Webteam meets Rachel Bailey

It was a new experience for two members of the webteam, an agreed interview with the new leader of Cheshire East, Rachel Bailey. Travelling to the council's Sandbach HQ, were we going as constituents or investigative journalists, we pondered.

Could we tempt her into a scoop for us or at least the odd indiscretion as the leader eased herself into her new role as this, we understood, was her first lengthy interview.

In her surprisingly modest office, she clearly expected us to start on potholes given the past week's coverage on AudlemOnline but we learnt immediately that a meeting was to be held between the Highways department, Audlem Parish Council and local campaigner Peter Oxley. Leave it to the experts, we concluded, and that issue can be handled elsewhere. (See separate article today)

Instead, we broke the ice by saying that we, as locals, were very proud that little Audlem, at the very periphery of the Borough, should have its ward councillor now leader of the authority. But, we wondered, would she be able to attend to Audlem's issues with the host of responsibilities now coming her way?

Her response was very precise. "Whatever the role, one should never forget the people who placed their trust in you. The importance of attending parish council meetings within the Audlem Ward is never lost and I will continue to go to Audlem Parish Council."

Rural issues

She added that she still had responsibility within Cheshire East for rural issues, an area which, as a farmer, she was passionately interested in. Despite the pressures, there were great opportunities for the rural economy. Rachel pointed to a Cheshire East Local Action group which has £1.5m funding to help local SME's (Small & Medium Enterprises) and micro businesses in the rural community.

The Audlem area, she elaborated, once the most productive dairy country in Europe, was having to change and respond to market pressures but new opportunities, many linked to the roll-out of High Speed Broadband and new home-based work, were emerging. And while the dairy industry was suffering for well known reasons, the local area still had many farm related small businesses whether it be NEMi milk, Vet businesses, the NFU, cheese making and others still "related to the backs of cows."

Vibrant Audlem

Audlem, she added, has a vibrant and innovative community, with a 'can do' attitude which often sets the standard others aspire to and actually drives policy in some areas. ADCA, Audlem District Community Action, was a case in point. When Age Concern pulled its services out of the village and many other rural communities five years ago, Audlem stepped up to the mark, with its strong tradition of volunteering. Cheshire East was able to step in and provide funding for the new locally run service for the elderly and disadvantaged in the the area and working together, the result has been outstanding.

Many locally will recall Peggy Furber, who first asked her to stand for election, a request particularly backed up by her father. Rural schools were under great pressure at the time and school transport was not fit for purpose.

"If you have the opportunity to influence, why not do it?" was her thinking and schools and a piece of detailed EU health legislation that was impacting on many farming families at the time, including her own, were her initial focus. Success in all these areas was an encouraging start to her political career.

She then admitted that she had agreed with the family to take the job on for a twelve months trial!

Becoming Leader

The first challenge was how to get her voice heard in policy decisions, a skill she has clearly mastered over the past eighteen years as she assumes her new role as leader, a post that requires winning the support of her fellow councillors. She was, after all, elected leader of both her party group, the Conservatives in January, and then of the council in February, both by handsome majorities.

She has clear views on the task ahead for the council: Cohesion, stability and delivering Cheshire East's vision for the borough by working with neighbouring authorities, improving infrastructure and focusing on local jobs and skills. She sees it as a parenting journey, from cradle to grave, to make sure the people who live in Cheshire East enjoy fulfilling lives.

The council has commissioned a report on Quality of Place to look into how lives can be as fulfilled as possible, whatever the community, urban or rural, but added that recently Cheshire East was deemed to be the happiest place to live and the best place to set up rural businesses.

Crewe

In Crewe for example, with the promise of HS2, ensuring it remains a key railway hub with connections to surrounding towns and boroughs and with sufficient trains stopping each hour is paramount. She is confident High Speed Rail is going to happen and that, combined with other initiatives such as the planned technical school, UTC, and by working closely with Crewe schools to improve standards, success can be achieved. Already Crewe has an extremely low level of unemployment of 1.7% compared with an average for the North West of 4.7%.

She added: "The benefits HS3, HS2 and a strategic transport hub at Crewe will bring will be absolutely transformational for the local, regional and national economy and great news for jobs, business and growth in Cheshire East and the wider region. It provides the opportunity to link the strategic HS2 hub at Crewe directly into the Northern Powerhouse, including Leeds and beyond."

Local Plan

Delivering the Local Plan and a 5-Year Land & Housing Supply, an area that has seen many delays and often unwanted developments getting approved, is clearly a priority and one that Rachel took on responsibility for last year. With three interim reviews of the plan, and extensive dialogue with the Inspector, the Local Plan is now out for consultation.

We would have liked to explore the role of Neighbourhood Plans more fully but, with Audlem's Referendum looming, the council has to be in a state of purdah at present on that issue. It's an area we hope to return to as, hopefully, with both the Local Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan complete, they will become the driving force of the planning process rather than developers exploiting legal loopholes as seems to be the case at present.

We did ask about getting developers to help fund infrastructure. Although not currently part of the Local Plan, Cheshire East see on the horizon the CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) where developers will be required to contribute a percentage of the cost of each house to the development of the local infrastructure.

Schools

Education is much in the news again with the Government's announcement that all schools, Primary and Secondary, will become Academies over the next six years. How does a Conservative-run council react to apparently seeing its powers in education stripped away by a Conservative government?

Rachel responded by saying: "Cheshire East will operate as a family of schools – it doesn't matter whether they are individual Academies or Academy Trusts. Whilst our schools have excellent results, we need to do better for the top students and for students at the lower end of the academic scale."

She added that the council will retain many important roles in education such as performance, admissions, attendance, home teaching,safe-guarding policies and ensuring the borough has the capacity to provide education where it's needed. All but two High Schools in Cheshire East are already Academies, as are over 27% of Primaries and three of the borough's seven special schools.

However schools are run, it's the outcomes that matter and the council was proud to say that Cheshire East has the best results in the North West and the third highest in England.

Budgets

Pressed on Budgets and Council Tax levels, Rachel carefully did not commit to a further freeze of the council tax into the future, rather pointing out that difficult decisions were going to be needed to sustain services in a "grant free arena" – in other words in the face of more cuts.

Key Issues

We asked what Rachel would look back on in four years time as she pondered whether or not to go for another term as leader. Her answers were clear as she highlighted the key issues:

• The impact of HS2 and on connectivity via the Crewe rail hub.
• Improved connectivity throughout Cheshire East, be it road or rail.
• Revitalising Crewe as a town.
• Underpinning the ability of the North West to deliver jobs and skills.
• Focussing throughout her time as leader on Cheshire East's 'Quality of Place' making it a great place to live.
• Successful engagement with neighbouring authorities.

When we pressed her on the last point and whether there was any thought of following her predecessor's talk of re-joining the two authorities, Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester, she simply re-emphasised the need to work closely and co-operatively with our neighbours.

So no indiscretion there – and no scoop for AudlemOnline!

She concluded by referring again to 'family'. "This is all about family, ensuring the people within Cheshire East, the councillors and the professionals, can make that delivery as effective as we can, with a residents first policy."

Bob Cartwright & Alvar Jones

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