‘It's business as usual’ – that’s the message from Cheshire West and Chester Council to companies and partners following Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Council leader Samantha Dixon and new chief executive Gerald Meehan have jointly signed a letter to businesses, partners and stakeholders in the wake of the decision which they admit has led to a ‘good deal of uncertainty’.

But the letter offers reassurance that CWaC is still committed to driving growth and prosperity.

The Cheshire West and Chester EU referendum count at Ellesmere Port Sports Village

Cllr Dixon, who campaigned to Remain in the EU, and Mr Meehan wrote: “Our local area still has considerable strengths with a strong skills base, excellent businesses and fantastic growth potential. It is vital that we maintain and build on these strengths in the post referendum environment.

“Please be assured that we will be working with partners and civil servants to ensure we positively influence any future changes to funding and business support for the Cheshire West and Chester area.

"We also remain committed to an ambitious devolution agenda so that we can draw down the powers from Whitehall and Brussels to improve our local economy.”

And the letter says Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, on which Cllr Dixon sits along with other regional politicians and business people including music mogul Pete Waterman, is interested in hearing from companies and investors about how they think the result will affect them.

Gerald Meehan took over from Steve Robinson to become the new chief executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council as of last Friday

It adds: “This includes whether businesses are intending to progress investments or whether plans are being reconsidered, any major contracts affected as a result of the outcome or whether companies are potentially facing difficulties/seeing no change in trading positions. We will feed through any information received locally.”

The letter ends: “We will continue to stay in contact and keep businesses informed about any major developments as they emerge.”

In terms of the impact of Brexit on EU-funded projects at CWaC, the council says it is ‘not aware of any current projects managed by the council being affected by the possible withdrawal of European funding’.