PLANS to scrap the borough council in favour of a single 'super council' for the county have been rejected by a landslide by Crewe and Nantwich residents.
The results of the council's controversial £100,000 'Keep It Local referendum' on the future of local government in Cheshire showed of the estimated 30,000 people who took part in the ballot, 85% rejected the proposals for a single authority in favour of saving and improving the borough council.
The results come days after the council's 'Quality of Life' survey of 1,500 people found that 80% of those polled were against the shake-up.
Conservative council leader Brian Silvester said the results showed people in the borough valued their local council, and reflected national trends.
He said: 'These results show the people of the borough want to 'keep it local', and I hope the Government will now scrap their plans for unitary councils in Cheshire.
'Gordon Brown has promised to give 'power to the people' when he becomes Prime Minister, and the people of Crewe and Nantwich have spoken very clearly, so I hope Mr Brown is listening.'
And he added that the results reflected national trends.
'In the North East regional assembly referendum in 2004, 78% voted against and the Government dropped the idea of a regional assembly.
'The opposition to the new 'super council' for Cheshire is even higher than that.'
The results of the ballot and MORI poll launched in May will now be put to the Government, although it is not obliged to recognise the information.
Council direct services boss David Marren added: 'We are one of the few councils in the country to take the trouble to ask the views of its residents on this very important issue, because we believed they had a right to have a say about the size and shape of their local authority.'
But opposition leaders have accused the Tory group of hijacking the referendum for political gain.
Gwyn Griffiths, Liberal Democrat leader, said: 'It would be nice to let the public see the broad cross-party support there is across the chamber for public participation, but perhaps that doesn't fit in with Cllr Silvester's agenda.'
Labour leader Steve Hogben added: 'I'm not surprised by the results, but I hope the alternative suggestions people put forward are analysed properly. '
THE Results
Eligible voters 88,030 Returned ballots 29,930 Overall participation 34% Invalid ballots: Left blank 216, Spoiled 160, Ballot number removed 61 Total valid votes 29,493 Rate of participation (excluding invalid ballots) 33.5% Preference breakdown Option A (Improved two-tier) 25,022 (84.8%) Option B1 (Countywide unitary) 2,952 (10.0%) Option B2 (Two unitaries for East/West Cheshire) 1,519 (5.2%)
