leader Sam Corcoran said "It is disappointing, but not surprising, that the local Tories resort to negative personal attacks on the Labour Leader. Isn't it time we united to tackle climate change?"
He added "Politicians will disagree on many issues, but there are issues on which we can unite.
"Rather than talk about disagreements that came up during the election campaign, I want to talk about a significant area of agreement – Climate change. I was pleased to see a commitment in Conservative election literature to make Cheshire East Council carbon neutral by 2025. I was even more pleased to see that following a motion put forward by Jeremy Corbyn, Parliament declared an environment and climate emergency.
"We can tackle climate change and win, but it needs to be addressed on an international scale, a national scale, a local scale and an individual scale. Cheshire East Council and every resident of Cheshire East has a part to play in that. We can set the agenda. We can change behaviours. We can change minds and hearts. Or we can carry on as we are and change the climate for the worse.
"By acting together on climate change and showing leadership on this issue we can rebuild the reputation of politicians, rebuild our economy and safeguard our planet.
"I believe that climate change is the greatest challenge facing out generation and it is a challenge I intend to meet."
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Comments
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It’s certainly an ambitious goal, but perhaps Councillor Corcoran could work his way up to saving the planet via fixing some pot holes and painting some yellow lines.
Dream on.
I haven't seen "hard left" tendencies from our Labour councillors either. I don't subscribe to some of their views and don't vote Labour, but then again I haven't voted Conservative since 1992 and little I see from Janet and her colleagues is going to change that in the future.
I'm glad of this outcome, although of course now Labour+Independent have to prove to us how they're different and how they're going to work for us in the next few years.
It is interesting that Janet Clowes chooses the people of Knutsford, Alderley Edge and Wilmslow as being those likely to be concerned the new council will have a Labour leader. Clearly a notion there exists a class divide is being exploited here for political gain.
Back to the recent local elections and my time spent on the doorsteps: It is clear a social revolution is going on and politics is changing for good. The new rich are not old fashioned Tories and Janet and Co. need to latch on to this if they are not to become an extinct species.
Wake up and smell the coffee! Look to change! But remember even if you are tasked with the CEC Scrutiny committee role... you cant judge others differently to the way you performed collectively from Lyme Green / Co-Socious / ‘Flawed CEC Local Plan’ / Decimation of green belt / Physio-gate / Deliberate and systematic’ failures re; Pollution data / EIGHT ongoing Law enforcement investigations.. The public have spoken.
From Tax payer funded surveys, Bullying at CEC occurred on Michael Jones and Rachel Baileys watch. The work now begins to restore public confidence in its chosen representatives and improve credibility /value for money. So get on with delivering for the public who expect more from their locally elected representatives in the future than has been delivered in the past
http://www.wilmslow.co.uk/news/article/17163/cheshire-east-approves-budget-with-maximum-council-tax-increase
I have kept track of the increases over the last years. 2009-10: +0%, 2010-11: +2%, 2011-12: +1%, 2012-13: +0%, 2013-14: +0%, 2014-15: +0%, 2015-16: +0%, 2016-17: +4%, 2017-18: +5%, 2018-19: +6%, 2019-20: +5%.
The cumulative increase since 2008 just about matches CPI inflation, by the way. Cumulative council tax increase: +27%; CPI: +26% & RPI: +38% over the same period.
I don't really blame CEC for the recent increases, but they removed a campaign claim of "low cost local government" which the Conservatives used in the past.
We can see the dreadful effects of "ya/boo" politics in Parliament at the moment, and it would be so refreshing to see our politicians working more for the good of the community as a whole and less for their own political allegiances. Wilmslow Town Council seems to have been a good example of councillors working together, and I am hopeful it will continue to do so. Cllr Clowes's comments sound divisive rather than helpful to a newly elected Council. More cooperative working please!
1 The experience of the previous Council behaviour over Lyme Green and Physiogate where we had insufficient checks and balance on procedures to prevent actions taking place that eventually cost around £2 million and resulted in the whole top layer of management being replaced (we have since had a number of the replacements replaced).
2 The house building policy which seems to me to build a considerable number of houses of £350,000 + which do not address the problems of first time buyers getting on the housing market but does suck into the this area of North Cheshire new residents from outside the area. It will be interesting if the Handforth Garden Village of 2000+ homes is built to track how many of these homes are addressing the housing shortage within the county or adding to making it even more difficult to those wishing to get a foot on the ladder. The cost to this area is losing the green belt with the danger that soon we will become part of the of the Greater Manchester conurbation in all but name.
We have been ill served by the previous administration who have appeared unwilling through the cabinet system of proper debate, appear secretive and whilst not in special measures with the Department of Communities and Local Government have had the status of being monitored, hardly a good sign
12 months for the incoming competent's seems a reasonable amount of time to unravel the mess of the outgoing incompetents.. and it never needed to be this way.
The cost of arrogance and duplicitous behaviour is ongoing apparently.
It’s absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.
Unless and until you can understand this, you will continue to be a despised opposition irrelevance for some considerable time.
Please, can you remind residents (regardless of any political affiliations) why the Lyme Green report wasn't published ?
I cannot help you with your question as I do not know the answer.
There was a statement from the Council in January 2013 citing confidentiality but along with fellow backbench councillors, I was not made aware of the reasons.
Will that former councillor and former cabinet holder please STAND UP for all to know and see?
That makes the cheap jibes above, from yesterday’s man, show just how out of touch he is.