Update 12.03.25 from District Councillor Matthew Spooner
With regards to Local Government Reorganisation, I'd like to add the following:
I was elected in 2023 to SMDC on a platform to see more investment in Cheadle and to help change the perception of being the 'poor relation' to Leek that some people feel. To date we've made some progress on this, securing the future of Cheadle's indoor market for the community, investing millions of pounds into Cheadle's Leisure Centre and creating the environment to bring arts and culture into the town, such as the lantern parade held just before Christmas. But I recognise there is still more to do.
Cheadle is a growing town, and the Local Plan allocated the majority of the Moorland's housing to Cheadle. It was clear then, and even more so now, that Cheadle's infrastructure struggles to cope with this level of development.
Developments pay into pots of money known as Section 106 funds held by the heavily indebted County Council who then, more often than not, has to top these pots up for infrastructure. That's new schools, doctors surgeries, roads, public transport, flood defences, child and adult social care all handled by Stafford.
Local Government Reorganisation will end the bureaucratic nightmare by creating new, Unitary Authorities that can plan housing developments and infrastructure in tandem with one another, ensuring that places like Cheadle are able to cope.
A Unitary Authority will also end the madness that we see in Blythe Bridge, where one side of the road SMDC empties the bins, the other side Stafford Borough Council, the County Council tries to maintain the road until you get to the roundabout when it becomes Stoke-on-Trent City Council/National Highways problem.
There are currently two options on the table for how this reorganisation might take place. The Option put forward by Stoke-on-Trent City Council which is to have North and South Staffordshire Authorities, or the County Council's proposal to have the entire county, except S-o-T run from Stafford.
I always want to see decision making brought as close to the individual and communities as possible, so of the options currently on the table I do favour the North/South Staffordshire options. It will be a chance to try something completely new and with the other districts joining the authority it would not represent a 'takeover' by Stoke as some have tried to insist. There is a world where the 'rural' councillors outnumber those from the City! Stoke's proposal also calls for greater powers and responsibilities for Town and Parish councils keeping democracy truly local.
The County Council's proposal tries to keep things as close to the same as they are, but takes away more of the local part of local government with decision making being made in Stafford. You just have to look how well Cheadle and the wider North Staffordshire area have been prioritied by the county by looking at the state of our roads. (It's election time for this in May, notice all the roadworks all of a sudden).
This is only a preference at this point though and my view may change. If SMDC or any other local authority in Staffordshire pts an option on the table I will consider it earnestly and analyse it in the same way as I have the others.
This is a multifaceted problem, and I've only touched on a couple of issues here. I think there has been a lot of heat, but little light, created in this debate so far. Ultimately I think the majority of people just want to see there bins collected regularly, their streets well maintained and communal facilities remaining open to them and aren't necessarily particularly concerned about who does it.
Local government reform is about where decisions about those services are made, and I hope that they are made as close to Cheadle as possible, and includes people from Cheadle.
'TLDR (too long didn't read)
Update 070325: From District & Town Councillor James Aberley
James has kindly shared the official statement from Staffordshire Moorlands Conservatives following the SMDC assembly and his own personal viewpoint. James told COGNEWS "The meeting at SMDC currently changes nothing. It was clear that there was some bias on both sides of the chamber as to councillors who were minded towards working with the Stoke solution and those that aren’t. These broadly fall along party political lines and I can confirm that every Conservative member is committed to not ending up in an arrangement that includes Stoke City Council."
"It’s on us now to keep the public pressure up, also to steer SMDC towards favouring more sensible proposals that don’t leave our residents indebted before the new authority even begins. "
You can download the official statement by the Staffordshire Moorlands Conservatives here:
060325: NALC welcomes government clarification over parish and town council involvement in reorganisation proposals
The National Association of Local Councils has welcomed the government's clarification on parish and town councils' involvement in the development of proposals for unitary local government by local authorities.
NALC Chair, Cllr Keith Stevens, made representations directly to the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon MP, expressing concern that recent guidance to local authorities failed to include parish and town councils in a list of local partners, stakeholders and public bodies that they should engage with. You can download a copy of his reply here:
Interestingly the letter also states that District Councils should engage with residents, confirming County Councillor Keith Flunders requests to SMDC yesterday.
Update 050325:
Last night (5th March) at 6:00 pm, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council held their Council Assembly to discuss government plans for devolution and the reorganisation of local government across England. Very few councillors were absent, and the debate continued for almost three hours before the proposal went to a vote.
Chairing the meeting, Councillor and District Chair Ian Plant gave everyone the opportunity to be heard, and the debate, while passionate and for the most part honest, saw opposing views come together in an agreement quickly and unanimously. Councillors agreed to the establishment of a politically balanced Sub-Committee to support the development of a preferred option for Staffordshire Moorlands comprising: Conservative 4 nominations, Independent 2 nominations, Labour 4 nominations (including the Leader). You can read the report in the links at the foot of this page.
What was clear from the assembly was that there was a consensus that if Staffordshire did not submit a proposal to the government, then the government would move forward on this anyway. The most mentioned area in the debate by far was Cheadle and Councillors Aberley, Haines, Wheeldon, Bentley & Spooner all putting forward a local perspective. Other councillors including Councillors Yates & Wilkinson also mentioned Cheadle.
