January-February 2023

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

I would love to hear from you.  What should I and the Town Council be prioritising? What particular challenges are you facing, if any? Do you have ideas for how we can improve life in Congleton? Please get in touch with me and let me know your thoughts:

  • Answer a few questions (5 minutes) in my online Feedback Form
  • Email cllrkay.wesley@congleton-tc.gov.uk
  • Call or text 07711 459740
  • Facebook Message @CllrKayWesley or Twitter @KayWesley
  • Or you can come to my surgery – in-person this month, on March 6th at the Railway Inn, Congleton at 7pm.

Community Support              

The Council continues to do what it can to support the community in the Cost of Living crisis and has published a booklet that was distributed with Bear Necessities, explaining where people can get help. You can learn more at the page of the Congleton Town Council website, here: https://www.congleton-tc.gov.uk/your-council/congleton-cares

The Green Tree House Social Supermarket lost their premises at the end of last year and I helped them find a new home at 20 Lawton Street. It was a pleasure to be invited along to the opening of their new shop in February. The team there does a fantastic job.

White Ribbon Campaign

White Ribbon is an international organisation supporting men to campaign against men’s violence against women, and the behaviours and attitudes that lead to it.  Congleton Town Council is a White Ribbon Accredited organisation and our goal is to ‘eradicate all gender-based violence and abuse from Congleton’.

In January some of our White Ribbon Ambassadors and I visited Eaton Bank School to run a White Ribbon Awareness session with all of Years 12 and 13.  

As part of this we ran a training workshop on ‘being an active bystander’ and afterwards we chatted to the students about what they might do if they witnessed street harassment or abuse.  About forty students made their White Ribbon Promise there and then, and over 90 per cent said they intended to do so.

If you’d like to get involved in White Ribbon, please contact me or visit www.whiteribbon.org.uk

Working with the Police

I am a member of the Cheshire Police EDEI (external diversity, equity and inclusion) board and I attended a board meeting in January at which we discussed the national Police Race Action Plan which has a vision of ‘a police service that is anti-racist and trusted by Black people’.

The board heard about progress on the Action Plan, especially in building the confidence of black police officers to report problems, from micro-aggressions to hate crimes.

You can learn more and provide input to the Race Action Plan here.

I also had the opportunity to visit the 999/101 call centre and learn more about what the team have done to improve response times and build public trust in the police force.

Community Safety Charter

The Town Council supported my proposal to sign up to this charter last year. It involves getting resources and training to help everyone feel safer on the streets, and is run by the Neighbourhood Watch organisation.

I met with officers to decide how we will roll this out in Congleton. We hope to engage with Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators and will also share the materials out through Councillors and other groups. One of the resources we have received so far is training to handle harassment including an eLearning about Street Harassment, what to do if you experience and witness it.

You can take the 10-minute Stand up to Street Harassment eLearning here.

We discussed this at the Community & Environment Committee in March and have agreed to ask the Police to run a live active bystander/street harassment training for Councillors and officers.

Congleton Green

I chaired a meeting with council officers and the leaders of a number of local green groups and charities, to align on the green activities for the year, and ensure we can share and amplify each others’ messages.

You can see the public version of our green calendar for the year here

In March we are celebrating Global Recycling Day and the Great British Spring Clean, amongst other events. Please join in by sending photos or videos of what you are doing, or putting them on social media with the hashtag #CongletonGreen.

I, together with the Deputy Chief Officer and Cllrs Firkin and Gartside, went to the Cheshire East ‘Achieving Net Zero’ conference. The MD of my business, Kanga Health Ltd, also attended with us.

There were several interesting and stimulating presentations, and we would like to run something similar in Congleton for local businesses. We discussed this with the Chief Executive of the Chamber of Commerce at the Conference and will follow up in the coming weeks.

Trees for Congleton

The residents’ consultation, including the online component I initiated at www.treesforcongleton.co.uk, has worked well this year and tree planting is well underway.  I have been attending Trees For Congleton meetings to continue to support the project and especially the consultation. I have also helped with tree and hedge planting at weekends.

Waste and Recycling

I attended a photo session with the ‘Congleton Tip’ campaign to celebrate the three petitions reaching 6000 signatures.

I planned to attend the CEC Environment and Communities meeting that week for the ‘petition hand-over’, but unfortunately I got stuck in London due to strikes.

Meanwhile, Cheshire East Council announced in its budget that it would start charging for kerbside collections of garden and food waste.  Several residents complained to me, and I gave a speech at the budget decision meeting in Macclesfield to protest on behalf of Congleton residents.  My speech will be in the minutes when published, but I reproduce it here:

I am speaking on behalf of residents who have contacted me to protest most strongly at the potential loss of yet another recycling facility in our town. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, Cheshire East Council is proposing to charge for the collection of garden and food waste, which for many Congleton families will mean their garden and food waste will no longer be collected because they can’t afford to pay.

Just three years ago, this Council entered into a 15-year agreement to process organic waste at a brand new composting plant at Leighton Grange.

This was lauded at the time as an important part of the Cheshire East Council waste strategy and people across the Borough duly collected their food waste and added it to their green bin.

For Congleton, having lost our household waste and recycling site, kerbside collections are more important than ever, and now this essential service, which our residents already pay for through their council taxes, is being removed. As you can imagine, they are not at all happy about this.

An environmental and waste strategy is about the long-term and should not be sacrificed to short-term financial pressures. A Council serious about the Climate Emergency would seek these savings elsewhere, and I urge you to do so. Thank you.

I got the reply that 65% of Councils around the country charge for this service, and Council Leader Sam Corcoran referred to the problem in his summing up, but I think the decision has been made.

Congleton Pride

Congleton Pride has set up a number of sub-teams to focus on areas of work and I’m on the Sponsorship and Communications/Marketing sub-teams.

I facilitated a communications strategy workshop and also set up website content plan. I’ll also be working on some of the governance of our communications. Members of the team are doing a great job on content, the ‘Pride calendar’ and updating our website and social media.

I set up two new Pride surveys to find out what Congleton is like for LGBTQIA+ people and would love you to complete them if you haven’t already. Here they are:

Attitudes Survey for the General Public in Congleton

Survey for the LGBTQIA+ Community in Congleton

Bromley Farm Hub Group

The group has got going since its initial meeting in December. It has had two further committee meetings and several new groups have been formed. Susan Mead is the Chair of the Group.

Sub-groups include a Residents’ Forum which is working with Plus Dane on improvements to housing, the Bromley Bloomers who are working with Trees for Congleton on ideas for planting at Hillary Avenue and Parnell Square, the Bromley Farm Hub Friends, who are planning a Tuesday afternoon ‘tea and games’ sessions, among others. The team is also working with Macclesfield College and Springboard on providing training courses at the Hub.

Plus Dane are supporting the group and have a seat on the Committee. They have also committed to a tidy-up and improvement of Parnell Square, where the Wellbeing Hub (the HQ of Bromley Farm Hub Group) is situated.

The Committee is democratically-elected and is publishing their activities and meeting minutes on Facebook. More people are coming forward to volunteer all the time. The Hub is now applying for funding for a number of projects.

For my part, I have helped behind the scenes with the constitution and setting up of the group and its governance. I sit on the Committee as one of two local Councillors who have been invited to take part.

If you would like to get involved please contact me and I will put you in touch.

Ukraine    

I led a Ukraine ‘Hosts Evening’ at the Town Hall in January. Local people who were hosting Ukrainian refugees in their homes, or considering hosting, were invited to come and share their experiences. About 40 people attended.

Paul Nixon of the Congleton Area Ukraine Support Network gave a short talk about options to move-on from hosting into rented accommodation. 

Then we had a couple of language related talks. First of all Sarah Spicer, an English Coach, presented information on how to help our Ukrainians guests learn English, including lots of useful tips for English practice at home. Then Nadiia Holovchuk gave us a lesson in some useful Ukrainian words and phases.

The feedback from the evening was very good, and I wished I had attended it months ago at the start of our own hosting experience. Slava Ukraini!

I also attended St Peter’s Church on the anniversary of the invasion to show solidarity and support to the people of Ukraine and especially our Congleton guests.

Transport

ARRIVA  have announced that they are closing bus depots in the area which would mean the removal of a number of important local bus services, including the Number 38 that goes from Congleton to Crewe and Macclesfield.

I have made contact with CEC Officers to ask what is being done to prevent the loss of these essential services which allow Congleton residents to get to work and school/college. 

Unfortunately CEC did not get any of the national government’s bus recovery funding, which is frustrating as I had sent a bus improvements requirements document from Congleton to CEC and was not invited to help make a business-case for this funding, just told that we hadn’t got it after the fact.

Congleton Neighbourhood Plan

The Congleton Neighbourhood Plan’s public consultation has been delayed. There have been challenges due to COVID and also the boundary review – when we thought Congleton was going to include the new estates on the periphery, but in fact it doesn’t – which was only completed in 2022.

When several of us reviewed the latest version of the plan we realised it also needs updating to reflect our updated priorities of our town around the climate emergency, public transport, biodiversity, among other areas. We would also like to simplify it and use a layout that will be easy for people to navigate and comment on relevant sections.

Therefore, a small team is working on these improvements and the plan should go to consultation in late May/June.

Congleton Museum

I attended the LGBT+ History Month event that Congleton Pride and the Museum collaborated on in February. It was excellent and saw around 60 people come to the Museum in one day. Congratulations to the team that made it happen.

These visitor numbers have since been topped by the excellent Roman Week in half term. Well done to Anna and Ian for another fantastic event.

For my part, I’m helping with the new Museum website and digitisation project, and we have now had the kickoff meeting and the developer is working on the design and functionality. I am supporting the co-creation work in which we will work with Friends of the Museum and other interested people to ensure the proposed new site will meet the needs of the community. This will also provide input to a fresh new ‘look’ and branding for the Museum.

