Election preview: Cheshire votes for shadow council ahead of shake-up

Apr 23 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

VOTERS in Cheshire this year will be voting for a council that will not take up power for almost 12 months after the polls close.

In a bid to make local government less complex and removed from people’s lives, the two tiers of councils (borough and county) are to be stripped away – although not quite straight away.

In their place will be two councils – one for West Cheshire and Chester and another for East Cheshire.

The former covers the area currently administered by Ellesmere Port and Neston, Chester and Vale Royal borough councils, along with the County Council.

This much many will have already seen, following the drawn- out battle to create the two new all-encompassing unitary councils.

But then things get a little more complicated, at least at first sight.

All voters in Cheshire West (and East) will have three votes come May 1.

These will be used to elect three councillors in each of the 24 wards – with the wards themselves based on the existing county council electoral divisions – creating 72 “shadow councillors”.

This is because these elections will not put anyone in power yet. Those elected this year will serve their first year in a shadow council, which will be working to oversee the handover of power and responsibility from the old councils to the new authority.

From April 1, 2009, they will then serve for two years actually in power, before further elections in 2011.

To make things even more complicated, a boundary review will take place prior to the 2011 election, altering the wards – essentially splitting them three ways – to create 72 wards, each then represented by one councillor.

But this is a few years off and for now all three main parties are campaigning hard to win control of the new authority – and the battle is on.

Vale Royal is led by a minority Conservative administration and has four Conservatives in the county council, although the vacant Abbey seat was Tory too.

In the borough Labour has 17 council seats and four county council seats. The Liberal Democrats have 11 members of Vale Royal Borough Council, with three Weaverham Independents and a vacancy.

Chester last year became a Conservative-led authority after they gained seven seats to reach 33 councillors – mainly at the expense of the Liberal Democrats who lost five, and Labour who lost one seat, both ending up with 13 seats apiece.

Of the county council seats in the city area, three are currently Liberal Democrat, with two Labour and four Conservative.

In the west of the new authority area, 43 councillors are elected onto Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council, usually a third of the authority each year, with either one, two or three councillors in each of 19 wards.

A stalwart Labour authority, currently Labour has 24 councillors, with 17 Conservatives and two Liberal Democrats making up Ellesmere Port and Neston borough council.

Of the six county council divisions in the area, four are held by Labour with two Conservative.

This means that of the seats being contested this year using county council ward boundaries the Tories have 11 (including the vacant seat), Labour 10 and the Lib-Dems three – although the last election was 2005 and there have been changes in voting patterns since, not least Chester’s change of power.

At the moment, many are tipping the Tories to gain the upper hand in West Cheshire when the results come in, and insiders in and out of the party have admitted they think it could be the Conservatives’ to lose.

But Labour know they have a larger body of support in the Cheshire West area than the eastern part of the county and are battling hard – with senior figures claiming they are aiming for between 26 and 38 seats – 37 would give them control of the new council.

On the doorstep, voters are also reported to be growing more interested as they realise that this authority will, in a year’s time, control absolutely everything that is currently split between the boroughs and the county council.

This has become more of an issue as there is perceived to be a widespread lack of understanding about what this election is for by many potential voters.

On polling day voters will be asked to select up to three candidates, but can choose only to vote for one or two if they wish.

A publicity campaign has been undertaken across the area to encourage people to get out and vote next week and a website to support the campaign has been developed – www.use your3votes.org.uk – which gives road show dates along with information about electoral offices and maps showing the electoral wards.

The new Cheshire West and Chester Council will begin its operational life on April 1, 2009.

liammurphy