The only heated moment was between Councillors Deaville & Wheeldon when Councillor Deaville repeatedly accused councillor Wheeldon of giving up on her town, it was disappointing to see an obvious misinterpretation of what was said and Chairman Ian Plant had to reprimand County Councillor Deaville twice for his behaviour, this was able to occur because Councillor Deaville used a point of clarification request to repeat his previous remarks. County Coucillor Flunder asked repeatedly if local people would have have a say in the decision making process, Council Leader, Mike Gledhill informed the assembly that they would not, but stakeholders would be consulted. This was later corrected by Chief Executive Andrew Stokes who indicated that there would be some public consultation, though he did not clarify what form that would take.
Notable comments from Councillors include:
"This is a train we can’t stop, but hopefully we can send it down the right track"
"There is no done deal and no mergers" - Mike Gledhill
"Assets don’t belong to the council they belong to the people"
"Let the people decide their future" - Joe Porter
We have asked all Cheadle district councillors for comment and will publish as received.
Devolution & Local Government Reorganisation - what's happening locally - last updated 05.03.25
All district, borough, county and some small unitary councils will be abolished in the next few years as part of government plans. In Staffordshire, the eight district and borough councils, Staffordshire County Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council will be replaced by unitary councils serving a minimum of 500,000 people each. The Government expects the process to be completed by April 2028.
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent council leaders are charged with submitting proposals for devolution and local government by 28 November. An interim plan setting out where the leaders are with the process needs to be submitted by the Staffordshire Leaders Board to the Government by 21 March.
Councillors at Cheadle Town Council will meet this evening (Monday, 3rd March) to open discussions as to how this will impact Cheadle and the role the town council will play in this gargantuan change. What is unacceptable and makes this very difficult to navigate is that the government have so far not issued any guidelines as to the role town and parish councils are to play in what will be an unrecognisably changed local government landscape. Westminster is silent on the subject, despite NALC (National Association of Local Councils) requests for clarity and financial support for town councils. The discussion at Cheadle Town Council opens ahead of the SMDC Council Assemble to take place on Wednesday 5 March.
Councillors at Staffordshire Moorlands will take part in a Council Assembly to discuss Government plans for devolution and the reorganisation of local government across England. A report has been provided to all Moorlands councillors with details of the Government’s White Paper on English Devolution published last December. This refers to devolution that has already happened and is currently proceeding and sets out the criteria Government is looking for to strike new devolution arrangements and how it wants to simplify council structures; as well as providing Staffordshire’s emerging position on both devolution and local government reorganisation.
Commenting in advance of the Council Assembly, Staffordshire Moorlands Leader, Councillor Mike Gledhill said:
“My main message to fellow councillors is to make sure that we engage fully in this process in order to have influence on any proposals and, crucially, that we strive to get the best possible position for the future of Moorlands residents and businesses.
“The reality is we are a council serving 95,000 people and are too small to survive on our own, which is why we went into an alliance with neighbouring High Peak Borough Council 15 years ago. We have made a good success of that. But with the Government looking for large unitary councils to deliver the full range of local government services we now need to seek new allies and use our expertise of partnerships to join with other councils where it makes geographic and economic sense to do so.
“We are aware of proposals put in the public domain by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council. Both involve the creation of completely new unitary authorities and the abolition of the county, city, district and borough councils. There may be other proposals to add to these in the days to come. All proposals will figure in our discussions.
“Before any proposals are submitted in November, there is a huge amount to consider. Not least how our strong local identity would be preserved - we are a rural area with over 40 parish and town councils we are proud to work with, where we want strong working relationships to continue; the financial position of any councils we might join with and would this be to the detriment of our residents; and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent’s position on having an elected mayor and what this might mean for unlocking devolution and, finally, what local government structure would best serve our area in the future.
“We must work through all the options carefully in the coming months, including consulting stakeholders about any proposals and gauging the views of residents.
“The report, therefore, asks Moorlands councillors to agree to the establishment of a Sub-Committee, which would consider all of the above and then recommend preferred options to a future meeting. It will be crucial in helping us navigate through what will be the most significant change to local government in 50 years.”
Town councillor perspective:
If devolution was a football match it would be the equivalent of a 3rd division side expecting to meet a premier league team only to find out that you might be playing Brazil and are expected to buy the chairs, but they are not going to tell you until your team is on the pitch.
Useful Links
Devolution at Cheadle Town Council is at this stage likely to be councillors only - but a report will be provided.
The report to be considered at the SMDC Council Assembly can be found here
Anyone wishing to follow the discussions on 5 March from 6pm at SMDC in Leek can watch from their own home by following the webcast link here
The cultural heritage of market towns:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2025-0044/
Staffordshire County Council's devolution page including their proposal: https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Your-council-and-democracy/Devolution/Local-government-reorganisation-and-devolution.aspx
Information from Stoke-on-Trent City Council is not currently available, a request has been made for a copy of their proposal. For those looking for background this is a useful article: Council takes fresh vision for growth and prosperity to the heart of Government: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/news/article/1723/council_takes_fresh_vision_for_growth_and_prosperity_to_the_heart_of_government
Jim McMahon OBE MP, Minister of State for Local Government's Letter to Leaders of two-tier councils and unitary council in Staffordshire outlining his proposal: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-reorganisation-invitation-to-local-authorities-in-two-tier-areas/letter-staffordshire-and-stoke-on-trent
How is SMDC composed? https://www.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/article/1439/Political-control-and-composition#:~:text=The%20Council%20is%20controlled%20by,Council%20is%20Councillor%20Mike%20Gledhill.
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