Councillor Rod Menlove – Environmental Services Portfolio Holder

Councillor Rod Menlove represents Wilmslow South and has been a resident of the town for more than 20 years. He was elected to the former Macclesfield Borough Council in May 2007 and became a Cheshire East Councillor the following year. He is a governor at Styal Primary School, chairs the Wilmslow Forum and has been an activist on several local issues in recent years. Now retired following a marketing career in the food industry, he is married to Sue and has two adult children and two grandchildren.

Councillor Menlove was appointed Environmental Services Portfolio Holder in January 2010 after Councillor David Brickhill stepped down from the role due to health reasons. He was previously Cabinet support member.

Portfolio
Waste collection and disposal, highways, car parks, street lighting, street cleansing, cemeteries and crematoria.

What are your priorities within this portfolio?
My overriding ambition is to improve the living environment in our towns and villages. This could be simple things such as de-cluttering signage, cutting back overgrown vegetation, more frequent cleaning where it is needed most or repairing minor defects in paths and kerbs. Separately these are small changes but cumulatively they create a much more pleasant place to live and work. These are low cost improvements with an immediate impact that can be achieved with better organisation.

There are other areas for improvement that require significant investment. The major area here is our roads and pavements that have been woefully underfunded by central Government over decades. I am supporting the adoption of a greater emphasis on the permanent repair of surfaces that have deteriorated, rather than continuous patching and pothole filling. Innovative repair methods are being developed all the time and I am keen that we show an open mind and trial these, so that Cheshire East can be early adopters of the successful ones.

Every one of us uses the Council’s waste services and I see a number of opportunities here. In the short term the need to harmonise the previous three systems means we can collect more recyclable materials and have more logical collect rounds, now that we are no longer constrained by the borders of the former boroughs. We need to make certain that this produces a better service at a lower cost. In the medium term we will closely examine the system as a whole, from collection to disposal, with the objective of creating a resident friendly collection service that represents excellent value for money for the Council Tax payer while achieving the highest recycling levels.    

Street lighting currently costs the Council around £1m each year which is a considerable outlay and must be reduced. We are looking at new technology that is more efficient and cost effective. One possibility is LED that consumes less energy and creates less ‘scatter’ by directing light only where it is needed, cutting down on night-time light pollution.

Another key priority is reducing energy usage at Council properties in order to set the standard for our public sector partners, in addition to saving money and reducing our carbon footprint.

What will present the greatest challenge within your portfolio?
My greatest challenge will be retaining focus on progressing major developments while still attending to the myriad of other responsibilities that are a fact of life for a Cabinet Member and Ward Councillor.

What is your main message to residents?
My Portfolio covers a great many areas that affect residents on a daily basis – such as waste collection and the condition of roads and footways – and I am committed to providing the best service possible. We will achieve this by maintaining existing high standards and making improvements in areas where we might not be performing as well as we should. I am passionate about creating a cleaner and tidier environment. In Wilmslow I have led a drive to de-clutter signage, cut back on vegetation and adjust the street cleansing regime to reflect residents’ wishes. I hope to repeat this across Cheshire East.

What is your vision for Cheshire East?
To provide an attractive and sustainable environment which communities can be proud of by managing waste, improving highways, tackling climate change and reinforcing the distinctive characteristics of our towns, villages and rural areas.

How can people contact you?
By email rod.menlove@cheshireeast.gov.uk, by phone on 0161 408 3084 or in writing to the Cheshire East Council headquarters at Westfields, Middlewich Road, Sandbach, Cheshire CW11 1HZ.