Borough backs three unitary authorities for Cheshire

Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council is backing a plan to form a new single authority with Chester City Council – a move that would give local people the high quality services they want and save millions of pounds.

Borough councillors last night (Monday) voted in favour of replacing the county’s current unwieldy two-tier system of Cheshire County Council and six district councils with three streamlined unitary authorities.

This was in response to the Government’s White Paper on local government reform, Strong and Prosperous Communities, which invited local authorities to submit proposals for unitary status by 25 January.

Under the proposed changes Vale Royal would be joined with Crewe and Nantwich and Congleton with Macclesfield. The three new authorities would each be responsible for all local authority services including education, social care, libraries, waste collection, parks and housing.

Borough leader Councillor Reg Chrimes said a new unitary authority embracing Ellesmere Port and Neston and Chester was the best way forward for the area.

“It’s vital to keep a balance between providing effective, strategic services while staying small enough to respond to local needs, and with 200,000 people this new unitary authority for west Cheshire would be the right size,” he said.

“Another key strength is that the two districts have an affinity with a shared sense of place and identity, and there are already strong links in place between the two councils. More than half the local people surveyed in a MORI poll in 2004 favoured this model.

”It’s the system of local government that is in operation across most of the country. It would get rid of the confusion of who does what and would improve public accountability.”

He said the creation of three unitary authorities would also cut costs, with early figures showing savings of £17m from years two to four, rising to £19m from the fifth year.

While the plan for three unitary authorities received cross-party support,  members issued a statement saying they “deeply regretted” Cheshire County Council’s backing for a single super-sized unitary authority in the face of opposition from all the district councils.   

The borough council’s second preferred option would be to form two unitary authorities for west and east Cheshire, with Vale Royal joining Ellesmere Port/Neston and Chester and Crewe/Nantwich merging with Congleton and Macclesfield.

Ends

Press release issued: January 23 2007