:Cheshire East Council#Handforth Parish Council

The council and district were created in 2009, covering the combined area of the former districts of Congleton, Crewe and Nantwich and Macclesfield. The new council also took on the functions of the abolished Cheshire County Council in the area. Cheshire East is both a non-metropolitan district and a non-metropolitan county, but there is no separate county council; instead the district council performs both district and county functions, making it a unitary authority.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008|year=2008|number=634|access-date=8 May 2024}} For the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty, Cheshire East remains part of the ceremonial county of Cheshire.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Lieutenancies Act 1997|year=1997|chapter=23|schedule=1|access-date=7 May 2024}}

The new district was awarded borough status from its creation on 1 April 2009, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor. The council's full legal name is therefore Cheshire East Borough Council, although it styles itself Cheshire East Council.{{cite book |title=Bulletin of changes to local authority arrangements, areas and names in England |date=2009 |publisher=Department for Communities and Local Government |location=London |page=16 |url=https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/17520/bulletinchanges08-09.pdf |access-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117184213/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/17520/bulletinchanges08-09.pdf |archive-date=17 January 2022}}

The council provides both district-level and county-level functions. In its capacity as a district council it is a billing authority collecting Council Tax and business rates, and it is responsible for town planning, housing, waste collection and environmental health. In its capacity as a county council it is a local education authority, and is responsible for social services, libraries and waste disposal.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government Act 1972|year=1972|chapter=70}} The whole borough is covered by civil parishes, which form a second tier of local government.{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=7 May 2024}}

Until May 2019 the council was controlled by the Conservatives. At the 2019 elections the council was left under no overall control. On 22 May 2019, the newly elected councillors met for the first time and elected Labour's Sam Corcoran as leader, after the party came to an agreement with independent councillors.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-48369810 |title=Cheshire East Council elects first Labour leader |author=Phil McCann |publisher=BBC |date=22 May 2019 |access-date=22 May 2019}} A similar coalition, still led by Corcoran, continued to form the council's administration following the 2023 elections.{{cite news |title=Cheshire East Council to be run by coalition after deal is struck |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-65613302 |access-date=8 May 2024 |work=BBC News |date=16 May 2023}}

The first election to the council was held in 2008, initially acting as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 1 April 2009. Political control of the council since 2009 has been as follows:{{cite web |title=Compositions calculator |url=https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/?page_id=3825 |website=The Elections Centre |access-date=7 May 2024}}{{cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/local_council/08/html/13ug.stm | title = Cheshire East | access-date = 2009-11-20 | publisher = BBC News Online | date=2008-04-19}}

The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Cheshire East. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The first leader, Wesley Fitzgerald, had been the last leader of the old Macclesfield Borough Council. The leaders of Cheshire East Council since 2009 have been:{{cite web |title=Council minutes |url=https://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/ecminutes/mgCalendarMonthView.aspx?GL=1&bcr=1 |website=Cheshire East Council |access-date=4 September 2022}}

Following the 2023 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to May 2024, the composition of the council was as follows:{{cite news |title=Local elections 2023: full council results for England |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2023/may/05/local-elections-2023-results-live-council-england |access-date=26 May 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=9 May 2023}}

Seven of the independent councillors sit with the local parties Residents of Wilmslow, Tytherington Independents and Alderley First as the "Independent Group", which forms the council's administration in coalition with Labour. The other three independents (one of whom describes herself as "independent socialist") do not form part of a group.{{cite web |title=Your councillors by political grouping |url=https://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/ecminutes/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=GROUPING&VW=LIST&PIC=0 |website=Cheshire East Council |access-date=8 May 2024}} The next election is due in 2027.

The council's main administrative offices were at Westfields on Middlewich Road in Sandbach.{{cite news|last=Green|first=Stewart|title=Historic last meeting is held at Westfields|date=5 December 2024|newspaper=Congleton Chronicle|page=3}} The building was opened in 2008 as the headquarters of the former Congleton Borough Council, one of Cheshire East's predecessors.{{cite news |title=New council HQ formally opened |url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/new-council-hq-formally-opened-2851075 |access-date=5 September 2022 |work=North Wales Live |date=25 January 2008}} Council and committee meetings are held at various venues across the borough, including Crewe Municipal Buildings, Macclesfield Town Hall, and Sandbach Town Hall.{{cite web |title=Council meeting calendar |url=https://moderngov.cheshireeast.gov.uk/ecminutes/mgCalendarAgendaView.aspx?XXR=0&M=1&DD=2022&ACT=Go&WN=1&LI=46& |website=Cheshire East Council |access-date=5 September 2022}}

File:Delamere House, Crewe.JPG

In 2023 the council decided to close Westfields and make its existing building at Delamere House in Crewe the headquarters instead.{{cite news |last1=Watterson |first1=Kaleigh |title=Council agrees to close its own headquarters |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0w2x6y4lvlo |access-date=8 May 2024 |work=BBC News |date=30 November 2023}} Delamere House was completed in 1974 as a joint facility for both the old Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council and Cheshire County Council, and has served as Cheshire East Council's local offices in Crewe since the reorganisation in 2009.{{CN|date=September 2024}} Westfields closed in December 2024.

{{also|Cheshire East Council elections}}

Since the last boundary changes in 2011 the council has comprised 82 councillors representing 52 wards, with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cheshire East (Electoral Changes) Order 2011|year=2011|number=3|access-date=8 May 2024}}

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = Coat of arms of Cheshire East Borough Council.png

|escutcheon = Azure three mural crowns conjoined in pairle reversed between three garbs Or.{{cite web|url=https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/armorial_bearings_47#incoming-2765264 |publisher=WhatDoTheyKnow |accessdate=6 October 2024 |title=Armorial Bearings}}

|crest = Out of an Eastern crown Gules a demi stag Or.

|lambrequin = Azure doubled Or.

|badge = A garb Or enfiling an Eastern crown Gules.

|supporters = Dexter a griffin Gules sinister a lion Or each gorged with a wreath of laurel Proper.

|compartment = A grassy mount Vert charged to the dexter with a bendlet wavy Azure fimbriated Argent and to the sinister with a bendlet wavy sinister Azure fimbriated Argent.

|motto = Working Together For Excellence

|notes = Granted 16 December 2009 by the College of Arms.}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Local authorities in Cheshire}}

{{Unitary authorities of England}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Unitary authority councils of England

Category:Local education authorities in England

Category:Local authorities in Cheshire

Category:Billing authorities in England

Category:2009 establishments in England

Category:Borough of Cheshire East