Other Activities

I attended the first Town Tidy of the year in Mossley, and was shocked at the quantity of litter along Biddulph Road. I have reported it to officers in the hope we can get some signage to remind people to take their litter home.  

I attended the Mayor’s Charity Tea Dance in February and enjoyed it very much. Many thanks to all the officers that made it happen, and to the Mayor of course.

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 100% for all council meetings and working/other groups, either face-to-face or virtually (26 out of 26). For the principal council committees my rate is 100% (7 of 7). (This includes mandatory public meetings and additional core meetings such as Council Chairs’ group and strategy group.)

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings has been 95%, with 93% at core Council meetings.

I am a member of eighteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups.  You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

November-December 2022

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

As we begin 2023 I would love to hear from you. What should I and the Town Council be prioritising? What particular challenges are you facing, if any? Do you have ideas for how we can improve life in Congleton? Please get in touch with me and let me know your thoughts:

Cost-of-Living Crisis

I and Council colleagues are continuing to work with a group of community leaders from churches, charities, businesses, Cheshire East Council and other organisations to see how we can help people in Congleton weather the storm of the current cost-of-living crisis.

Congleton now has some warm spaces funded by CEC and other venues are offering food and friendship in a warm environment. You can learn more at a new page of the Congleton Town Council website that I helped put together, here: https://www.congleton-tc.gov.uk/your-council/congleton-cares

In addition to this I created a new Facebook Group for anyone who needs or can offer help. Please join in if you like: www.facebook.com/groups/congletoncares/ I am supporting a number of local organisations as they apply to be warm spaces or expand their offering to cope with increased demand.

White Ribbon Campaign

White Ribbon is an international organisation engaging men to campaign against men’s violence against women, and the behaviours and attitudes that lead to this. Congleton Town Council is a White Ribbon Accredited organisation and our goal is to ‘eradicate all gender-based violence and abuse’ from Congleton.

November is an important month for the White Ribbon Campaign. White Ribbon Day is 25th November, and the following period is the UN ’16 days of activism’ against gender-based violence and abuse, ending on International Human Rights Day on the 10th December.  I planned our Congleton campaign working with council officers and the White Ribbon Working Group, and other organisations joined in too.

The Congleton White Ribbon activities this year included:

  • The White Ribbon Flag flying from the Town Hall and white ribbons around the town-centre lampposts
  • A table at the Makers’ Market on 26th November. More than 20 people made their White Ribbon promise.
  • A poster about #TheGoal to eradicate violence, which was the theme for this year’s White Ribbon Day, in football clubs, pubs and Town Council properties.
  • Press coverage by Congleton Nub News and the Congleton Chronicle.
  • A series of videos by White Ribbon Ambassadors, the Police and students from Congleton High and Alsager Schools, answering questions such as ‘What is White Ribbon Day?’ and ‘How can we all call out sexism?’. You can watch the full playlist below:
  • A White Ribbon Sunday at United Reformed Church, led by The Rev Murray George. You can watch it and hear Murray’s moving sermon here.
  • An article in All Saints’ Parish magazine by Jonathan Dakin, one of our White Ribbon Ambassadors.
  • Social media posts, a Congleton Town Council Website and Facebook ‘Takeover’, and sharing of other topical information such as Cheshire East Council’s young person’s SHOUT (sexual harassment – stamp it out) campaign.

Many thanks to our White Ribbon Ambassadors, the high schools, the Police, the churches and to all the others who supported the campaign this year.

If you’d like to get involved in White Ribbon, please contact me, the Town Council at info@congleton-tc.gov.uk, or visit www.whiteribbon.org.uk

NALC becomes White Ribbon Accredited

I was asked to present the White Ribbon campaign to the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) Management Board at the request of their Policy Committee.  I’m delighted to say that they unanimously decided that NALC should become a White Ribbon Accredited organisation too.

In order to celebrate this, the NALC team made a video featuring Councillors from all over the country with a very simple message.  Three of our Ambassadors got involved – see if you can spot them in it!

If you’d like to get involved in White Ribbon, please contact me or visit www.whiteribbon.org.uk

Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse – Cheshire East

MyCWA continuees to run their Domestic Abuse Clinic and peer group in Congleton, and I have referred a few residents to both of these recently.

MyCWA hosted their annual White Ribbon Conference and also produced a video to celebrate White Ribbon Day. Its theme was ‘positive masculinity’ and some of our White Ribbon Ambassadors took part, along with Police and Crime Commissioner John Dwyer, among others. You can watch it here:

Working with the Police

I was part of a Cheshire Police ‘Day of Action’ in which teams knock on doors and ask residents if they have any concerns about crime or safety in their community. My team uncovered a few situations that required follow up, but most people do feel safe and were grateful to the Police teams for coming to ask.

I joined another Community Cohesion Group meeting which this time was a consultation about Police use of force. We looked at bodycam and other videos of arrests and assessed whether we thought a reasonable process had been followed and appropriate force used.

It would be good to get a wider cross-section of the public involved in these meetings so please contact me if you are interested: cllrkay.wesley@congleton-tc.gov.uk.

Congleton Green

I’ve been leading a project to launch new sections of the Congleton Town Council website to bring all our sustainability and environmental content together to support residents and businesses, as well as communicate what we are doing as a Council.

We have now launched these new sections and you can find them here:

Green Council – explaining what Congleton Town Council is doing to reduce our carbon and environmental footprint and improve biodiversity.

Green Living – with sections on recycling, energy, biodiversity, travel, food, and much more – including lots of links, tips and helpful resources for living more sustainably.

Green Business – top tips for more sustainable business, some case studies and resources and links to help.

Don’t forget you can also complete our green e-learning course here: http://learn.congleton-tc.gov.Uk.

You can see the public version of our green calendar for the year here, and a new version of this is in progress for 2023.

We have designated January ‘Green New Year’s Resolution’ month. Please join in our events by sending photos or videos of your Green Resolution, putting them on social media with the hashtag #CongletonGreen.

Trees for Congleton

This group of volunteers has started work again this season. Most of the work so far has been maintaining last year’s planting and replacing any lost plants.

I, together with the Partnership Officer have been helping with communications a bit, and I’m happy to say that this year, all the consultation on new tree planting sites is online. There is a new domain – www.treesforcongleton.co.uk where you can read about the planting plans for each site, have your say and learn how you can get involved.

The team would really love to hear from people who would like to become a ‘friend’ of a particular site and help plant and look after it. Email treesforcongleton@gmail.com or go to www.treesforcongleton.co.uk.

Congleton 750

To wrap up the Congleton’s 750th Charter Year, we held a mock ‘Council Meeting’.  We dressed in Mediaeval costume and heard reports from the Catchpole, the Ale Taster and the 750 team. The event was principally to thank all the wonderful volunteers who have made this year so special.

As part of the event Cllr Firkin and I, as Museum Trustees, presented the prizes to the young winners of the 750 History Competition with the help of the Mayor and the Chair of Elizabeth’s Group, Susan Munro.

It was a fun event and lots of members of the public came to share it. Thank you for joining in all the celebrations throughout the year!

Congleton Museum

The museum held its AGM and I presented our ‘Global Museum’ project – starting with a new website and digital style guide – which has its kick off in January. A couple of Friends of the Museum volunteered to be on the User Panel to help us create this, which is great.

This project aims to reach and engage many more people with Congleton’s heritage and history. In a survey we did earlier in the year, half the people had never been to the Museum and 12 per cent didn’t know it existed, although those that had visited really liked it. This told us that there is a great opportunity to both reach new people and re-ignite the interest of people who have been before, using a variety of immersive digital experiences.

Congleton Pride

I attended the Congleton Pride AGM.  As the movement has grown, the group is putting in a little more structure and I volunteered for the Communications and Sponsorship teams.

The Pride team joined Santa going door-to-door in Biddulph. It was, as ever, wonderful to see the children’s faces, although a cold night at -5oC!

I am in the process of creating a new ‘attitudes’ survey for Pride and it will be interesting to see what has changed from the last one we did 2 years ago.

Bromley Farm Community

I attended the Bromley Farm Community Development Trust’s AGM in November. Sadly, it seems that little progress has been made on making the Trust more transparent and accountable (as Cheshire East Council requested) since the last AGM. The residents were not happy as the 3 committee members present voted themselves back in and the Chair told us about the year’s activities. Many of the projects sounded good, but the residents present wanted to be involved in decision-making and volunteering, and it was clear they were not welcome. Furthermore, no results have been published from the residents’ survey done earlier this year, which apparently had only 20 online responses and 80 on paper.

Meanwhile, I also attended the first general meeting of the newly-constituted Bromley Farm Community Hub team, to consider the feedback after their residents’ consultation day, and prior to that meeting they published the results of the consultation on Facebook.

At the meeting the team shared the constitution and invited nominations from the public for the new Hub Committee. A Committee was duly appointed (I agreed to be the CTC representative on it), and a couple of early activities identified – free training courses at the Hub, a Plus Dane Residents’ group, and a Christmas party.

The Committee will meet in January to decide on next steps.

Transport

The Integrated Transport Working Group, of which I am a member, brought a proposal to Council that all residential streets in Congleton should be reduced to a 20mph limit. Several members of the public came to speak on this matter, and felt very strongly that the Council should support this move.

I pointed out that many towns and cities around England, and all of Wales, have adopted 20mph. 30mph was an arbitrary figure, put in place when many fewer cars were on the road, and the safety evidence is irrefutable. I invited my colleagues to be ‘leaders, not followers’ in this matter and vote for the 20mph limit. I’m happy to say they did.

This proposal will now go to Cheshire East Council as the Highways authority, and they must decide whether to accept it and if so, how and when to implement it.

Congleton Neighbourhood Plan

The Congleton Neighbourhood Plan, which will determine the framework for future planning and development in Congleton, is now coming out for consultation in January. Please look out for this and answer the consultation. We will be sharing it widely on social media and elsewhere.

