Focus on the future

Jun 27 2008 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

Cllr Mike Jones is the man in charge of Cheshire West and Chester Council which takes the reins of power in April 2009. DAVID HOLMES meets him

The Tory leader of the new Cheshire West & Chester Council actually fought against the creation of his own authority.

The Conservatives were against Hazel Blears’ decision to reorganise the existing Chester City and Cheshire County councils. However Cllr Mike Jones says the electorate has voted for his party to make the system work and that’s what they will do.

“We have got to look forward not backwards. We have always said it was a government decision and we’ve got to live with that and do the best for residents,” said Cllr Jones, 48, who lives in Hargrave, near Tattenhall.

The council will perform all local government functions with a headquarters at County Hall. It takes over proper from April 1 next year along with its counterpart in Cheshire East.

The change will see the abolition of Cheshire County Council and district councils Chester City, Ellesmere Port and Vale Royal.

Cllr Jones said the Tory group had come up with its own strategy to ensure the reorganisation paid for itself over three to four years.

In statesman-like mode, Cllr Jones says that as leader of a council serving West Cheshire he must now look after the interests of not just Chester but the rural community – who feel isolated due to the loss of amenities – and Ellesmere Port which needs a regeneration strategy.

The aim of the reorganisation is to simplify the structure and cut out duplication of effort to lighten the burden on council taxpayers resulting in the loss of more than 500 positions in West Cheshire.

But Cllr Jones said existing councils were preparing for the hand-over by freezing recruitment and offering voluntary redundancy. Come April 1 most front-line staff would simply transfer across. Any pruning would be among middle and senior managers.

Cllr Jones is aware of the need to provide a sense of security to thousands of council workers worried about their jobs.

As a former senior manager with large utility companies he has been at the sharp-end of take-over bids.

“I have been involved in acquisitions and mergers. In some cases I have come out of them very well and in other cases I have lost my job. That’s the way life is.”

Cllr Jones, who is married to Suzanne and has four daughters, said: “We have got an immense challenge in combining three district councils and splitting the county in half and out of that creating one organisation with about 15,000 staff and a £0.5bn budget.

“We have only got 11 months from 1 May until 1 April 2009 which is a ridiculously short time-scale but it does have advantages in that it forces the pace of change.

“That will hopefully mean decisions are made sooner rather than later.”