Where’s the Money?

James Barber, Councillor, Cheshire East

From the inception of Cheshire East in 2009, it has been a Council that has struggled to stay out of the headlines. Police investigations, dodgy deals and all sorts of negative publicity have clouded the reputation of the unitary authority. Now, however, it's not the controversies that are damaging the authority – it’s the lack of central government funding.

Now when you mention Cheshire, most associate it with affluent towns such as Alderley Edge and Prestbury. The reality is far starker, with towns like Crewe and Macclesfield having some of the worst deprivation rates in the North. The misconception of Cheshire East as being an overall wealthy borough is one that unfortunately goes against the truth. As a result, a lot of the time we get hung out to dry with a lack of funding from the central Government.

In January, a levelling-up bid to make public realm improvements to the town centre of Macclesfield was rejected by the Government. Similarly, Crewe also received nothing from its bid. When Crewe put in an excellent bid to become the home of Great British Rail – nothing. HS2 – a vital cog in the mission to transform Crewe and instigate wider economic regeneration to the town: delayed.

Doubts remain as to whether it will ever even reach Crewe, and if you go to Crewe Railway Station, you’ll see just how important it is. The Crewe Station Hub is vital to securing the long-term future of the dilapidated station, and the longer the delay to HS2, the worse the situation will get. These infrastructure bids and projects are sadly just the crux of the matter.

In December 2022, it was reported that Cheshire East Council needed to raise at least £20m of savings or else it would potentially have gone bankrupt. The cost-of-living crisis, ever-growing Social Care costs and inflation have all contributed, along with a lack of adequate central government funding.

This has led to increased council tax, green bin waste collection charges and cuts to some services. Whilst the Government made a point of how they wouldn’t increase taxation – they simultaneously allowed local authorities to increase council tax – thus passing the buck down to them to get the blame. This is wholly unacceptable but sadly demonstrative of the way local authorities are viewed.

As a former Cheshire East Councillor, elected aged 18 in 2019 and serving until the end of my term in 2023, I was able to represent residents and be their voice on the Council. And when I reluctantly voted to increase Council tax, I did so not just as a Councillor in recognition of the dire need for more money to keep essential services running, but also as a resident. I voted to make not just my community worse off, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, but myself also. People often forget this element of a Councillor's role, but that’s a conversation for another piece…

Now, as a Macclesfield Town Councillor since May 2023, I am seeing things from an even more interesting perspective, as Cheshire East are being forced, in turn, to pass the buck down to us for some services. With the Government seemingly not interested in supporting them, and as a unitary authority being able to only fund so much, they’ve asked Town Councils to step in and fund some services.

Before my term on MTC, they already agreed to ‘top-up’ the Winter Gritting scheme to ensure some of the most dangerous roads in Macclesfield do not go ungritted. And now, they’re asking Town and Parish Councils to top-up library funding – or else opening hours would be reduced. It is to Cheshire East’s credit that they managed to secure the ongoing opening of libraries as it is (with this being a service that has been decimated across the country over the past decade), but it’s a terrible shame that we, as a Town Council, are being asked to divert some of our budget to pay for services that Cheshire East have previously provided as the unitary authority for the borough.

We only have limited funds as it is, most of which go towards vital community grants and hosting brilliant free events – so we rejected the proposal to top-up the library’s opening hours as we simply don’t have the money to do so.

There is a clear argument that is being made by many local representatives that whilst there is no Cheshire & Warrington devolution deal, we get nothing but crumbs. Manchester has recently got its trailblazing devolution deal and continues to go from strength to strength, but Cheshire gets very little. We are often forgotten about and left behind.

Whilst there are of course some political tensions surrounding a devolution deal, it was welcome that in June, Cheshire and Warrington representatives met with Dehenna Davison, the Levelling Up minister, to discuss devolution for the region – with a level two + deal being ideal in that it would grant level three powers without a Mayoral Combined Authority. This appears to be the consensus from the three Council’s fighting for devolution, and one can only hope progress continues.

But in the meantime, to focus back on Cheshire East, whilst the misconceptions remain of us being a largely affluent borough, so will the lack of support. Cheshire East has been largely ignored by Westminster – the same as our neighbours in Cheshire West & Chester, and Warrington. The authority is gaining wider support and credibility as time progresses, with the Rail & HS2 Minister, Huw Merriman MP recently visiting Crewe and the Council’s presence on regional board’s growing. This progress is welcomed, but not enough.

Cheshire East is, as a local authority, doing everything it can to survive. Now, the central government must step up and fix the social care funding crisis to alleviate the immense pressures this causes, and finally break the habit of a lifetime and ensure truly fair, transparent funding to Councils across the country.