This will determine where and what gets built in future in Congleton, including how we protect green spaces and what we take into account when deciding whether to support planning applications.  Please have your say!  Thank you.

The Congleton Town Centre Vitality Plan is still out for public consultation. This is not yet funded but is intended to be a ‘wish list’ of ways to improve the town if we can secure funding, and I’ve been on the CTC focus group for it.  You can learn more and answer the consultation here.

Other Activities

I attended the Congleton InBloom Celebration evening – congratulations to all those volunteers who have made Congleton look beautiful this year.

I’ve been working with Cllr Firkin to support the Old Saw Mill as it restructures post-COVID.  This Community Benefit Society does a great deal of work to support people who are isolated or vulnerable in Congleton, and is a designated Warm Space for the current cost-of-living crisis.

We helped them put together a set of Business Sponsorship Packages for local firms who might want to support the community through the current difficult times.

The sponsorships range from £500 to £2000 and allow sponsors to get access to the Old Saw Mill’s meeting rooms and samples of its famous apple juice as well as promotion on the Old Saw Mill’s publications. To learn more email info@theoldsawmill.org.

I have spoken in favour of preserving nature and green spaces, and opposed development that affects them, at the Town Council Planning Committee. I’ve also supported the preservation of trees and requested that replacements are planted if the loss of a tree is inevitable.

As chair of the Antisocial Behaviour Working Group I have reported criminal and antisocial behaviour that we have heard about from residents to the local police, and followed up with residents where necessary. One recent success was getting Cheshire East Highways to repaint lines and markings on the bus station to prevent illegal and obstructive parking there:

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 96% for all council meetings and working/other groups, either face-to-face or virtually (23 out of 24). For the principal council committees my rate is 86% (6 of 7). (This includes mandatory public meetings and additional core meetings such as Council chairs’ group and strategy group.)

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings has been 95%, with 92% at core Council meetings.

I am a member of eighteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups.  You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

September-October 2022

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the second Monday of the month. The next one is on 7th November at 7pm. You can join on Zoom here or go to my event on Facebook

Cost of Living Crisis

I am working with a group of community leaders from churches, charities, businesses, Cheshire East Council and other organisations to see how we can help people in Congleton weather the storm of the current cost of living crisis.  We are meeting regularly and plans are underway to offer support with affordable food and warm spaces.  

My own role is in connections and communication. I am creating a Facebook group similar to the successful one we had during COVID pandemic, looking at what information is needed on the CTC website, and connecting with other online organisations.

Congleton Tip

I attended the Cheshire East Environment and Communities Committee on 29th September as Chair of Community and Environment Committee in Congleton, and spoke in support of getting a new Household Waste and Recycling Centre in Congleton, as well as joining a protest outside the building before the meeting.  

Many thanks to the other Councillors and members of the public who also spoke in favour of a new tip at that meeting. We all made slightly different points, and the Congleton Town Councillors (Cllrs Douglas, Firkin and myself) worked together so we didn’t duplicate. The gist of my own statement was:

  • Congleton is one of the biggest services centres in Cheshire East, and is twice as big as five of the seven towns that are being provided with a household waste and recycling centre in the new contract.
  • Congleton supports rural villages as well as more than 4000 new homes in the town itself.
  • The residents of Congleton are very angry that in the procurement of this new contract, no consideration has been given to their needs whatsoever, and that many want to reduce CO2 emissions and recycle more.
  • Congleton has a high proportion of elderly residents and a large number of low-income families, including single parents. These often do not have their own transport and therefore it is much less likely they will be able to access a service provided in another town.
  • I ended by asking the committee to ensure the new contract includes what our residents expect, namely a household waste, recycling and re-use facility in Congleton.

You can see the discussion and my contribution in the meeting minutes here.

As a result of the discussion, the committee decided that “a Working Group be established by the Committee to look at future household waste and recycling centre provision with particular attention to provision for Congleton”. We were pleased with the result and will monitor the next steps.

Congleton Museum

We have a strategy and roadmap in place for our ‘Global Museum’ project.  This is intended to bring the museum and its collections to a wider audience – both local and further afield – in a variety of ways, using digital and traditional outreach tactics.  The first step is to deliver a new website and web shop for the museum.

I completed an application for funding to the Inclosure Trust, and Cllr Firkin presented it to them when I was away. I am very happy to report that they approved it, so the project can now start.

The project will need further funding so if you know of any individuals or businesses that might like to support heritage projects, do get in touch. My own next step is to complete an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

White Ribbon Campaign

White Ribbon is an international organisation supporting men to campaign against men’s violence against women, and the behaviours and attitudes that lead to this.  Congleton Town Council is a White Ribbon Accredited organisation and, as an inclusive council our goal is to ‘eradicate all gender-based violence and abuse’ from Congleton.

White Ribbon Day is 25th November, and the team has started planning the campaign and activities for this and the following ’16 days of action’ against violence and abuse. We are filming our Ambassadors and students from local schools as part of the campaign. We have also sent in images and video to the myCWA White Ribbon Campaign.

In addition, I was asked to present the White Ribbon campaign to the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) Policy Committee.  It was very favourably received and supported by Sue Baxter who runs the NALC Women’s Network.

If you’d like to get involved in White Ribbon, please contact me or visit www.whiteribbon.org.uk

Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse

MyCWA has now started their peer support group at the Old Saw Mill in Congleton, in addition to the Domestic Abuse Clinic.

The Police reports for sexual offences and domestic abuse make interesting reading. Sexual offence reports went up from 15 to 25 year-on-year from June to August, but colleagues in the Police believe this is most likely not a higher incidence but more confidence in reporting, due to the White Ribbon campaign and the work of Police liaison officers.

In addition, the domestic abuse statistics are interesting for June-August in Congleton. The number of incidents year-on-year reduced slightly (117 verusus 133), but the arrest rate more than doubled (from 12% to 31%).

Officers believe that this is due to victims now having more confidence to pursue their cases and not drop them, as result of the heightened awareness brought about by the Town Council’s White Ribbon work.

I also attended another workshop of the Whole Housing Project that is being run by the Cheshire East Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership (CEDSAP). In this workshop we looked at the relationship between domestic abuse, rough sleeping and other challenges such as mental health problems, and the multidisciplinary teams needed to address these. We also considered current gaps such as provision for victims who are abused in homes of shared ownership, and those leaving the criminal justice system.

Working with the Police

The Antisocial Behaviour Working Group, which I chair, brought a proposal to the Community and Environment Committee for CTC to sign up to the Community Safety Charter. This gives councils and others resources and support to help people feel safer in the streets. 

This seems highly relevant, since concern for safety is one of the major areas people contact the Police about in Congleton.

June to August 2022 Police reports – Congleton

The proposal was approved, so our next steps are to reach out to our Neighbourhood Watch teams (the Charter is a Neighbourhood Watch initiative) to see if they’d like to work with us on this.

Meanwhile, anyone can sign up to the charter – you can do so here if you like: https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/charter

A group of us visited the CCTV headquarters to see the Congleton cameras in operation and in particular the new camera looking at the Community Garden where we have had a number of antisocial behaviour incidents.

I attended two local community meetings with the Police – the Community Conversation Follow up and the new Community Cohesion Group. 

The Community Conversation is about the Police seeking community projects to support with funding.

The Community Cohesion Group was a consultation about Police Stop and Search Powers, in which we looked at bodycam videos of searches and assessed whether we thought a reasonable process had been followed. It would be good to get a wider cross-section of the public involved in these meetings so please contact me if you are interested: cllrkay.wesley@congleton-tc.gov.uk

I also attended a meeting of the Cheshire Police EDEI (External Diversity Equality and Inclusion) Board, in which the principal topic for discussion was the national Police Race Action Plan and how Cheshire Police will implement it. The Board will be scrutinising the implementation of this.

Congleton Green

I am working on the new Green section of the CTC website, which brings together many of our initiatives in a more orderly way, under the headings of Green Council, Green Community and Green Business. The new website section will launch in November.

I am also working with our website providers to track the usage of the eLearning course on Sustainable Living in Congleton to check how many people are completing it and which sections they are most interested in, to inform any future developments.

In September we had the Green Fayre and I was on the Congleton Town Council green group stall. The attendance seemed good for my ‘shift’ and I had conversations with many enthusiastic Congletonians as well as several people who had travelled from neighbouring towns and said they wished something like that was happening in their own town!

As part of the Green week I also had a tour of the Vale Allotments which was very enjoyable and informative. What a great town-centre asset it is. I also went home with a bunch of beetroot!

I attended a group meeting with the consultant who wrote the Town Hall Decarbonisation strategy and we discussed the ‘quick wins’ and longer-term initiatives we need to implement in order to reduce the carbon footprint of this historic building. We will need to apply for additional funding to afford some of the more significant projects.

You can see the public version of our green calendar for the year here

In light of the cost of living crisis, we have designated November ‘saving energy at home’ month.  Please join in our events by sending photos or videos of what you are doing, or putting them on social media with the hashtag #CongletonGreen.

Congleton 750

Our celebrations of 750 years of Congleton continue. I attended the Mediaeval Banquet in aid of the Mayor’s Charities, which was very well attended.

With husband Mike and Cllr Rob Moreton at the Banquet

I also had a pleasant evening with Benedict Goodale, the Ale Taster as part of his role visiting all the Congleton real ale hostelries.

In addition, as a Museum Trustee I helped to judge the Congleton 750 History Competition in which we invited young people to depict in any medium an aspect of our town’s history in the past 750 years. My colleague Cllr Firkin organised the competition (thank you) and the entries were very interesting and inspiring. Results to be announced in November.

Congleton Pride

I have been working with the Congleton Pride team on developing the governance and processes for a group that is growing rapidly in numbers, influence and popularity. My own role has been to draft an Equality and Respect Policy for the group, which helps to determine which individuals and groups Pride will work with and how we will address conduct that doesn’t meet our standards. In addition, I will be setting up a new ‘attitudes’ survey for Pride and it will be interesting to see what has changed from the last one we did 2 years ago.

