Last-gasp battle fails to save Cheshire

Mar 5 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

CHESHIRE will be split in two – ending the county’s 1,000-year history – after a last-gasp attempt to halt a radical council restructuring failed in the House of Lords last night.

A government order to create two all-purpose unitary authorities in the west and east of Cheshire squeaked through by 83 votes to 72 – a majority of just 11.

The vote came after more than two hours of passionate debate, during which peers from all parties condemned the shake-up as rushed, unpopular and lacking in commonsense.

During the debate, the government all-but admitted that the two-unitary plan was opposed by most Cheshire people – insisting majority support was not important.

Instead, Baroness Andrews, a local government minister, stressed the economic case for change and the danger of delay, with elections to the new authorities just 15 months away.

She said: “We didn’t make this a test of a public opinion, or of majority public support.”

But, warning against delay, she insisted: “We are not steamrollering this through. We are being urged by local leaders to allow them to get on with the job after a period of unhappiness.”

Under the shake-up, Cheshire County Council and the county’s six borough councils will disappear in April 2009, a move first signalled last July.

Congleton, Crewe and Nantwich and Macclesfield boroughs will merge to create East Cheshire council, with Chester, Vale Royal and Ellesmere Port and Neston councils brought together to make up the West Cheshire authority.

The county council, plus Chester, Congleton and Crewe and Nantwich, have all argued the timetable is too tight and risks damaging services, in particular education.

Last night, opposition was led by Lord Wade of Chorlton, who said: “We are going to destroy the organisation that all of the people of Cheshire look to as their central body. They are Cheshire people.”

The former county councillor, who lives near Chester, added: “I’m not worried about a bit of delay now, provided we make the best decision for the people of Cheshire into the future.”

The Bishop of Chester, the Right Reverend Peter Forster, pointed to the “unanimity of opposition” from education leaders and said the lack of consensus showed the plan had gone “badly wrong”.