Even as office chairs were being loaded into a van for relocation, the very last meeting of Cheshire East Council was held at Westfields in Sandbach, the base for not only the current council but for Congleton borough council before it.
The last meeting held in former Foden family home was the Corporate Policy Committee – an appropriate coincidence, as on 30th November last year, it was the same committee that decided that Cheshire East should leave its HQ in the town and move its offices and meetings to other areas of the county (writes Stewart Green).
By the time of the meeting, the building was without a reception and many of the staff had moved out.
It was Congleton borough under Coun Roland Domleo in 2008 that decided to demolish the former home of the Foden family and build a new administration building on the site, along with a large car park.
Coun Domleo’s aim was to create a new headquarters that the newly-created Cheshire East would have to use, keeping the council local to the old borough rather than Crewe or Macclesfield.
His plan worked: when Cheshire East was formed in 2009 and took over the administration of Congleton borough, it decided to use the Westfields building as its headquarters because it was central to most of the new district and was all new.
Fast forward to now and the need to save money, and in November 2023 the Corporate Policy Committee was looking at the principles of the council’s Workplace programme, to improve productivity, value for money and services to residents, as well as reducing the environmental footprint of the council, offer staff an improved work life balance and reduce costs.
It was decided it was best to move to existing offices in Crewe and Macclesfield, other buildings across Cheshire East and allow staff to work at home – many of those who worked at Westfields now have long commutes.
In October, it was reported that Westfields could be converted into a special needs school, although the currently free car park is now a pay and display.
The last meeting began with a representative of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) opening a discussion on proposed new rail links and the possibility of them coming to Crewe, followed by a long discussion about the view of Cheshire East towards the new proposal by the mayors of Manchester, Birmingham and the other metro councils to resurrect the rail link from London to Manchester and the impact it would have on the region (ITALICS see page 13).
It was also pointed out that a proposed £180 million grant to Cheshire East by prime minister Richi Sunak to improve local transport would not materialise, as the new Labour Government had failed to fulfil the pledge made by the Tories.
The reason for the move came next: councillors discussed their £20 million overspend followed by a financial strategy laid before the committee by Adele Taylor, temporary director of finance, including new council tax payments which she assured members still gave 100% relief for those on a low income but would charge 100% for second furnished homes from April 2025.
After three hours and nineteen minutes of public discussion (plus a short break at noon and a press exclusion period) chairman Coun Nick Mannion ended with: “It’s been a long meeting and a long agenda – thanks for the quality of the debate.
“It may be the last time we meet at Westfields but I think we have ended on a high because we have had some very serious stuff on the agenda, and I think we have shown how Cheshire East can operate effectively as a committee.”
The building has now closed to all remaining staff.