Bromley Farm Community Hub Support

I have been working with the Bromley Farm Wellbeing Hub team and Plus Dane Housing, on ideas to support the Bromley Farm community.

I helped them set up a Community Consultation morning and we were delighted with the number of people who dropped into the Hub to offer ideas for activities and areas where support is needed. A good number volunteered to help run things.

The ideas will be collated and fed back in full to the community, then a team convened to put them into action.

We asked the Community-Centre-based group, the Bromley Farm Community Development Trust, for the results of its 2022 survey so that the Hub didn’t duplicate, but we have not yet received this.

Transport

I am a member of the Integrated Transport Working Group and we met recently to discuss 20-mile-an-hour zones and areas where works are needed. I pointed out that the Mossley Traffic lights are a death trap for families walking to school and pre-school from the Henshall Hall and Reades Lane areas. We really need a crossing there.  This and a number of other areas were discussed to take to Cheshire East for recommendation.

I asked Cheshire East officers and Hollinshead transport about increasing the routes and times of the Beartown bus services (90, 91, 92) and this initiated new discussions about this topic, which had become dormant during the pandemic (when people were being told to avoide buses) and aftermath. I re-iterated Congleton’s offer to support and promote any improvements to bus services, which we have committed to as a Council as part of our input to the transport strategy.

Interestingly, our bus survey last year did show that most people, even those with cars, will use bus services if they are convenient, frequent and cheap enough.  I re-sent the survey results to CEC and asked them to come back with suggested pilots for improvement.

I also expressed an interest in a new volunteer Sustainable Travel group that is forming in Congleton and I hope to attend their first face-to-face meeting soon.

Congleton Area Ukraine Refugee Support

Our Community and Environment Committee voted to support two events at the Town Hall in the coming months.

First of all a Hosts Evening to bring together families who are hosting refugees with those who want to, and share experiences and stories, and learn a little bit of Ukrainian language and culture, as well as how to support guests learning English. I am helping organise this with our officers.

The second is being led by the Mayor, Cllr Margaret Gartside, and is a Ukrainian Christmas event, designed by and for our Ukrainian guests.

I have personally been supporting two families, one of whom is now settled in a flat and working in Congleton and the other is still a guest in my house.

I did an interview for the U3A magazine about what it is like to host Ukrainians in one’s home, with the permission of my guests.

I’m still helping to administer the Facebook Group for the Congleton Area Ukraine Support Network. If you are interested in becoming a host, please get in touch with CAUSN on its website. https://www.causn.com/

Civility and Respect?

The National Association of Local Councils has been conducting a project called Civility and Respect, to put together a package of resources and services to help local councils implement best practice in councillor conduct.

This is a response to the national government refusing to re-instate sanctions for councillors who break the rules and harass or abuse each other, council officers or the public. If you do these things in the work place you can be sacked, but as a councillor there is no real punishment.

The government says ‘the public can just vote them out’ but often it is officers or individuals who are impacted by these behaviours and the public do not know about it. From around the country, there are stories of highly professional town clerks and other officers having to leave distinguished careers because of bullying from a councillor, who does not receive any consequences for his actions.

As a member of the NALC women’s group, even I have been surprised by the incidence of misogyny and abuse that some councillors have experienced or witnessed up and down the country. Everyone knows about the famous ‘Handforth Zoom meeting’ and Jackie Weaver herself (who has been my colleague on the ChALC board this year) is a supporter of the Civility and Respect project.

The perception of these behaviours is a major factor in ordinary people not wanting to volunteer as parish or town councillors. Some women, and anyone from a group that is subject to discrimination, can be reluctant to put themselves forward if they perceive that they will be subjected to the prejudice and abuse.

I have been part of a national focus group reviewing the toolkit for this project and The Civility and Respect Project has now been published.  Councils can take the Civility and Respect Pledge and adopt the best practices that the toolkit provides.

Our Chief Officer brought this to a Congleton Town Council meeting recently, and to my surprise, it was voted down. The rationale given by some Councillors was that we are already respectful in Congleton, which I don’t disagree with, but our officers say that this toolkit will help train new councillors and ensure good practice continues. Some Councillors thought it would stifle free speech, but there is nothing in it that changes any rules about debate. No-one enjoys a robust debate as much as I but if you don’t know the difference between free speech and bullying, you probably need the training provided in the project!

I encourage you to look at this project and let your Councillors know if it is something you expect to see in Congleton.

Town Centre Vitality Plan and Neighbourhood Plan

The Congleton Town Centre Vitality Plan is out for public consultation. This is not yet funded but is intended to be a ‘wish list’ of ways to improve the town if we can secure funding, and I’ve been on the CTC focus group for it.  You can learn more and answer the consultation here.

The Neighbourhood Plan, which will determine the framework for future planning and development in Congleton, will be coming out for consultation in November. I’m involved in this as part of the Planning Committee.

Elizabeth’s Group

Elizabeth’s Group invited Dr Mary Holmes to give a talk in Congleton to launch her new book about Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy, Elizabeth: The Fiesty Feminist. It was a very interesting and enjoyable session.

The group has launched a new campaign: Make Moody Marvellous, to try to save Moody Hall for the community.  Moody Hall was where Elizabeth set up her girls’ school in Congleton and is now in the hands of a developer, but is falling into ruin and it is not clear if the work will be completed. You can sign our petition to Make Moody Marvellous here.  You can read more on the campaign page on the Elizabeth website.

Elizabeth’s Group is invited people to become ‘friends’ to get discounts from future events and support our future work. You can become a Friend of Elizabeth Here.

Other Activities

I attended Proclamations in Congleton, Cheshire East and commemorative services in September after the death of Her Majesty the Queen.

I supported the ‘Thursday Thirty’ meeting at Congleton Town Hall in partnership with the East Cheshire Chamber of Commerce. We invited local businesses into the town hall to learn more about the work of the Town Council and the facilities and services we can offer businesses.  I enjoyed showing them our Great Hall which is a fantastic venue for large corporate events.

I attended the Visyon Open Afternoon and Annual General Meeting. Both as a Councillor and as a local business owner I am a supporter of Visyon and the great work they do to support young people’s mental health in Congleton.

With Theresa Pass, CEO of Visyon

I am one of a few Councillors and Officers who have been supporting the Old Saw Mill community café to help re-group after the pandemic and access sources of funding in the face of escalating running costs.  The Old Saw Mill not only provides affordable lunches and excellent apple juice and cider, it also hosts around a dozen groups including for mental health support, domestic abuse services, and groups to bring isolated people together.

I followed up with Cheshire East Officers on the challenge of bins being left on Sheldon Avenue. I have been trying to get something to happen, with the support of CEC Ward Cllr Rob Moreton, for 3 years now, but the pilot scheme for enforcement is going on for much too long!

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 100% for all council meetings and working/other groups, either face-to-face or virtually (21 out of 21). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 100% (6 of 6). 

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 95%, and this week my total meetings attended reaches three hundred!

I am a member of eighteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups.  You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

In other news (not council or community-group-related)….

With the Women’s Equality Party, I recently organised a cross-party protest outside Fiona Bruce MP’s office because she organised a conference which removed women’s reproductive rights from an international treaty. Public support was very high.  Thanks to everyone who took part from all political persuasions and none.

I also attended the March of the Mummies in Manchester. This was a nationwide protest about the ridiculously high childcare costs in this country and to demand flexible working and better parental leave, especially paternity pay.  I encouraged Susan Mead, nursery owner from Congleton, to speak at the rally, and she did a fantastic job.

The protest made the regional and national news.

You can watch the ITV News clip here

July-August 2022

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the second Monday of the month. The next one is on 12th September at 6.30pm. You can join on Zoom here or go to my event on Facebook

Living History Exhibition: Congleton 750

In early July Congleton Town Council hosted a Living History Exhibition in the Town Hall, as part of the celebrations for Congleton’s 750th year since being granted its Charter by Henry de Lacy in the reign of Edward I.

The Charter gave rights to the men of the town to run their own affairs, pay for their homes with rent instead of service, have a market and a merchant guild, and elect officers such as a mayor, catchpole and ale taster.

For the first week of July, we invited schools to bring children along to learn about the Charter and what life was like in Congleton in 1272. We had over 400 children during the week and on the Saturday we opened the exhibition to the public.

The exhibition had as its centrepiece a wonderful diorama (model) of Congleton as it might have been in 1272, designed and made by the very talented Jenny Unsworth.

In addition, visitors could learn about the Charter itself, how houses were constructed with wattle and daub and how to spin and dye in the cottage industry way. They could have a taste of small ale and the bread that people ate in 1272, and experience a court-room drama and the use of the stocks.

My own part was to display and explain the Charter to visitors – many were amazed to be gazing on a document that is 750 years old.  I also played a role in the ‘court room drama’ we staged – as the villain of course, who ended up in the stocks!

Many thanks to the Council officers and volunteers who worked so hard on this event, which was a major part of our Congleton 750 celebrations.

Congleton Pride

The main Congleton Pride event took place on 23rd July in Congleton Town Centre.  The day event had lots of performances, stalls and activities.  I am a trustee of Pride and helped on the day as well as supporting stalls for two of my other projects (Women’s Equality Party and Elizabeth’s Group).

It was a wonderful day, the weather was kind and the town centre had a great vibe, with the Pride flags and the heraldic banners making a colourful combination.

One addition this year was the ‘speaker’s corner’ in which members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies could give short talks on ‘what Pride means to me’.  It worked very well and some of the testimonials were very moving. I had the privilege of reading on behalf of Jake, who is pansexual, and I also gave my own short speech on why I am involved with Pride.

The day rounded off with a ticketed evening event in the Town Hall, which was a sellout and lots of fun.

Thanks so much to all the members of the Pride team, the volunteers, stall holders and others who worked so hard to make this day a success, and of course to everyone who came and joined in on the day, which was bigger and better than ever.

