BRAND SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED FOR NEW CHESHIRE EAST COUNCIL

The public have a chance to give their views on a new logo for Cheshire East Council from today and they can choose from “hills & water”, a “wheatsheaf”, and a “rising sun”.

The three brand identities have been chosen from a selection created by in-house graphics teams at the councils which are to be merged to form Cheshire East.  The shortlist, made by members of Cheshire East’s Cabinet, will now be subject to feedback from the public and council staff, before a final brand identity is chosen later this year.

Announcing the shortlist, Councillor David Brown, the Cabinet Member Designate for Performance and Capacity, said: “Any new logo must be distinctive, recognisable, and needs to effectively communicate the values of the new authority to its audiences. So, we want to invite comments and suggestions for improvements from the public, our staff, voluntary organisations and statutory bodies. We’re hosting focus group meetings and inviting comments online through our website.  I encourage everyone to respond.”

Follow this link to take part in the online Cheshire East Branding Survey

The new authority takes over all local government services on April 1, 2009, from Macclesfield, Congleton, Crewe & Nantwich Boroughs, and Cheshire County Council.

Focus group meetings with the public are being held at venues across the Cheshire East area over the fortnight, including a session with young people. The online questionnaire will also be used to gauge opinion, running until Friday 22 August.

Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald,  Leader of Cheshire East Shadow Council, says:  “We’ve used the expertise of designers whom we already employ, so there’s been no additional expense to the taxpayer, and they’ve produced some very eye-catching work.  I look forward to hearing people’s views before we select and unveil a brand identity to represent a new flagship, credible organisation in the public’s eyes.”

The costs of implementing the new identity will be featured in a separate report to councillors, once the brand has been chosen and the Council’s requirements identified.

Photo: Cllr David Brown with the final three logo designs

The leadership of the new Cheshire East Shadow Council has been announced following the first full meeting of the local authority, which takes over all council services in April 2009.

Macclesfield’s Leader Wesley Fitzgerald was elected Leader of the new authority and Roland Domleo of Congleton was voted in as his deputy at the meeting in the Municipal Offices, Crewe, on Tuesday 13 May.

Councillor Fitzgerald told the meeting:  "I am honoured to be appointed and have a lot to live up to. This is untrodden territory and we have to work together. It is essential that we do have a united council going forward. The people who put us here expect it of us."

Councillors also voted in a Chairman – Margaret Simon – and Vice Chairman, Gordon Baxendale.

The meeting adopted a constitution, a Member code of conduct, a committee structure, and approved the designation of Julie Openshaw as interim monitoring officer and Lisa Quinn as Interim Chief Finance Officer. Councillor Fitzgerald also tabled a list of Cabinet and Committee appointees.

The Conservatives won 59 of the 81 seats at the May 2008 elections, with Liberal Democrats on 12, Labour 6, Middlewich First (3) and Nantwich Independent (1).

 Cabinet

• David Brickhill
• David Brown
• Roland Domleo
• Paul Findlow
• Wesley Fitzgerald
• Frank Keegan
• Andrew Knowles
• Jamie Macrae 
• Peter Mason
• Brian Silvester

Committees

• Governance and Constitution 
• Scrutiny
• Staffing
• Joint Liaison
• Advisory Panel – People
• Advisory Panel – Places
• Advisory Panel – Performance & Capacity
• Standards

Sandbach has been chosen as the administrative headquarters of the new Cheshire East Council.

Members of the Shadow Council’s Cabinet approved proposals at their meeting this week (Thursday 17 July) to base certain administrative services at the modern Westfields offices, Middlewich Road, the current headquarters of Congleton Borough Council.  Cheshire East’s leaders are stressing, however,  that Macclesfield Town Hall and the Municipal Buildings in Crewe will both be crucial to delivering council services.

The top two tiers of the senior management team, Member support facilities and the communications/PR team are expected to be three of the main functions located at Sandbach. A report to councillors also also recommended much more flexible ways of staff working such as hot-desking and remote-working.

Wesley Fitzgerald, Leader of  Cheshire East Shadow Council, says: “The decision to make Sandbach the administrative headquarters of the Council makes perfect sense for its central location, but key services will also be based at Macclesfield and Crewe. All this will be subject to the final agreement with the new Chief Executive, who will be joining us later this year. Cheshire East will be a much bigger organisation than any service previously based in this area and the report pointed out the issues over accommodation that we’ll face.”

The decision was taken following an assessment of the existing headquarters of the borough councils involved in the local government reorganisation – Macclesfield, Crewe and Congleton. A key consideration for the headquarters would be accessibility for the hundreds of county council staff who will need to be retained. Westfields scored highly for its central location, a modern building with expansion potential on the same site.

Cheshire East Council will take over all local government services including those of the County Council in the areas covered by the Boroughs of Macclesfield, Crewe & Nantwich and Congleton from April 1, 2009.

Members of the Cheshire East Shadow Council's Cabinet stood for a minute's silence in memory of Knutsford Councillor Bert Grange at its latest meeting.

Cllr Grange was elected in May 2008 to serve as one of three members for Knutsford on the Cheshire East Shadow Council. A serving county councillor since November 1990, he was also on Macclesfield Borough Council from 1982-1990 and 1999-2004. He died on June 12 after a short illness. He leaves a widow, Celia.

