Residents billed £33 for new council
MACCLESFIELD’S new council is to get a budget of £575,000 to spend on local services.
But residents will see their council tax bills go up by an average of £33 per year through a new parish precept.
Macclesfield Parish Council will be responsible for allotments, public toilets, town centre management, street furniture, Christmas lights, floral displays, Weston Community Centre and CCTV cameras.
The authority will have 12 councillors spread across seven wards, based on the existing boundaries.
Broken Cross and Upton, Macclesfield Central, Tytherington, Macclesfield West and Ivy, and Macclesfield South will each get two councillors, while Mac- clesfield East and Hurdsfield will get one each.
Each representative will serve for four years.
The first elections for the new authority will be held on May 7, the same day as borough and parliamentary elections.
Councillor David Marren, chairman of Cheshire East Council’s community governance review subcommittee, said: “Creating a parish council for Macclesfield will help improve community engagement and develop local democracy so that local services can better reflect local need and priorities.
“All Cheshire East will now be parished and that is in the interest of all taxpayers, enabling each local community to take responsibility for and pay for those local services they wish to have, that are not provided by Cheshire East across the whole borough.”
Macclesfield is currently the only area of Cheshire East which is ‘unparished’ and does not have a local level of governance.
Last year the authority launched a review of community governance to look for a way forward.
A ballot of residents saw more than half who took part vote for a single town council instead of options to create seven smaller parish councils, or expanding the current Local Service Delivery Committee (LSDC).
But council leader Michael Jones argued the poor turn-out did not give a clear vision of what the town wanted.
Then in October, following pressure from fellow Tory councillors, Coun Jones made a u-turn and agreed to give Macclesfield its own town council.
Cheshire East Council is holding a series of briefings to help prospective candidates for the forthcoming elections.
Briefings for Parliamentary candidates will take place in Sandbach on February 20 at 10.30am and 2.30pm.
Briefings for parish town or borough councillors will take place in Macclesfield on March 5 at 5.30pm and 7pm.
To book a place call 01270 685922 or email electoral. information@ cheshireeast.gov.uk