Autumn 2017 the Magazine for Residents
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ISSUE 01 AUTUMN 2017 THE MAGAZINE FOR RESIDENTS THE The Autumn Edition TATTON PARK The autumn statement… 2 THE YOUR Council CONTENTS If you would like to find out more about how Cheshire East Council operates, including finding your local councillor, cabinet membership, the corporate leadership consultations team, webcasts and list of public meetings, then please visit: cheshireeast.gov.uk/ council_and_democracy Contact Us If you have a compliment, comment or complaint, then please call the Cheshire East Council Information Line on 0300 123 5500, visit: cheshireeast.gov.uk or you can find us on: @cheshireeast On the cover /cheshireeastcouncil Simon Tetlow and John Hoxworth of the /cheshireeast Tatton Garden Team /cheshireeast 17 The VoiCE Editorial If you would like to get in touch always meet with universal approval but please email us on: which are necessary if we are to live within [email protected] our means and meet our responsibilities and duties as a council. The VoiCE Advertising With ever increasing demands, reducing If you are interested in advertising funding and the pressure to deliver more for and promoting your business less – especially in adult social care and within to over 171,000 households children and families services – it’s vital that in Cheshire East, please email: we, as your local council, keep you informed [email protected] and fully up-to-date with the array of latest The VoiCE is brought to you and developments, which will affect you and produced by the Communications your family. Team at Cheshire East Council. An Along with my cabinet colleagues and the electronic version can be found on council’s senior officers, who are all firmly our website and the publication committed to facing the day to day challenges can be made available in alternative of running your council, I truly believe the formats on request. future of the borough is extremely promising. Recycling and The VoiCE It’s an exciting time with many opportunities on the horizon, not least the prospect of The VoiCE is produced using Leader’s Welcome HS2 on the doorstep, major regeneration FSC accredited paper. The Forest around Macclesfield and Crewe and a thriving Stewardship Council® (FSC) is Welcome to the first edition of business and visitor economy. an international organisation Cheshire East Council’s new promoting responsible I am resolute in my determination that for quarterly magazine – THE management of the earth’s forests. you, our residents, Cheshire East remains a I became Leader of the council back in desirable place to live, work, visit and to invest Please make every effort to recycle February 2016 and I continue to be fascinated for many years and for generations to come. your edition after you have read it. by the diversity, character and size of the local So, I do hope you enjoy this first edition of authority. How much does it cost? The VoiCE and please take the time to read it. Each copy of the The VoiCE has cost With a revenue budget of £600m, the council, If you have any comments at all, please email 19p to design, print and distribute which is the third largest in the north west, [email protected] to every household within Cheshire provides on a daily basis more than 500 Councillor Rachel Bailey, East Council’s area, but some quality services to our 370,000 residents in Leader of Cheshire East Council overspill might happen around more than 170,000 households. the boundary. As I am sure you are all aware by now, financial times for all local councils are tough. There will be difficult choices to make, which won’t ISSUE 01 | AUTUMN 2017 | WWW.CHESHIREEAST.GOV.UK 3 10 16 7 14 11 12 4&5 NEWS BULLETIN The latest 10 FAMILIES MATTER Family service 14&15 CRAFTING A CLEANER news, including top-notch bin collections worker Ewa Chudzio reveals all about BOROUGH Residents’ work to keep and plans for a new state-of-the art her role. Crewe clean. history centre. 11 VIRTUAL REALITY Trial of code 16&17 FLYING THE GREEN FLAGS 6&7 REGENERATION PLANS breaker brought to the theatre. Gardening advice and the history of Latest redevelopment news for Crewe, 12 THE RIGHT ADOPTION Crewe’s Queens Park. Macclesfield and Congleton. Nantwich couple share their story of 18 HEALTH AND WELLBEING 8&9 YOUR KEY TO INDEPENDENT becoming adoptive parents. Flu jab information and health and LIVING Care and Repair team 13 FOSTERING – DO SOMETHING lifestyle services. transform couple’s lives. INCREDIBLE 19 WHAT’S ON Your guide to what’s happening across your borough this autumn. 