Labour Councillor Sam Corcoran Re-Elected as Leader of Cheshire East Council

On Tuesday 4th May Sam Corcoran was re-elected as Leader of Cheshire East Council.

In proposing Sam Corcoran, Cllr Carol Bulman said “Given his tireless and outstanding work as Leader on behalf of Cheshire East residents during the past 2 very difficult years I am happy to propose Cllr Sam Corcoran as Leader of this Council.”

The new Labour/Independent administration has brought stability to Cheshire East Council and has set about delivering the objectives set out 2 years ago.

The Council has moved to a committee system – as promised in May 2019. Cheshire East Council has adopted the Environment Strategy and Carbon Action Plan that were promised in May 2019. And not only have the plans been adopted, but, as reported at the May Cabinet meeting, excellent progress has already been made in achieving the target of carbon neutral by 2025, one of the most ambitious targets in the country.

There is progress (finally) on Crewe Town Centre Regeneration and on Macclesfield Town Centre improvements.

The new Council Corporate Plan sets out clear objectives for the future of the council and the vision of being open, fair and green. Cheshire East Council now has a balanced 4-year Medium Term Financial Strategy – something never before achieved when the Conservatives were in control.

The new administration has been more open in sharing power and involving more councillors. Scrutiny committee chairs have been given to opposition councillors, which is in marked contrast to when the Conservatives were in control as they took ALL the committee chairs for themselves.

It’s not just Labour councillors who are recognising the huge improvements at Cheshire East Council - in 2020, the Council received a glowing report from the independent cross-party Local Government Association Peer Review which stated “The team received a broad range of feedback and were struck by the positivity of the staff working for the organisation, and the remarkable progress that has been made in improving workforce culture in a relatively short space of time. The importance of this work was illustrated by clear leadership and commitment, including the determination of councillors to drive and prioritise improvement.”

The date of the Annual Meeting of the Council had to be re-arranged because the government banned remote council meetings after 6^th May. Labour, Independent, LibDem and one Conservative councillor voted to re-elect Sam Corcoran for a third year as Leader. Eight Conservatives voted against with the Conservative group leader and most Conservative councillors abstaining.

Sarah Pochin was elected as Mayor, David Marren as Deputy Mayor and Craig Browne, the leader of the Independent Group as Deputy Leader of the Council.

Steve Hogben, Labour Councillor for Crewe South, said “Since May 2019 the new Labour/Independent administration has brought stability to Cheshire East Council, following years of scandal, bullying and matters being referred to the police. Since May 2019 there have been no new police investigations and Private Eye have had to look elsewhere to fill the Rotten Boroughs section of their magazine.”

Brian Puddicombe, Labour Councillor for Macclesfield South, said “It is pleasing to see that now people argue over who should take credit for the Council’s success rather than arguing over who is to blame for council failures.”