These are draft minutes that have not yet been approved by the council. The minutes are subject to change and will be confirmed at the next meeting.

24/101 PRESENT

Councillors Banks, Gardiner, Gray, Hartley, Johnson, Lowe, McCulloch, Mears and Watson

In attendance: A Keppel-Green (Town Clerk)

 

24/102 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Cllrs Coan, Dalzell and Forrest (health), Robertson, Russell (personal business) and Wood (business)

 

24/103 DECLARATIONS OF MEMBERS’ INTERESTS

No member declared an interest in any item.

 

24/104 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

No members of the public wished to address the meeting.

 

24/105 CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13th January.

 

24/106 COMMITTEE MINUTES

The minutes of committee meetings were noted.

 

24/107 MEMBERS’ REPORTS

The written reports of members were noted. Questions were raised in respect of the level of reserves held by Knutsford Heritage Centre, Cllr Banks reported he had been unable to attend the recent Manchester Airport Technical Advisory Group meeting and Cllr Hartley praised the Wassail organised by the Crosstown Community Orchard.

 

24/108 CHESHIRE DEVOLUTION

It was RESOLVED to respond to the consultation noting the proposals and expressing the council’s wish to work with the proposed combined authority on its areas of responsibility.

 

24/109 CORPORATE PEER CHALLENGE ACTION PLAN

It was RESOLVED to approve the action plan.

It was RESOLVED to authorise the Town Clerk to deliver the action plan in consultation with the Corporate Peer Challenge working group.

 

24/110 STRATEGIC PLAN PHASES

It was RESOLVED to divide the strategic plan into three delivery phases (2025-2028, 2028-2031 and 2031-2033) and approve the split of objectives as presented, with the amendment of placing objective T4 in phase two and T3 in phase three.

 

24/110 MEMBER LEADS/CHAMPIONS

It was RESOLVED not to implement member lead/champion roles.

 

24/111 STANDING ORDERS REVIEW

It was proposed and seconded to insert a new Standing Order 112 as outlined in report C-24-34 with the amendment to add reference to the soundings of members being presented to the relevant chairman. The proposal stood adjourned to the next meeting.

 

24/111 CORPORATE RISK REGISTER

It was RESOLVED to approve the corporate risk register, with the addition of a risk of underestimating or providing insufficient budget for capital works with an impact score of 2 and a likelihood score of 3.

 

24/095 MAYORAL DUTIES

The Town Mayor reported on attendance at the events detailed in appendix A.

 

24/096 PAYMENTS

The payments were noted.

 

24/097 OUTSTANDING MATTERS LOG

The log was noted. It was noted that a log would be prepared for matters referred to CEC ward members, and the poor condition of repairs to the Rookswood Way and the poor condition of Northwich Road and Haig Road was raised.

 

24/107 CHESHIRE EAST COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS

Cllr Gardiner joined the meeting.

The written reports of Cllrs Dean and Gardiner were noted and Cllr Gardiner further reported that there would likely be further news to report in the coming weeks.

 

24/098 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

A resident stated they felt the council got through the agenda very efficiently.

 

24/099 QUESTIONS TO THE TOWN CLERK

The Town Clerk responded to questions advising that:

  • Road repairs during the winter are undertaken to a different, temporary standard due to the effects of the cold weather
  • Discussions were ongoing with Crown Estate about the creation of a permissive path from Tabley Road to Lawrence Way.
  • That the majority of applicants during the recent recruitment processes were female and that this was possible due to most roles being part time
  • That the council could look to introduce an architectural award if it was felt warranted
  • That the public right of way between 95-97 King Street had been established by the Planning Inspectorate at an inquiry, but that there was an application to extinguish the path which the Town Council has objected to

 

24/100 DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting will be held on 12th May 2025 at 7pm