Annual Governance & Accountability Return for the year ended 31 March 2024
Sections 20(2) and 25 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014
Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/234)
Announcement made by Adam Keppel-Green (Clerk and RFO)
Date of announcement: 30/09/2024
We have a vacancy for a Parish Councillor, an unpaid role serving and representing your community.
The “job”:
Up for the challenge? The Council will be co-opting a councillor at the meeting on November 12th. Apply by October 31st by completing the application form.
Cllr Gordon Mitchell, who joined the council in 2020, has today resigned from the Parish Council due to work and personal commitments.
Gordon said “I have enjoyed my time as a Gawsworth Parish Councillor, however feel it time to allow someone with more available time the opportunity to contribute.” Gordon aims to continue supporting the community through the council’s Footpaths working group.
Cllr Penny Shepherd, chair of the parish council, expressed the council’s thanks “On behalf of the parish council, thank you for your work with us over the last few years and hopefully this can continue in the future”
Following the resignation of Cllr Gordon Mitchell there is a vacancy for a Councillor for the Village Ward of the Parish Council.
Electors of this ward have the opportunity to request an election to fill the vacancy. If 10 electors write to Cheshire East Council requesting an election, one will be held. If fewer than 10 request an election, the parish council will co-opt to fill the vacancy.
An election means candidates seek a proposer/nominator and there will be a poll (vote). Co-option means the council will ask for applications and the existing councillors will vote to agree who becomes a councillor. Either way, the councillor will serve until May 2027 when the next ordinary elections are held.
Requests for an election must be in writing (in the post) to:
The Returning Officer
Cheshire East Council
Westfields
Middlewich Road
Sandbach
CW11 1HZ
Requests for an election must be received by 3rd September. If you have any questions about the vacancy, please email clerk@gawsworthpc.org.uk
As reported in last month’s Gazette, Cheshire East Council is consulting on its new local plan, scheduled for 2030.
An ‘issues paper’ set out a range of questions and Gawsworth Parish Council prepared a submission highlighting some of the topics which are thought to be of special importance to residents.
There are still many uncertainties about how the plan will develop but your council identified several Gawsworth related issues that it hopes can be addressed in the plan. You can read the Council’s submission below, but here are some highlights.
On the climate emergency, your councillors called for the local plan to increase protections for peatland moss areas, protecting them from development and adverse effects from nearby developments.
Landscape management and preservation featured prominently in the Council’s submission. We argued that there is no justification for further land to be released from Green Belt and consideration should be given to returning safeguarded land to the Green Belt where it is not needed for development.
Another recurring theme was the importance of Neighbourhood Plans. The Neighbourhood Plan runs from 2020–2030 but the Council plans to undertake an interim update in the next few years.
Identifying housing needs and affordable housing were identified as areas that the Parish Council wished to be involved in, more so than had been the case with the ill-fated Cheshire East Council Dark Lane proposal a few years back.
The Parish Council again raised the unfair intention of Cheshire East to give preference for affordable housing to Macclesfield residents, over Gawsworth residents, on the LPS15 development site – which is in Gawsworth!
Conscious of our older population, the local plan should recognise that as people age, they are likely to wish to remain in the communities where they have lived, near to family and healthcare services and therefore accommodation should be planned on a local basis. We also said development which increases traffic on dangerous roads such as the A536 should be resisted.
The Parish Council highlighted that there is no safe active travel route from Gawsworth to Macclesfield and emphasised the need for maintenance and development of the footpath network.
We raised a complaint that the only specific mention of Gawsworth in Cheshire East’s document was misleading and scientifically unsound. It highlighted Gawsworth’s ‘privilege’ linking it to health and was potentially to our disadvantage. We’ve asked for a retraction!
The Cheshire East Council consultation closes on 1st July. Once the Government issues the awaited detailed planning guidance, CEC will be able to commence work on the new plan in earnest.
