Labour councillor Nick Mannion has been re-elected as leader of Cheshire East Council and said he welcomed the return to the cabinet system of governance which comes into force today.
Cllr Mannion was speaking after narrowly holding off a challenge from Conservative Cllr Stewart Gardiner for the leadership.
Thirty-eight councillors voted for Cllr Mannion, 34 for Cllr Gardiner and three abstained.
Cllr Mannion said a return to the cabinet system would make decision-making at Cheshire East “better, faster and more decisive”.
The council, which is Labour/Independent controlled, operated in a cabinet system, mainly under the Conservatives, when it was originally formed in 2009 but changed to a committee system in May 2021.
The decision to revert to a leader and cabinet style of governance comes on the back of the government announcing plans for new legislation to abolish the committee system, which it said could be ‘unclear, duplicative, and wasteful, leading to slower, less efficient decision-making’.
Cheshire East’s slow decision-making process was also criticised in the 2024 Local Government Association peer challenge report.
Cllr Mannion told the meeting yesterday the council’s financial position had stabilised over the past 12 months.
“Our revenue position’s improved to a place where we’re now expecting to start building back our general reserves as planned when we set the budget in 2025/26,” he said.
The council leader said the finance team is finalising the year-end position and will be reporting to cabinet at the beginning of July.
He added: “It is looking like there have been some additional net favourable changes that mean the position will improve at the bottom line, and this will mean the need to take less exceptional financial support [from the government] than our budget earlier this year forecast.
“This is good news for the council but, as I am informed by our executive director for resources in his own quietly assertive way, there are still many improvements needed around forecasting accuracy, as some of the improvements could have been foreseen.”
Cllr Mannion said looking ahead the council must ‘continue to think differently about how we deliver, what we deliver, and change how we engage with our residents’ to meet their future needs – especially the needs of the most vulnerable.
Cabinet appointments:
Council leader, Cllr Nick Mannion (Lab); deputy leader, Cllr Michael Gorman (Ind); highways and transport, Cllr Mark Goldsmith (Ind); environment, sustainability and waste management, Cllr David Jefferay (Ind); planning, housing and regeneration, Cllr Mick Warren (Ind); communities and engagement, Cllr Rob Vernon (Lab); finance, legal and enforcement, Cllr Dawn Clark (Lab); adult social care, Cllr Jill Rhones; children’s services, Cllr Laura Crane (Lab); education and SEND, Cllr Emma Gilman (Ind).
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