Medieval Festival in the Park

In August CTC held another big Congleton 750 event – a Festival in the Park with jousting, a dragon hunt, stalls and much more. A great day was had by all. I couldn’t attend as I was on holiday, but I did my bit as part of the planning on the ‘Congleton 750 working group’ and also spent a few hours building some of the blue and yellow heraldic banners that lined the park on the day.

Many thanks to all the wonderful volunteers and CTC officers who made this day happen. A good time was had by all.

White Ribbon

White Ribbon is a charity supporting men to campaign against male violence against women and the behaviours and attitudes that lead to this.  Congleton Town Council is a White Ribbon Accredited organisation.

In July we were invited to run a White Ribbon awareness session for Year 12 at Alsager School. I set this up and attended with two White Ribbon Ambassadors – Yacob Cajee and Jonathan Dakin. The session was very well-received with over 50 students making their White Ribbon promise there and then, and lots of people wanting to plan follow up action in school.

Year 12 students at Alsager School

Our Streetscape team has planted a beautiful White Ribbon Garden outside Congleton Fire Station.  Many thanks to them and the Fire Service, who are themselves a White Ribbon organisation.

The White Ribbon Garden at the Fire Station

If you’d like to get involved please contact me or visit www.whiteribbon.org.uk

Antisocial Behaviour Working Group

Earlier in the summer we had a number of problems with antisocial behaviour in the town centre of Congleton. Our working group discussed this at length and also corresponded with some residents and parents who were concerned about it.

We have been working closely with Police and CEC colleagues to share information and help to stamp this out. It was a small group of quite young teenagers and a number of actions have now been taken to stop these behaviours and ensure that the perpetrators are dealt with.

Many thanks to the residents and shop owners who have been sharing information and helping the victims of these crimes.

In my role as Chair of the ASB Working Group I attended a webinar on the Community Safety Charter, run by the Neighbourhood Watch Group. This is a charter that towns, organisations and individuals can sign up to in order to signal that antisocial behaviour, intimidation and hostility will not be tolerated. 

The organisation provides tools to help address these things.  Our group will discuss whether CTC should sign up to this Charter. I have signed up personally already – and you can do so here if you like: https://www.ourwatch.org.uk/charter

Congleton Green

Work continues on our carbon footprint, air quality and biodiversity. My own role is largely in the marketing and communications side.  I created a public version of our calendar for the year which you can see here

Part of the #CongletonGreen campaign

Please join in our events by sending photos or videos of what you are doing, or putting them on social media with the hashtag #CongletonGreen.

July was ‘plastic free’ month and August was ‘keep it local’ month. We are now getting ready for the Green Fayre on September 24th.

I am still working on the Green section of the CTC website, with support from other members of the team.

Opening of Just Bee Garden

I attended the opening of the new Just Bee Garden in Congleton Park. This important natural habitat was designed by Annabel of Congleton High School. Including over 1000 species of plant, the garden was developed by a team of young and old volunteers led by Patti Pinto. I highly recommend a visit. True to its name, there are plenty of bees, butterflies and other insects visiting the plants, and some new benches around the perimeter from which you can enjoy the view.

With Kay Foster, who made the ironworks in the Just Bee Garden

Congleton InBloom

The InBloom volunteers have once again done Congleton proud and the North West and Britain in Bloom Judging days were in July and August. The judges focus on a number of criteria including floral and horticultural displays but also environmental management, provision of natural habitats for wildlife ,and community involvement.  You can read the criteria here.

This year I helped with some of the town tidies, including bringing along colleagues from Congleton Pride who enjoyed helping.

Town Tidy with InBloom volunteers including Congleton Pride members

I also stood beside Elizabeth’s Garden on judging day and explained to the judges who Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy was and the significance of the plants chosen for the garden. 

In Elizabeth’s Garden

Chair of Elizabeth’s Group, Sue Munro, stood beside the Our Elizabeth statue and provided more information about Elizabeth and horticulture.

Many thanks to all those involved with InBloom, including the many volunteers and the CTC Streetscape team.

Bromley Farm community support.

I have been working with the Bromley Farm Wellbeing Hub team on ideas to support the Bromley Farm community. The Hub already offers a number of groups and services, run by the team in partnership with Plus Dane Housing.  There will be a community consultation to gather ideas on what is needed going forward, and CTC will support this, as well as asking the Bromley Farm Community Development Trust for the results of its recent survey.

Congleton Area Ukraine Support Network

I attended a meeting of this group in July. It continues to support hosts and Ukrainian guests in our area and the team organised a trip to Formby and Liverpool in July which was very much appreciated. On Ukrainian Independence Day the group organised a fundraising dinner which everyone enjoyed, and also in August there was a day out at Glebe Farm for Ukrainian guests and their children. Many thanks to the volunteers who put these together! I continue to support the Facebook page for this group and help connect with other organisations.

We flew the flag from Congleton Town Hall on Ukrainian independence day, 24th August.

If you are interested in becoming a host, please get in touch with CAUSN on its website. https://www.causn.com/

Elizabeth’s Group

Elizabeth’s Group continues to deliver talks and campaign to raise the profile of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy. My role is now mainly on the website and digital communications side.  I recently sent out an email inviting supporters to become Friends of Elizabeth, in order to maintain a level of funding to keep our activities going. You can become a Friend of Elizabeth Here.

Streets Named After Women

When I first became a Councillor, I nominated the names of five women from Congleton’s History to become street names, in order to create some balance as many of our streets are named after men from the past. In recent months these streets were opened on the new Turnstone Grange estate by Miller Homes, who also kindly made a donation to Elizabeth’s Group.

I went to check out the street names recently.

The five street names and the women are:

Ormiston Way – Margaret Ormiston was a British Army doctor who founded a hospital for wounded soldiers in WWI on the site of Quinta Primary School.

Turner Drive – Theodora Turner OBE was President of the Royal College of Nursing, was mobilised at Congleton during WWII and treated service personnel evacuated from Dunkirk.

Williamson Close – Margaret Williamson MBE, is still remembered by many as a Councillor, founder of Congleton Partnership and for a lifetime of service to Congleton including numerous charities.

Burgess Place – Jessie Burgess was the first female mayor of Congleton in 1945 (yes, it was 673 years before we got a woman mayor!).

Elmy Avenue – Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy, women’s rights campaigner and suffragist who now has a statue in Congleton’s town centre, thanks to Elizabeth’s Group.

Transport and Regeneration

I have been involved in a number of activities relating to transport and town regeneration during this period.

I followed up with Plus Dane housing on the Westlands parking problems and they assured me they were working with residents to find a solution. I have reported to the Police a number of problems with speeding on Canal Road and also inconsiderate parking around the bus station, the Crescent and Wesley Place. I also reported a damaged bus stop to CEC.

I met with the Crewe & District bus users’ group to learn about their activities to promote public transport and support bus users in Crewe. I have joined their Facebook Group and would like to talk to anyone interested in starting a similar group in Congleton.

I attended a discussion with the PCC at the Town Hall about speeding on Wolstenholme Elmy Way and other concerns of residents relating to road traffic. I also joined a workshop on Active Travel along the A34.

I attended a presentation of the Congleton Town Centre Vitality Plan, which is shortly to go out to public consultation.

I have also been involved in discussions on the Neighbourhood Plan – which sets out the guidelines for development in Congleton – and which will also be going out to consultation with the public soon.

Domestic Abuse

MyCWA (formerly Cheshire Without Abuse) has launched a brand-new early intervention programme called ‘Reset’, designed to educate teenagers on domestic abuse and its warning signs.

I asked for information about this to be presented at the Community & Environment Committee in July. The programme is funded by the Home Office via the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, John Dwyer, and aims to empower young people across Cheshire with knowledge of what makes a healthy and happy relationship, promoting self-identification of harmful behaviours.

‘Reset’ is currently being piloted locally in Congleton High School with very positive initial response from staff and students. I introduced the Reset team to my contacts from Eaton Bank School who we worked with on the White Ribbon presentation, so they can join the programme if they want to.

I was also pleased to report at the Community & Environment Committee that our colleagues at myCWA are building up their domestic abuse services in Congleton beyond just the DA Clinic, and have now launched a Peer Support Lounge for survivors of abuse to meet and get support and advice from others.

myCWA Peer Support Lounge ad

I am a member of the Cheshire East Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership Board (CEDSAP) and in this capacity a attended a meeting of the Board in July at which the Annual Report was presented. The report informed us of progress on the priorities for CEDSAP, which are:

1. Focus on those who harm

2. Complexity

3. Cared for/care leavers

4. Health settings

5. Enabling communities

6. Commissioning

Also at this meeting a sergeant from the anti-corruption team of Cheshire Police gave an impressive presentation about what they are doing to root out employees who may guilty of sexual or domestic abuse. These crimes occur in all walks of life and it was good to hear of this proactive approach.

Congleton Museum

We had a workshop with our digital provider to finalise the strategy for our ‘Global Museum’ project. The aims of this project are to ensure that we can provide the maximum reach and engagement with our collections, with both live museum visits and through digital methods. The first major project to deliver will be an updated website and web shop, then we have a number of other project ideas that can follow as part of the ongoing roadmap.

Our first challenge is to secure funding for the online presence we need. The team will be launching a sponsorship programme for businesses and applying to local trusts and funding bodies. If you know of anyone who might be interested in funding Congleton’s heritage in this way, please get in touch!

ChALC

In my role as an Executive Board member of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, I have been asked to be part of a focus group on Civility and Respect in local government. I reviewed a new Dignity at Work Policy for council officers, and more recently reviewed a set of 14 documents covering all the process for recruitment of council staff. Many smaller councils do not have the resources to develop their own procedures so it is hoped that these standard documents will create a standard of good practice, especially with regard to equality, diversity & inclusion and adherence to standards of conduct.