1. Date of announcement 26th June 2024
2. Each year the smaller authority’s Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) needs to be reviewed by an external auditor appointed by Smaller Authorities’ Audit Appointments Ltd. The unaudited AGAR has been published with this notice. As it has yet to be reviewed by the appointed auditor, it is subject to change as a result of that review.
Any person interested has the right to inspect and make copies of the accounting records for the financial year to which the audit relates and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers, receipts and other documents relating to those records must be made available for inspection by any person interested. For the year ended 31 March 2022, these documents will be available on reasonable notice by application to:
(b) Adam Keppel-Green
Squirrel Brook, 68 Manor Park South, Knutsford, WA16 8AN
clerk@gawsworthpc.org.uk | 07584 057 228
commencing on (c) 27th June 2024
and ending on (d) 7th August 2024
3. Local government electors and their representatives also have:
The appointed auditor can be contacted at the address in paragraph 4 below for this purpose between the above dates only.
4. The smaller authority’s AGAR is subject to review by the appointed auditor under the provisions of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015 and the NAO’s Code of Audit Practice 2015. The appointed auditor is:
PKF Littlejohn LLP (Ref: SBA Team), 15 Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4HD (sba@pkf-l.com)
5. This announcement is made by (e) Adam Keppel-Green, Clerk and RFO.
The AGAR 2023/24 can be viewed here: AGAR 2023/24 (unaudited)
Data released by the ONS from the 2021 Census helps paint a picture of our community.
1700 people live in Gawsworth (one less than in 2011) across 740 households. Gawsworth is a notably older population and we are rather different from the national average in several respects.
The census is undertaken by the Office for National Statistics every 10 years and gives a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales. This detailed snapshot of our society helps the government, local authorities and a wide range of people and organisations to do their work and to plan and fund local services. All information is anonymised and the actual census records are kept secure for 100 years after which we can all use old census records for researching our family history.
Perhaps linked with our older age profile more of us than the national average are married or in a registered civil partnership, 59.5% v 44.7%, and only 13.7% of us are students compared with 20.4% nationally. More of us in Gawsworth own their homes outright (57.3% v 32.5%) and Gawsworth has more two person households yet we have more 4 bedroom and fewer 1 and 2 bedroom homes than the national norm.
Rather more of us work from home or drive to work than nationally but 47.3% of us are economically inactive compared with the national average of just 39.1%, but only 0.7% of us are ‘unemployed’ (compared with 3.5% nationally). We do seem comparatively rather ‘well off’ with many more 2, 3 or more car households.
We are not a very ethnically diverse community with 98.1% (compared with 81% nationally) being white. Almost two-thirds of residents are Christian (62.2% vs 46.3% nationally) and just under one-third hold no religion (31.2% vs 36.7% nationally). No one reporting they were Hindu, Jewish or Muslim.
We also have fewer non-UK passport holders and fewer residents born outside the UK.
You can view the full profile of Gawsworth residents here: Gawsworth Census Profile or you can explore the national data on the 2021 census website
Gawsworth has long discussed the need for improved road safety at the crossroads and in the 2016 Neighbourhood Plan survey it was the top road safety concern in the community. The A536 had been named one of the most dangerous roads in the country between Congleton and Macclesfield and in 2016 Cheshire East Council was invited to apply for the Government Safer Roads Fund to improve safety along the road.
The application (see here) included the following provision:
The signal installation at the Dark Lane/Church Lane junction will also alleviate the right turn and junction overshoot problem at that location. Improving route guidance and visual cues to drivers through improved carriageway making and signalling will lead to improved decision making and improved hazard perception.
Since Cheshire East Council was awarded the funds in 2018, Gawsworth Parish Council has been seeking information on the detailed proposals for the village.
In October 2022, Cheshire East Highways attended a parish council meeting, providing an update on the scheme. In relation to the traffic lights, the council was advised that proposals were based on the number of accidents between 2011-2016 and that the number had reduced in the period 2017-2021; it was explained that Cheshire East Highways would review whether lights were appropriate at the junction or alternative measures would better increase safety.