4 THE NEWS BULLETIN School admissions – apply online Is your child due to start reception class or transfer to secondary school next September? If you haven’t yet applied for a school place, please make sure you visit our website – cheshireeast.gov. uk/schooladmissions – and apply online before the closing dates: • Reception class: January 15, 2018; and • Transferring to Year 7 secondary: Archiving for the future These would be climate-controlled October 31, 2017. environments to house the collections, Cheshire East looks set to be the location Applying online is quick and easy better display them and make them more of a new state-of-the art history centre to and also means you can get an interactive and accessible to the public. host the region’s archive. email notification of your offer. The archive ranges from the middle ages Cheshire Archives and Local Studies, a to the present day and includes tens of If you have any queries, please shared service of Cheshire East Council thousands of photographs, maps and email: admissions@cheshireeast. and Cheshire West and Chester Council, books covering all aspects of Cheshire’s gov.uk or call 0300 123 5012 needs a new home as its current one in history. Chester is no longer fit for purpose. The The £13m joint scheme would see each plan is for the archive to be rehoused in authority contribute £4.2m, with the two new bespoke history centres – one in remainder of the money being sought via Crewe, located at the ‘old library’ site, and a bid for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. one in Chester. Subject to funding, the proposed new facilities would open by 2023. Bin collections buck Pavements become artists’ canvas national trend More than 10,000 people headed to Crewe Chew and a self portrait by award-winning town centre to enjoy Chalk It Up – an artist Adry del Rocio, from Mexico. Our bin collections are bucking the international pavement art festival held on national trend and delivering a top- Well done to all those who had a go at Market Square. notch service for residents. pavement art themselves, including Twenty-two artists transformed 12ft by youngsters who produced some fantastic Nationally, councils in England are 16ft pitches into breathtaking pieces of pieces of artwork. ‘getting it wrong too often’ when it original and copy art – including a 3D comes to waste collection complaints, You can find a gallery of images from the dinosaur, tribute to suffragette Ada Nield says the Local Government and Social festival on our Facebook page. Care Ombudsman. Its new report shows the Ombudsman upheld 81 per cent of its complaint investigations into council waste and recycling services last year – up from 59 per cent the year before. But in Cheshire East it’s a different story, with zero complaints referred to the Ombudsman about its waste collection service, which has one of the highest approval ratings with local residents. ISSUE 01 | AUTUMN 2017 | WWW.CHESHIREEAST.GOV.UK 5 Support services on your doorstep Community venues across Cheshire East will soon become ‘Connected Communities Centres’ in a scheme to make a wider range of activities and support services available on your All Hallows Catholic College doorstep. As part of our Connected Communities strategy, more than differentiation of students at the top £150,000 has been pledged to help What a result! grades. Provisional figures show that 70 community venues develop the Young people across Cheshire East per cent of Cheshire East pupils achieved services they offer and encourage have achieved yet more success for the a ‘standard pass’ or better in English more people to use them. borough by producing impressive GCSE and maths. Nine of our 22 schools were From coffee mornings, computer and A-level results. above 75 per cent. Currently, there is no classes and line dancing, to learning At A-level, a fantastic 27 per cent of equivalent rate nationally. a language, sharing a problem and students achieved grades A* to A, which In English, a stunning 83 per cent gained support for stroke sufferers – there’s is higher than the proportion nationally, the standard pass or better compared something for everyone. Every and well over half (54 per cent) achieved to 65 per cent nationally, and 74 per centre will also have a computer an A* to B grade. In addition, 10 per cent of cent gained the standard, pass or better tablet connected to our Live Well students achieved the highest grade of A*, in maths compared with 69 per cent community information website, compared to a national figure of 8 per cent. nationally. so you can easily find out what’s available in your area. This year, new reformed GCSEs have been Well done to all! developed to meet the requirements Within the next 12 months, 30 of the government, who wanted more- For more information on schools, visit our centres will be opened across challenging qualifications and better website: cheshireeast.gov.uk/schools the borough.