I attended the ChALC board meeting in July. One thing that ChALC and its national parent body, NALC has campaigned for is a change in the law so that councils can hold ‘hybrid’ meetings with some members connecting remotely. This is still not legal, even though we did this for the duration of the COVID lockdown due to a temporary law allowing it. I worked with our Town Hall manager on the specification for a system that can deliver good hybrid meetings in Congleton and we now have the technology installed. It works very well, and we are using it for working group meetings. Hybrid meetings are important to allow people to stay connected who might not otherwise be able to join in with our democracy due to disability, caring responsibilities or lack of transport.

Other Activities

I attended a meeting with CEC about the future of Bradshaw House. This historic building in Congleton’s town centre has been granted planning permission to create supported accommodation. I and other Town Councillors asked questions about the long-term commitment of the service providers concerned. It is important that these buildings are preserved and maintained well.  I also asked our Chief Officer to write to the owner of Moody Hall to push for development to continue, following a discussion at the Community & Environment Committee. No reply has been received to date.

In July I heard a presentation about a new Skate Park for Congleton at the Community & Environment Committee that I chair. The idea is to create a skate park for the future to stand next to the new Congleton Leisure Centre. I was very impressed by the project leader Xander Greenwood and the team of young people who came to speak to us, so I am supporting this project, which is currently putting together a bid for funding.

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 100% for all council meetings and working groups, either face-to-face or virtually (15 out of 15). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 100% (6 of 6). 

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 95%.

I am a member of eighteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups.  You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

May-June 2022

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the second Monday of the month. The next one is on 11th July at the slightly earlier time of 4pm. You can join on Zoom here or go to my event on Facebook

Ukraine Support Network

The Congleton Area Ukraine Support Network (CAUSN) is doing some great work to support hosts and the Ukrainian families who are staying with them. My own role has been in helping to administer the private Facebook Group (which is for local-area hosts, volunteers and Ukrainian guests only), advising on the website, and as a Town Councillor attending briefings and helping connect various agencies including with Cheshire East Council.  I am also a host myself. We have a lovely family of a mother and two sons staying with us.

If you would like to be involved as a host family or learn more, please visit www.CAUSN.com

Jubilee Picnic in the Park

Congleton Town Council hosted a free-to-enter Picnic in the Park to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We were a bit surprised but also delighted with the number of people who turned up – thousands, and there was barely a piece of grass anywhere – in the field or garden – without a picnic rug or table & chairs and happy people on it!  The sun shone and everyone enjoyed live music from the past 70 years as well as giant games, a dog show, face painting, Punch & July and much more.

My job for the day was to steward the Ukraine meet-up point. I brought my own guests along and lots of other Ukrainian guests came and met each other, glad to have a chat in their own language.

It was the best possible welcome for our refugee guests and I think they got a very good impression of Congleton.

I think everyone was delighted to just get out and about again, a very enjoyable day. Many thanks to the Council officers and army of volunteers who made it happen.

Jubilee Tea Dance

Another event we held, this time in the Town Hall, was a Jubilee Tea Dance for invited guests of a certain age. We bussed them in from care homes or their own home and gave them afternoon tea plus a traditional ballroom dance with music from the time of the coronation.  I volunteered at this event, served the tea and chatted to the guests, many of whom reminisced about dancing to these tunes in their younger days. I enjoyed hearing their stories, it was a super afternoon and very inspiring to see so many smiling faces.

Tea Dance in the Town Hall decked with banners for Congleton 750

Thanks to our lovely Council Officers who organised this, to Mark’s Events for a super afternoon tea and to Andrew Bell and his dancers for the lovely tunes and moves!

White Ribbon

White Ribbon is a charity supporting men to campaign against male violence against women and the behaviours and attitudes that lead to this.  Congleton Town Council is a White Ribbon Accredited organisation.

The White Ribbon team had a stall at the recent Town Meeting and had a meeting to put together a plan for the rest of the year.  One of our plans is to create a ‘White Ribbon Garden’ as an awareness tool, which the Streetscape team have kindly offered to create for us. I also had a discussion recently with a councillor at Cardiff city council, where they project a big white ribbon onto Cardiff Castle for White Ribbon Day and have a permanent plaque in the castle gardens for WR awareness. All these ideas are being discussed within our White Ribbon Team for Congleton.

White Ribbon Team and myCWA at the Town Meeting

If you’d like to get involved please contact me or visit www.whiteribbon.org.uk

We have been invited to speak at Alsager School about the White Ribbon Campaign in July. Two of our Ambassadors will attend, with me.  Our White Ribbon Chair, Robert Hemsley, remarked in the Community & Environment Committee meeting that it was good to see pupils coming out of Eaton Bank School still wearing their White Ribbons on their blazer after our talk there in March.

I’m a member of the National Association of Councils’ Women’s network and have shared our White Ribbon action plan and proposals with other members who want to take this to their own councils around the country. 

Congleton Green

Work continues on the carbon footprint, air quality and biodiversity. My own role is largely in the marketing and communications side.  I created a public version of our calendar for the year which you can see here

Please join in our events by sending photos or videos of what you are doing, or putting them on social media with the hashtag #CongletonGreen.

June was walking and cycling so I shared a post about my new bike, which I am enjoying very much.

In July the focus is going Plastic Free so please tell us what YOU are doing about this?  In fact, Congleton has just become a ‘Plastic Free Town’ – well done to Heather Seddon and her team who have made this happen and all the organisations who joined in.

I have also put together a Content Plan for a new Green section of the CTC website and started work on some of the pages.  We have ‘green’ topics quite scattered in different parts of the site at the moment and this new structure will help people and businesses find what they need.

Congleton Tree Group

This group of volunteers are working extremely hard to plant 30,000 trees (one per resident of Congleton) by 2025.  So far, more than 10,000 trees and almost 5,000 hedge plants have been put in the ground, including 70 Cherry Trees for the Queen’s Jubilee.  

I have been a volunteer with this group and helped plant in various locations around Congleton. CTC does not run the tree group but has been helping with the consultation with residents.

A couple of residents have objected to some of the trees that have been planted.  As a result of this, council officers agreed to arrange for Streetscape to move a small number of trees, on the basis that the consultation in the earliest days of the project could perhaps have been more effective.

The project will continue with the new planting season in Autumn.  If you’d like to get involved, please contact me or connect with the group via Facebook.

Congleton Pride

The team has been working very hard towards the main Pride event on 23rd July in Congleton Town Centre.  The day event will have lots of performances, stalls and activities, all free of charge.  The evening (18+) tickets are selling very fast.  Look out for the details on Facebook.  It promises to be a fantastic day and night.

I attended a fantastic drag night, ‘Collateral Damage’ at Glebe Farm which acted as a fundraiser for Pride. It was a sellout with some fabulous performances.

We have trained more members of the Congleton Pride team to be part of the police Reporting Centre for hate crime and will be wearing ‘you can talk to me’ badges at the Pride event.

Reporting Centre Team

The Police are attending Pride with a Police car with rainbow trimmings, and the Fire Service will also be there with the Fire Engine.

The Pride team has been dismayed to see the toxic debate about trans people in the national (and some local) media, and our Pride survey showed some lack of knowledge about this subject, so I’m working with trans members and friends on an article to publish about this to help inform and educate.

Congleton Museum

We have had a couple of workshops with our ‘Global Museum’ vendor and they have gathered the insights and got a good understanding of the trustees’ objectives. In the next month they will be coming back with proposals for how to develop our digital museum and create a truly omnichannel experience for those who visit the museum in person and those who want to access our collections and stories remotely.

CEDSAP Board Meeting

I am a member of the Cheshire East Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership Board and in this capacity I attending a morning kick-off workshop for the Whole Housing Project.  This is a nationally-funded pilot into holistic solutions for survivors and perpetrators of abuse, working with every agency and a number of partners involved in housing. 

It is a fantastic win for Cheshire East to be given the lead on this pilot and I look forward to being part of the ongoing consultation group and learning about how this approach can lead to sustainable solutions for domestic abuse.

Bromley Farm Community Development Trust (BFCDT)

Several questions were asked at the Town Meeting about how the Trust operates and lack of engagement with the community.  I suggested we should have a meeting at the town hall to try to move things forward, as residents have waited a long time for change.  We will set this meeting up in the coming weeks.

ChALC

Due to my role as a board member of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, I have been asked to be part of a focus group on Civility and Respect in local government.  We are currently reviewing a Dignity at Work Policy.

Unfortunately, as the famous ‘Jackie Weaver’ clip showed, bad behaviour including bullying and harassment does happen in local government.  As a member of the NALC Women’s Network I hear plenty of stories of harassment and bullying shared amongst members.  The majority of councillors behave well, but for those that do not, there is little sanction and the national government is unwilling to re-introduce punishments (which existed prior to the Localism Act 2011). They argue that the ballot box is the place where the public gets rid of councillors, but unfortunately the public does not always know about internal bullying, and officers (and other councillors, and the public) have a right to go about their business without fear of these attacks.  

This is an issue because it means that many people, and perhaps especially women, are put off from becoming local councillors, which is bad for our democracy.  With this work I hope to encourage more people to take part in their local council.

Elizabeth’s Group

Following the success of the ‘Our Elizabeth’ statue unveiling the Group has met for its AGM and planned future projects.  We will be continuing with educational talks, heritage walks, digital posts, videos and schools materials as well as celebrating International Women’s Day next year.  More on this to be published in the coming months.

The statue has been formally handed over to Congleton Town Council as a gift to Congleton.  It is a great asset; not many towns of our size can boast such a valuable and prestigious artwork.

Cheshire Life Magnificent 70

I was delighted to attend the Garden Party at Crewe Hall as one of the Cheshire Life Magnificent 70 people who have contributed to their community.  I was equally delighted to find a couple of colleagues there – Saskia Lightburn-Richie, who runs myCheshireWithoutAbuse, and Kate Blakemore of Cheshire Women’s Collaboration. It was a lovely afternoon in spite of having to move indoors due to the rain.