In November 2022, Cheshire East Highways advised that following this review, the recommendation was for a traffic signal junction with signalised pedestrian crossing provision to be installed. Over the past year, the Parish Council has been seeking the detailed proposals from Cheshire East Council to review.
At the October 2023 Parish Council meeting, Cheshire East Highways presented the draft scheme. Under this scheme:
Vehicle tracking had been undertaking to track large vehicles and the stop lines would be set back on Dark Lane and Church Lane to accommodate movements. It was confirmed the equipment was ordered in the spring and that works should commence in the first months of 2024.
At the Parish Council meeting residents and councillors raised a number of comments/concerns, some speaking in support of the proposed traffic signals, other comments summarised as:
Cheshire East Highways advised that:
Cheshire East Highways is currently revising its proposals following feedback at the meeting – this includes providing information on predicted queue lengths and how many cars would make it through each light cycle, assessing pedestrian access to the Methodist Church and checking to ensure driveways near stop lines will not be restricted.
Questions about the proposals can be asked via saferroadsfund@cheshireeasthighways.org. This is a dedicated email address for questions about the scheme. Whilst the email address can be used to inform CEC Highways of objections, they will review the comments received and any questions will be answered where possible. However, Cheshire East Highways has confirmed that it does not intend to review the decision on installing traffic signals.
Cheshire East Highways will be providing the Parish Council with a set of revised draft plans in advance of its next meeting on 14th November.
The Parish Council will formally be discussing the proposals at this meeting where a decision will be taken on their position to feed back to Cheshire East Highways. As always you can write to: clerk@gawsworthpc.org.uk to share your views, or contact any parish councillor.
Gawsworth Parish Council has adopted a new strategy to guide its work for the next four years.
These core aims will guide our work over the next four years.
The candidates have been announced for the May 2023 local elections.
The Parish Council wards are both uncontested, with nine candidates for the nine seats on the council. In Moss Ward the four candidates who will be elected unopposed are Penny Shepherd, Clair Dempsey, Emma Clarke and Andrea Kinsey. In Village Ward the five candidates who are also elected unopposed are Paul Woods, Adam Hardy, Rupert Richard, Julia Wright and Gordon Mitchell.
Cllr Margaret Parry is stepping down after just over four years on the council. The Parish Council thanks Margaret for her attentive service.
At Cheshire East, the seat for Gawsworth Ward is being fought for by four candidates, Sam Hale (Labour), Eleanor Hall (Liberal Democrats), Lesley Smetham (Conservative) and Andrew Wheatstone (Green Party).
The Macclesfield South Ward, which includes the Penningtons Lane area has seven candidates seeking election to the two seats. These are Joyce Beasley and David Dooley (Conservative), Eddie Murphy and Andy Oldfield (Independent), John Peckham (Green Party) and Brian Puddicombe and Fiona Wilson (Labour).
Keeping residents up to date with last month’s report in the Gawsworth Gazette that the promised safety improvements at the Dark Lane crossroads might not go ahead as originally planned and funded by the Department for Transport. Although no final decisions have yet been made it seems Cheshire East Council’s current preferred solution is that traffic signals and a signalised pedestrian crossing will be installed.
Decisions on road design must be evidence based and the Parish Council had submitted a comprehensive dossier of evidence with photographs to Cheshire East Council. The Methodist Chapel also wrote to MP David Rutley. The Parish Council followed up by submitting video evidence which demonstrated some of the dangers of negotiating the crossroads. The video included a near miss and hooting of horns, a frequent occurrence at the crossroads, and also highlighted thedangers for pedestrians and inaccessibility for disabled people.
Cheshire East Council has committed to considering the community’s views as part of their assessment process. The Parish Council is eagerly awaiting a copy of the overdue Speed Limit Assessment Report and details of the Cheshire East’s proposals for the junction.
You can read the Parish Council’s dossier on the Dark Lane crossroads here; A536 Safety Improvements. If you have any additional comments make them known!