TODAY sees the transfer of power from the old borough council to the new unitary authority, Cheshire East.
Maxonians will no longer look to Macclesfield Borough or Cheshire County Council for delivery of day-to-day services – but to a new council with wide-ranging powers.
Having been bold enough to choose April Fool’s Day for its official unveiling, the work now starts on fully establishing the third largest unitary authority in the North West, serving more than a third of a million people. Meanwhile, Macclesfield councillors have waved a final farewell to town hall business and 35 years of proud history.
On Thursday March 26 , the borough honoured its final eminent Aldermen and tributes were paid to mayors, councillors and dignitaries past and present. It is now the turn of Macclesfield’s 21 Cheshire East representatives, several of whom will be serving as councillors for the first time.
Cheshire East leader, Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald, said they aimed to get through vesting day in such a state of "absolute normality" that residents notice nothing.
"We have all been looking forward to this and that is the first objective," he said.
"From then on, and into the second and third years, there will be an evolutionary challenge – to improve services, working much closer with the police and health trusts."
The range of responsibilities Cheshire East Council takes on is huge; from street cleanliness to schools; from leisure centres to road maintenance; from social care to parking charges.
Representing wards covering Macclesfield, Knutsford, Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach and Middlewich are a total of 81 councillors, raring to go after sitting on a "shadow authority" for the last 12 months.
And your determined new council will "deliver better services for less money".
That is the ambitious promise of departing MBC leader, Coun Frank Keegan, as he starts day one as Cheshire East’s first finance chief.
"It is time the public got a better return for their council tax," he said.
"To some extent it is a good thing it is happening at a time of recession, in the sense that because the general public are suffering so badly we are able to carry the message forcefully to our staff to come into line as well. Because people are losing jobs and there is great uncertainty, I think it makes it easier for us to say ‘you are going to have to do this’ because people who pay their wages are going through it as well. Morale is good. We had a big morning session for about 120 senior managers in Tatton and I read them a poem, which says to come to the edge of the cliff. We want our staff to take some calculated risks, not just sit in an office and think they won’t get sacked if they don’t fail. They have to expand their horizons and sometimes they will fail. We want innovative ideas."
There have already been big announcements; such as basing day-to-day council work at a site in Sandbach, the freezing of the council-set council tax (only for it to rise slightly due to police and fire service contributions), the slashing of £25million in the first budget and free swimming for the over-60s and under-16s.
Investment already promised includes a major new PFI waste management partnership with Cheshire West and £2.5m extra for adult services.
"There have been enormous frustrations at district level because many things we have wanted to do have been part county council and part ours, but now the opportunity is there to get service delivery locally – not from Macclesfield but in Poynton for Poynton people, in Wilmslow for Wilmslow people," Coun Keegan said.
Residents would then begin to have greater pride in their community, he said.
Experienced councillor Hilda Gaddum, representing Macclesfield Forest, faces the new era as chairman of the strategic planning board, which will deal with major projects such as the town centre development.
She said: "We are suddenly taking on minerals and waste – things like quarries and tips like Danes Moss, which borough councillors have no experience of. They are very major issues."
New councillor Darryl Beckford, who represents Macclesfield West, said he was "raring to go".
"In an ideal world we would have ten years to make this transition, but I am ready to be a proper councillor so people will stop telling me to stop being a shadow! I want to get as involved as I can in children’s and family services. We could do a lot more for families."
Sir Nicholas Winterton, Macclesfield’s MP, described Cheshire East as "a whole new ball game" and predicted an "uneasy initiation".
"I don’t think people still know who is doing what job and I am somewhat concerned whether a much bigger area can have the same close working relationship. As an MP, I like to go to the person at the top straight away and don’t want to waste my time when making representations."