Other activities

I and Cllr Firkin met with residents of The Westlands to discuss parking challenges around their houses.  As a follow-up I had a meeting with Plus Dane, who own the space, and they committed to trying to help residents come to agreement.

I did an interview with Stuart Neild of Congleton Radio, which has just launched. Really looking forward to hearing some regular interesting articles on there. Stuart and Sharon have assembled a great team and have some really good ideas for the station.  You can listen at www.congletonradio.net

I met with the national Visible Women Group and shared our experience with the Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy statue. Since then, the Mary Anning statue has been unveiled in Lyme Regis, which is a wonderful commemoration of the great palaeontologist.

I attended the Lions’ Duck Race at Congleton Park. It was lots of fun, in spite of the wind blowing the ducks the wrong way up the river! Many thanks to the Lions

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 90% for all council meetings and working groups, either face-to-face or virtually (19 out of 21). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 71% (5 of 7).  I had a two-week holiday in June which meant I missed two meetings, unfortunately, but I needed this break which was carried over from 2020!

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 94%.

I am a member of eighteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups.  You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

March-April 2022

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the second Monday of the month. The next one is on 9th May. You can join on Zoom here or look out for my event on Facebook

Ukraine

Congleton has stepped up once more to support those in need and many people have volunteered to host Ukrainian families as well as donating huge quantities of essential items to be taken to people who have lost their homes due to the fighting. I joined in the early efforts to pack boxes and the number of toiletries and essential items donated was quite staggering. I smiled when I saw the message I wrote on a box label ‘Love from Congleton’ was featured on the Congleton Chronicle! 

Thank you so much to all those who have worked tirelessly to help, including driving trucks to Poland and setting up support groups for people coming to stay in Congleton and the surrounding area. A group from Marton has shown considerable leadership in this area and Congleton Town Council is working closely together with them. Our first Ukrainian guests have arrived and we are holding a meeting for them and anyone interested in hosting on 29th April in the Town Hall. There are regular social get-togethers too, in the Plough at Eaton so far – let me know if you are a host family and want to get involved. Meanwhile my husband Mike and I are awaiting visas for our own guest family to be able to travel.

Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy Statue Unveiling

After four years of work and campaigning, I was delighted to be part of the unveiling of Our Elizabeth, the life-size sculpture of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy, on International Women’s Day, 8th March.

Elizabeth was a nationally-recognised campaigner for women’s rights who lived here in Congleton and started a girls’ school in Moody Street. I am a Trustee of Elizabeth’s Group, the charity that raised the money for the statue, and partly in this capacity and partly as Chair of the Town Council’s Community & Environment Committee, I had the pleasure of giving a speech at the unveiling, together with The Baroness Lady Hale of Richmond, who unveiled the statue, sculptor Hazel Reeves, Chair of Elizabeth’s Group Susan Munro and two girls from the local high schools – Lily Smith and Helen Banks.

Photos courtesy of Judie Tingle

I worked with Jo Money of Congleton Community Projects to organise the parade part of the day, led by Beartown Stompers Jazz Band. Children dressed up from ten local primary/nursery schools, together with Women’s Institutes, the Guides and many more community groups paraded into the town centre and  packed into the busy pedestrian area ahead of the unveiling. Congleton Choral Society and Daven & Mossley school choirs gave wonderful feminist-inspired performances. My colleagues on Elizabeth’s group organised a great set of Victorian stalls and games, including a Punch ‘n’ Judy show with a twist, as Punch learned his lesson and became a White Ribbon Ambassador!

You can see the BBC news report here:

It was a wonderful sunny, happy day for Congleton and the first big event of the Congleton 750-year celebrations. 

Many thanks to the Council officers, Community Projects, Rotarians and other volunteers who made the day flow so smoothly, as well as the residents and businesses of Congleton who donated goods and cash for the project as well as the professionals including architects, engineers, craftspeople and our audioguide voice-over artist, who gave their time pro bono to this important project.

Congleton 750 and ‘Beating the Bounds’

As part of Congleton’s 750th Year celebrations I joined the Beating the Bounds walk on the 10th April. It was well-attended and extremely well-run with a dedicated team of Council Officers, Rotary Club marshals and other volunteers. Many thanks to them for making it a wonderful day for all, and to Cllr Akers-Smith who led the team that mapped the route and set the whole thing up.

You can still ‘Beat the Bounds’ any time by picking up the map at the Information Centre or download it here. 

Also as part of the 750 celebrations the Town Hall was decorated with some marvellous heraldic banners in time for the Mayor’s Ball in March.

White Ribbon

Two White Ribbon Ambassadors – Jonathan Dakin and Mike Wesley – and I gave a presentation to years 10, 12 and 13 at Eaton Bank School.

Eaton Bank Students and White Ribbon Ambassadors

The talk included an interactive poll to stimulate discussion about sexism, harassment and abuse, and what can be done about it. In April 2021 a national survey by Victim Focus found 94 per cent of girls under 18 have been catcalled in the street by men. In Cheshire East, a 2021 survey of women found that over 90 per cent do not always feel safe on the streets.

The polls conducted at Eaton Bank reflected similar concerns, with 98% of the girls and 75% of the boys saying they would feel the need to take specific actions to keep themselves safe on a night out in Congleton.

There was enthusiasm for continuing the work in school and 48 students made their White Ribbon promise there and then, going back to lessons wearing a white ribbon badge.  Almost 70 per cent said ‘All of the above’ to a list of actions they could take, from calling out sexist behaviours to becoming a White Ribbon School.

Congleton Green

Following on from the Marketing Strategy and Plan that I produced with the CTC marketing team, we got together and developed tactics for the entire year including a ‘calendar’ to focus on different topics, for example

April – Stop Food Waste Day
May – No Mow May
June – Cycling and Walking
July – Going Plastic-Free

We sent out communications during April to residents and businesses about this and hope that they will make videos each month showing what they are doing about the topic in question.

I made my own ‘Stop Food Waste’ video and shared it on Facebook.

I spent some time speaking with Congleton Climate Emergency Group and we are synching our calendars so that we can share each other’s campaigns.

I have also continued to help out when I can with tree and hedge planting, with the planting season almost over now.  I also attended the Plant Swap at Astbury Mere and picked up a few garden plants and herbs. Thank you very much to the organisers.

I attended the Congleton Hydro Annual General Meeting and it was fantastic to hear that this sustainable-energy project is now turning a profit, which is being ploughed into other sustainability programs.

Local residents, including myself, have been concerned about the loss of a number of important and established trees at Quarry Close in Mossley.  That site was a small wood before development started, and the majority of the trees have now gone.  The developer, Elan Homes, was instructed by Planning Officers to replace some of the lost trees, but this had not happened.  I raised this issue at our Planning meeting in March, and the Congleton Chronicle reported this on its front page. They interviewed Elan Homes who then returned to the site and planted some replacement trees.

Household Waste and Recycling

I joined other Councillors on a trip to the ANSA centre in Middlewich to learn more about what happens to household recycling from Congleton. It is very reassuring to know that less than 3% of Cheshire East household waste ends up in landfill. We saw the new hydrogen refuse trucks and had a look in the big sheds where the waste and the recycling goes. There is clearly work to do to educate people on what exactly can go into the grey bin, as we saw quite a few incorrect objects, which are removed by hand. ANSA has recently updated their website with lots of information and resources to help you reduce waste. Check it out here:

Ansa’s website (click/tap to visit)

We will continue to lobby for a new Household Waste and Recycling Centre in Congleton.

Congleton Leisure Centre

Together with Council colleagues I went on a guided tour of the new Congleton Leisure Centre that is being built. It is progressing well and, we were told, on target to open by the end of 2022. 

The Centre itself will include two new pools, a thermal suite, modern new gym with state-of-the art fitness equipment, café area and soft play area for the very young.

Congleton Pride

I organised a training session with Congleton Pride and Cheshire Police in March, in which members of the Pride team were trained to become a Reporting Centre for hate crime in Congleton.

This means that anyone who is concerned about harassment, abuse or other hate crime can speak to one of our trained representatives and we will support them in deciding what to do next, hopefully reporting it through the hate crime portal to Cheshire Constabulary, but we can also direct them to support services if they would like, or just be a friend they can talk to about what has happened. The Pride team will make it known at future events that we are there for anyone who wants to approach us for support.

I also attended the Pride St Patrick’s Day Party at the Vale Club which was a very enjoyable evening with singer and all-round entertainer Andy Hoffman. This was to raise funds for the main Pride event in summer.

I also helped out at the Sponsor’s Evening for Pride, presenting the survey results from last year to help businesses see the importance of the Pride group and event.  My own business is also a sponsor of the event.

One of the publicans in the room asked if we would present the survey results at a PubWatch meeting, which I did the following week with fellow Trustee Richard Walton.

Congleton Pride has a new podcast – highly recommended and often hilarious listening! – and I had the pleasure of being interviewed for one of its shows.  

Congleton Museum

I have led the team that has now selected a vendor – Joi Polloi – for our ‘Global Museum’ project – to digitise our collection and museum, in order to enhance the in-museum experience as well as making it more available to people remotely. Work on the project has started to gather insights about what people in Congleton want from their museum. We have had a kick-off workshop with the vendor and run some online and in-house surveys to get input. 

One interesting finding was that half the people we asked know that we have a museum in Congleton but have not yet visited.  Our future website and other digital assets can certainly help encourage people to come and see the important collection of objects we have, as well as reaching out beyond Congleton to interested people all over the country, and world.

We are also working with local schools to build better relationships with the Museum. Cllr Suzy Firkin is leading this effort and I’m a member of the team.

CEDSAP Board Meeting

I attended the Cheshire East Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership Board meeting in April and was very happy to hear that Cheshire East has been selected as a national pilot for the Whole Housing Project – this means investment into holistic solutions for survivors and perpetrators of abuse, working with every agency and a number of partners involved in housing.

