Labour’s Sam Corcoran has been re-elected as Cheshire East leader – and immediately vowed to try to reduce the 12-year life expectancy gap between the richest and poorest wards in the borough, writes Belinda Ryan.
The council will again be run by a joint Labour/Independent administration after no party won enough seats to take overall control.
Cllr Craig Browne (Ind) was re-elected at the annual general meeting at Tatton Park as deputy council leader.
During the meeting Cllr Corcoran told the new-look council: “It never fails to shock me that there is a 12-year life expectancy gap between different wards in this borough.
“We know how to address this. We need good jobs, decent housing, access to green spaces, reduced smoking, healthy diets, resilient communities and active lifestyles.
“The NHS is great at treating illness, but by improving population health we can stop people getting ill in the first place and reduce demand on the NHS.”
He said the areas of poor health coincide with areas of deprivation and ‘over the next four years, we will act to reduce health inequalities’.
The council leader said Cheshire East was also “a council that is at the forefront of tackling climate change” and on track to meet its commitment of being carbon neutral by 2025.
The AGM was the first time the council with its 38 new members had met since this month’s elections, which saw both Labour and the Conservatives increase their seats at the expense of the Independents and the Liberal Democrats.
The Conservative group, which is still the largest on Cheshire East, had put forward Cllr Janet Clowes to be council leader.
A named vote was taken with 40 voting for Cllr Corcoran and 31 for Cllr Clowes.
The new-look Cheshire East now has 33 Conservative councillors, 31 Labour, 14 Independent group members, two Liberal Democrats and two non-grouped councillors.
Meanwhile, a former rail worker who has been a councillor for nearly 45 years has been elected as Cheshire East’s new mayor.
Alsager councillor Rod Fletcher was sworn in at a special ceremony at Tatton Park on Wednesday. His daughter, Kate Hull, will be mayoress.
Cllr Reg Kain, who nominated Cllr Fletcher for the position, told the assembled guests: “I have only known Rod for a short period of time but what has struck me is his attention to detail and protocols, qualities which I think makes for a great and outstanding councillor.”
Cllr Fletcher was first elected to Alsager Town Council in 1979 and went on to become a Congleton Borough councillor in 1980 and served on that council until it was abolished in 2009.
He has was also a member of Cheshire County Council from 2005 to 2009 and has been a Cheshire East councillor since the authority was formed in 2009.
Cllr Fletcher had a career working on the railways, starting as a junior clerk with British Rail and working his way up to become control manager for a train operating company.
Deputy council leader Craig Browne, who seconded Cllr Fletcher’s nomination for mayor, described him as ‘a kind and gentle man’.
“I have no doubt that he will be an excellent advocate for all that is good about our borough,” he said.
Crewe councillor Marilyn Houston was elected as Cheshire East’s deputy mayor.
Cllr Houston, who was first elected to the borough council in 2019, was the Crewe mayor in 2016.
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