Tories to take control of Chester and West Cheshire

May 3 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

CONSERVATIVES scored an overwhelming victory in the elections for the new unitary authority of Chester and West Cheshire.

They easily beat Labour into second place with the Lib-Dems trailing a poor third.

In a blow to the Conservatives however, Chester City Council leader Margaret Parker failed to secure a seat on the shadow authority in the marginal seat of Hoole, despite two of her Tory colleagues being elected there.

The Conservatives ended up with 55 seats, Labour with just 13 and the Lib-Dems with just four.

The authority will act as a “shadow council” for 12 months before taking over power from Ellesmere Port and Neston, Chester, Vale Royal and Cheshire County councils.

Stephen Mosley, deputy leader of Chester City Council and the Tories’ Parliamentary candidate for the city, hailed a “fantastic result”.

But he acknowledged there was now a lot of work for the members of the new authority to do.

He said: “We will be focusing on improving schools, the quality of care for the elderly and eliminating waste to keep council tax down.”

Labour’s Justin Madders, who along with Derek Bateman was elected to the West Cheshire council in Central and Westminster ward in Ellesmere Port, placed the blame for the bad result squarely at the door of his party’s national unpopularity.

Cllr Madders, who is expected to remain for the next year as leader of Ellesmere Port and Neston Council, had been one of the key backers of the plans to scrap the old two tier system of councils and introduce the new unitary authority – which has now seen Labour pushed to the margins.

He said: “We always knew that was a possibility, and always felt the new authority would be of benefit overall to the area regardless of who was in power.

“We would prefer to be in control to set the agenda, but the two tier system has had its day.”