Councillor Rod Menlove confirmed at this month's Wilmslow Business Group meeting that the elections for the new Wilmslow Parish Council will be held on 5th May 2011.
The Sub-Committee and the Constitution Committee will formerly present their recommendations to the Council on 16th December, but we understand from documentation and discussions with councillors that three new Parish Councils for Wilmslow, Handforth and Styal will be established next year.
The Parish Council for Wilmslow, which will have the power to call itself a Town Council should they wish, will be established on April 1st 2011. Some basic preparation will be carried out, such as finding a premises and appointing a Town Clerk, so things will be set up for when the parish councillors take office and they take over full authority from Cheshire East.
The election of all parish councillors will be held simultaneously with the election for Cheshire East Councillors on May 5th 2011, and each councillor will serve a 4 year term of office. The number of parish councillors to be elected will be 15 in Wilmslow, 7 in Handforth and 7 in Styal.
The Parish of Wilmslow will be divided into four wards: Wilmslow West Parish Ward with 5 councillors, Lacey Green Parish Ward with 2 councillors, Dean Row Parish Ward with 4 councillors and Wilmslow East Parish Ward with 4 councillors.
Whilst the Parish of Handforth shall be divided into three wards: Handforth West Parish Ward with 3 councillors, Handforth East Parish Ward with 2 councillors and Handforth South Parish Ward also with 2 councillors.
The costs associated with the administration of the elections will be met by the Borough Council but parish precepts will be raised to cover the estimated administration costs of the new Parish Councils for the municipal year 2011/12. Following their election the new Parish Councils will themselves consider the level of the precept for future years.
The table below provides details of the budgets and precepts being proposed by the Sub-Committee and the Constitution Committeee for the year 2011/12. The Parish Council precept is additional to the rate set by Cheshire East Council, the Police and Fire & Rescue Service.
| Parish Council | Budget | Indicative Council Tax per Band D property |
|---|---|---|
| Styal | £6,000 | £20.00 |
| Handforth | £85,000 | £28.00 |
| Wilmslow | £375,000 | £35.00 |
(Note: The indicative Council tax rates above are based on the estimated tax bases of the respective new parishes. Actual tax bases for 2011/12 will be known in time for setting Council taxes in February 2011.)
Councillor Menlove explained "The Parish Council's statutory powers could include the provision of allotments, bus shelters, crime-prevention initiatives, local street lighting, maintenance of roadside verges, burial grounds, local bye-laws and the employment of PCSOs, for example Poynton Town Council employs 4 PCSO's purely for Poynton.
"Cheshire East Council has a statutory duty to perform certain duties and will be delegating some to those town/parish councils who wish to take them. Obvious examples include street sweeping and litter picking.
"The tasks come with budget money and since the town/parish councils will be able to secure local providers at far less cost, they can either keep the balance or increase the frequency.
"Once this is rolled out over sufficient town/parish councils in Cheshire East Council then the Cheshire East administration overhead will not be needed, it will be redundant with a saving eventually reflected in a lower council tax."
The committee has reached its decision having taken into account the results of the petition, which showed in each case that a majority of those who returned their ballot papers were in favour of a new parish council for their area, and the results of the consultation exercise with stakeholders and the representations from other interested persons.
However, a number of local residents have written to the council expressing their opinion that given only 28% responded to the questionnaire this cannot be interpreted that a majority have voted for the creation of the parish councils.
I raised this issue with Councillor Menlove, he said "Everybody on the electoral roll was sent a ballot paper with a reply paid return envelope so everybody had the chance to cast their vote. There is no way of knowing what those who did not vote might want. However, we do know the decision of those who did vote and that we must follow. It is therefore a legitimate mandate.
"Most elections in England are run on the basis of first past the post and voting is not compulsory. It is disappointing that the turnout was 28%. For perspective, the turnout locally for a general election is about 66% and for Cheshire East about 44%."
If you are interested in standing for election to the Wilmslow Parish Council then you need to either; live in Wilmslow, live within a 3 mile radius or run a business in the town.
Cheshire East Council's Electoral Office will be providing further information about the election and nomination process but in the meantime Councillor Menlove told me "The critical date is the close of nominations and on past patterns this will be at the end of March. However, there are no time limits on the start date of activity so anybody could start now if they so wished."
We will be covering the election next May and hoping to speak to all the candidates so if you intend to stand for election to the Parish/Town Council then please do let us know.
Comments
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Brendan Murphy is not correct. The initial precept for Wilmslow Town Council will be fixed by Cheshire East, not by the new Council (though future precepts will be fixed by the Town Council).
Wilmslow Parish Council: budget £244,275, indicative Council Tax of £23.00 per Band D property.
Handforth Parish Council: budget £85,000, indicative Council Tax of £28.00 per Band D property.
Styal Parish Council: budget £8,200, indicative Council Tax of £28.00 per Band D property.