Having decided to recommend the creation of three separate parish councils for Handforth, Wilmslow and Styal, the plans of the Wilmslow Community Governance Review Sub-Committee in regard to warding arrangements have been complicated by the fact that there is an ongoing Boundary Review.
Ideally they would wait for the final recommendations of the Boundary Commission, which are expected to be announced on 13th July, before making their recommendations for parish wards but given the need for them to comply with the Governance Review timetable, and have their plans passed by the Autumn, the Sub-Committee have had to put forward two alternative sets of proposals with regard to the warding of Wilmslow.
The Sub-Committee have recommended that the number of councillors to serve on each of the new parish councils should be 7 for Handforth, 5 for Styal and 15 for Wilmslow, but dependent upon the outcome of the Boundary Review they are putting forward two alternative suggestions.
Their preference, if no changes are made to the current Cheshire East Council Ward boundaries, is for five wards to be created for the Wilmslow parish which are based on the traditional wards of the former Macclesfield Borough Council. These would be Morley with 3 councillors, Lacey Green with 2 councillors, Dean Row with 4 councillors, Hough with 3 councillors and Fulshaw comprising of 3 councillors.
Alternatively, if, as anticipated, the final recommendations of the Boundary Committee are implemented, then four wards would be created for the Wilmslow parish so that the borough and parish wards are aligned. This would mean that the Morley and Fulshaw wards would be combined to make Wilmslow West with 5 councillors, whilst the other three wards of Lacey Green, Dean Row and Hough would reman as above.
Handforth parish would have three wards; Handforth West with 3 councillors, Handforth East with 2 councillors and Handforth South also comprising of 2 councillors. Whilst in Styal the election of 5 parish councillors, which is the minimum number allowed for a parish council, would be from the area of the parish as a whole.
The Wilmslow Community Governance Review Sub-Committee are also proposing that they will be called Handforth Parish Council, Wilmslow Parish Council and Styal Parish Council respectively but Wilmslow Parish Council would be advised that once set up they might consider calling themselves a Town Council.
The date of the Sub-Committee's next meeting is yet to be agreed but their recommendation is due to be referred to full Council on July 22nd with a final decision expected in mid-September.