Cheshire East Leader Wesley Fitzgerald said: "He has been in our thoughts a lot recently with his illness and sadly he didn't really have much chance to become engaged in the activities of this Council."

Cheshire East Council will take over all local government services in the boroughs of Congleton, Crewe & Nantwich and Macclesfield, from April 1, 2009, following a decision by the Government on Tuesday 18 December 2007. The Cheshire Structural Changes Order approved by Parliament on 4 March gives effect to the decision. The new Council will serve a population of some 358,900 people (latest official population estimate  - for June 2006).

Read further details.

Local Government Minister John Healey said in a statement    "It is now for all the councils in Cheshire – their members and employees – to work constructively and imaginatively together to deliver two new unitary councils that will achieve their full potential for local residents. Local people will rightly expect nothing less than their successful delivery."

Explanatory Memorandum to Draft of the Cheshire (StructuralChanges) Order 2008

This explanatory memorandum has been prepared by the Department for Communities and Local Government and is laid before Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. The memorandum contains information for the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.

Download the Cheshire Explanatory Memo document.

See also the Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008

By way of  background, Central government issued a White Paper  "Strong and Prosperous Communites" in October 2006 setting out its proposals for improved local government arrangements.

The key proposals in the White Paper include:

A new performance framework
An enhanced role for Councils as strategic leaders and place shapers
Stronger cities
Stronger political leadership
A strengthened role for front line Councillors
A wider and stronger role for Overview and Scrutiny
Devolution of some powers
In recognition that in some areas strong leadership and accountability is harder to achieve because of two tier arrangements the White Paper also includes invitations to local authorities in shire areas to make proposals for unitary local government and to partnerships of a county council and all the district councils in the County area to pioneer as pathfinders new models of two tier working. Both of these invitations had a deadline for responses of 25 January 2007.

Parliamentary Green Light Launches New Future for Local Government in East Cheshire
 
The approval of the Implementation Order by the House of Lords this week (Tuesday 4 March)  has brought to a conclusion the Parliamentary debate over the decision by the Government to abolish two-tier councils in Cheshire and replace them with two unitary councils – one for the East and one for the West. 

The issue of the Implementation Order by the Local Government Minister John Healey on 4 March followed an  announcement just before Christmas that the Government was pressing ahead with plans for two new councils in the county, the biggest shake-up of local government since 1974. At the time, Mr Healey said: “It is now for all the councils in Cheshire – their members and employees – to work constructively and imaginatively together to deliver two new unitary councils that will achieve their full potential for local residents. Local people will rightly expect nothing less than their successful delivery.”

The new council covering the east will be formed on the boundaries of  the existing boroughs of Congleton, Crewe & Nantwich and Macclesfield, and will include all of their services along with Cheshire County Council’s services. In the west, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Chester and Vale Royal along with Cheshire County Council’s services will form Cheshire West and Chester.   

The first task facing the local authorities has been to form a Joint Committee of councillors to make decisions about the formation of the new Cheshire East Council, for which there will be elections on Thursday 1 May. The Cheshire East Committee will be chaired by Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald, the Leader of Macclesfield Borough Council.

The Joint Committee will operate until the May elections, when the shadow council takes over the work of planning and developing the policies that will shape the direction of the new Authority, which will begin operating from April 2009.

• Cheshire East Council will bring together the boroughs of Macclesfield, Congleton and Crewe & Nantwich, and Cheshire County Council. 
• It will take over local government services including highways, education, social services and refuse collections on April 1, 2009, giving residents the simplicity of one single contact for all council services provided by one approachable and responsive organisation.
• The new Council will be the third largest unitary authority in the North West, giving it a powerful strategic voice in the UK and enabling it to drive forward initiatives to support  the development of its communities. 
• Cheshire East will cover a population of 358,900.
• 81 councillors from 27 wards will be elected on Thursday 1 May 2008 to serve in the shadow authority and make decisions about the new council’s operations, including setting a budget for 2009/10.
• This website has been set up to provide background information on the first stages of the reorganisation, the work of the Cheshire East Joint Committee, and provide details of the election candidates. This body, of councillors representing all of the four local authorities involved, is managing the elections to the shadow authority.
• From May 1, the website will provide information about the shadow Cheshire East authority.
• Serving councillors on the borough and county councils will continue to perform that role until Cheshire East takes over. It will be business as usual.
• Delivering a seamless transition to the new council is the fundamental aim of councillors and officers involved.

NEW COUNCIL’S INTERACTIVE STAND AT CHESHIRE SHOW IS A GREAT SUCCESS!

A fun, interactive stand at the Cheshire Show encouraged hundreds of visitors to find out more about the new Cheshire East Council.

The stand featured a CCTV demonstration, new dance equipment, and a competition to win a night out to Macclesfield’s Party in the Park in a chauffeur-driven Bentley.

Children and adults alike were entertained by the singing trio,  “The Courgettes”, as well as a magician  and a face painter.

Visitors were also asked to write their thoughts about the new Council on a ‘Word Wall’, which will be communicated back to the 81 new councillors at their next meeting.  Comments included:

“It’s gonna be wicked”
“I hope the public will be given a say on big changes”
“More buses and trains”
“Here’s to a great new start”
“Make Cheshire Green”