Bromley Farm Community Development Trust (BFCDT)

Several questions were asked at the Community & Environment Committee in March, about the implementation of the 11 recommendations from Cheshire East for making the Trust more transparent and inclusive.

I answered on behalf of the Council that we have no authority over the Trust and do not know the current status of the 11 recommendations; also the Council’s offers of support have not yet been taken up. The Chair of the Trust then told the Congleton Chronicle that 9 of the recommendations have been implemented.  Since these are about transparency, I look forward to the Trust Committee telling me and the public which 9 have been implemented and how.

My own offer to attend the Residents’ Steering Group meetings and support the Trust in its work still stands, but I have been told I am not invited. Meanwhile a survey has been sent out by the Trust to residents, and I look forward to full publication of the results in due course.

ChALC

I have been co-opted to the board of the Cheshire Association of Local Councils and attended my first meeting this month. It was good to hear the perspectives from Councillors all over Cheshire.

International Women’s Day

I and my WEP Colleagues attended the Motherwell International Women’s Day Conference at Crewe, as we have for the past 4 years, and it was great to attend the main event ‘in person’ once more. 

The Conference was hybrid, and as another strand of it, I presented a webinar on why we need more women (of any or no party) in local government.  You can watch it here:

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 100% for all council meetings and working groups, either face-to-face or virtually (15 out of 15). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 100% (3 of 3).

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 95%.

I am a member of seventeen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups.  You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

January-February 2022

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the second Monday of the month. The next one is 14th March. You can join on Zoom here or look out for my event on Facebook

White Ribbon

Chair of our White Ribbon Group Cllr Robert Hemsley and I produced a report for Council about the White Ribbon Day activities in Congleton.

White Ribbon Day reach summary

We sent the report to White Ribbon UK whose CEO sent Congleton TC a personal thank you message, telling us that the report will be used to help other more recently-accredited town and parish councils plan their White Ribbon activities.

As a follow up to White Ribbon Day, I went with Councillor Robert Hemsley and Richard Walton to present the White Ribbon campaign to 250 members of Years 12 and 13 at Congleton High School, at the invitation of Paul Franklin who is responsible for 6th form.

The discussion was wide-ranging and included polls showing how the 16-18-year-olds felt about sexism, harassment and abuse, a problem the young people were clearly familiar with. There was enthusiasm for continuing the work in school and more than 60 per cent said ‘All of the above’ to a list of actions they could take, from calling out sexist behaviours to becoming a White Ribbon School.

Students from Congleton High School Year 13

Working with the Police

John Dwyer, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, attended the Community & Environment Committee in February at my invitation. He outlined his strategy and took questions from Councillors. It was helpful to hear his focus on domestic and sexual violence, antisocial behaviour and road safety, all of which are priorities in Congleton.

We have been concerned about a recent rise in youth antisocial behaviour in Congleton and will be discussing this at our ASB Working Group in early March.

I attended my first full meeting as a member of Cheshire Police’s External Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (EDEI) Board. The discussion was focused on how to track and be transparent about diversity within the Police force. At the moment the proportions of some ethnic groups, LGBTQ+ and disabled in the Police are less than in the community, and women are over-represented in administration and under-represented in senior officer roles. The Board is looking at strategies to improve reporting and hence to improve diversity itself.

Congleton Pride

I was happy to attend Congleton Pride’s first Valentine’s Evening.  This is part of a series of events for the LGBTQ+ community and anyone else who would like to join in, both as fundraisers for the main Pride event and as social events in their own right. It was a brilliant night and many thanks to the organisers. There has already been a cinema night and in March there will be a St Patrick’s Day event.

I organised another meeting with Congleton Pride and Cheshire Police in January. The decision was taken for the Pride Group to get trained to become a Reporting Centre so that people who are concerned about hate crime can speak to a member of the group at one of the Pride events and get support reporting it if required. 

Congleton Green

I added a carbon offset calculation to the tree, hedgerow and re-wilding planner that the Green group is using. This will allow us to calculate total offset from all our activities.  The only remaining challenge is to decide exactly what nominal offset figure we are going to adopt for ‘a tree’ or a metre of hedgerow. Discussions continue.

I worked with the CTC Marketing Team to put together a strategy and plan for communicating about the Green activities in order to work with all residents and businesses in Congleton to reduce our collective carbon and environmental footprint, including promoting our online ‘Sustainable Living in Congleton’ eLearning course. Have YOU completed it yet?

Sustainable Living in Congleton eLearning Course

I have also continued to help out when I can with tree and hedge planting. We have had a number of questions about this in Community & Environment Committee meetings, that I chair.

CEDSAP Board Meeting

I have been invited to join the Cheshire East Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership Board and attended my first meeting in February. We discussed the new Cheshire East ‘Whole Housing Strategy’ for Domestic Abuse survivors as well as the upcoming SHOUT (Sexual Harassment OUT) campaign that has been designed by members of the CE Youth Parliament and is due to launch in March.

Congleton Household Waste and Recycling

Following the closure of Congleton Tip, several Congleton Town Councillors continue to lobby for better household waste and recycling services in the town. Cllr Suzy Firkin and I had a meeting with Cheshire East Councillors and Officers to discuss the procurement process that is just starting in order to appoint a new provider for the whole borough. We requested that having a new site in Congleton should be an option as part of the solutions that the new providers can come up with. 

Fly tipping is being monitored after our tip closure but so far the data is inconclusive as to whether it has increased year-on-year – the impact of the COVID pandemic also makes the figures difficult to interpret. We requested that usage levels at other neighbouring towns’ facilities is monitored going forward, so that we can see the impact of the closure of Congleton. In addition, we asked about additional short-term provision in Congleton. There is a new clothing bank on Royle St and I suggested that Parnell Square might be a suitable point for another, as it is a central location in Bromley Farm estate.

Congleton Repair Café

Ben Casey at the Repair Café

I was delighted to see Congleton Repair Café getting underway at the Old Saw Mill in January. This is a fantastic initiative and a way to ‘re-use’ instead of throwing away broken things such as furniture, bikes, electrical equipment and so on. There is a group of expert volunteers who it seems can fix just about everything.

I went along to the first session and met organiser Ben Casey. Many thanks to everyone involved with this initiative.

The Café will be open at the Old Saw Mill on the last Saturday of the month, and you can get in touch with them on Facebook here.

Congleton 750th Year Celebration

Plans continue to take shape now that we are in Congleton’s 750th Year at last. For some of the more expensive merchandise I suggested using an online ‘make as you go’ service and this is being done, as well as ‘buy and go’ merchandise that will be in the Information Centre.  The First big event of the year is the Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy statue unveiling, followed by Beating the Bounds in April.

Bromley Farm Community Development Trust (BFCDT)

Although I offered to help, the Trust has made it clear that they do not want any elected representatives supporting it and said the committee is working with residents directly to consult on future activities and engagement. I look forward to seeing the outcome of this work. 

Congleton Museum

A team drawn from the Trustees met to evaluate vendors who have sent in proposals for future ‘Global Museum’ project – to digitise our collection and make it available to people remotely. We are in the process of selecting our preferred vendor and having meetings with the shortlisted ones in March to make a final decision.

The trustees are planning to consult with residents about what they want from their museum going forward.  Some short surveys will be sent out but meanwhile if you’d like to comment, please contact me or info@congletonmuseum.org.uk

Elizabeth’s Group

The event poster for Our Elizabeth Unveiling

In January we got the Planning Permission for the statue of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy to stand in the middle of Bridge Street, in spite of some last-minute opposition from a small number of councillors.  In the same week, we attended the foundry in London to watch the bronze statue being poured.

The final touches are being made to the statue and all is now on track for the unveiling on 8th March, 2022 – International Women’s Day and exactly 4 years to the day since the idea of commemorating Elizabeth was first proposed.

The day promises to be very exciting and we have 10 schools taking part as well as the Beartown Stompers, Congleton Choral Society, the Guides, and several other groups.

Sculptor Hazel Reeves will be in attendance and the statue will be unveiled by The Baroness Lady Hale of Richmond.  The Programme for the day is on the ElizabethElmy Website.

Congleton Town Regeneration Group

Following our meeting with Jackie Randles, the Chief Executive of the Chamber of Commerce, Cllrs Firkin, Chadwick and I attended a COC Business Breakfast and handed out information about the Congleton 750 events. We are hoping to have a similar Breakfast in the Town Hall later in the year, to inform businesses about some of our CTC priorities and see how we can work more closely with local firms.

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 95% for all council meetings and working groups, either face-to-face or virtually (18 out of 19). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 86% (6 of 7).

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 95%.

I am a member of sixteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, which meet at regular intervals, typically every couple of months. You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

November-December 2021

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the second Monday of the month. The next one is 10th January. You can join on Zoom here or look out for my event on Facebook

Christmas Events

I volunteered to help at the Christmas Lights Switch-on which was a very successful event, brilliantly put together by Congleton Town Council Officers. It was wonderful to have people gathering in our Town Centre to celebrate Christmas together once more.

I also volunteered with the Congleton Santa team, going round with Santa’s float to give sweets to the children and collecting donations for charity – we collected for the Congleton social supermarket.  

White Ribbon Day

White Ribbon Day was on 25th November – this is also the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As we are a White Ribbon Town Council, I and the team led a number of activities to raise awareness and engagement.

I facilitated an Ambassadors’ Workshop on 9th November to help hone skills and prepare to have – sometimes difficult – conversations with men (especially) about male violence towards women. It was an interesting session and the Ambassadors had some great ideas of how to move our work forward.

We ran a town centre stall on 27th November, and had some great conversations. Many people didn’t know the extent of the problem of violence and abuse, some absolutely did. Survivors told us their stories, some parents expressed concern and asked us to engage more with high schools, which we intend to do in 2022. More than sixty people made their White Ribbon Promise on the day.

Some of the group attended the White Ribbon Day Conference on 25th November. There were some inspiring presentations, including from a young man from SHOUT, the campaign devised by young people in Cheshire to stamp out sexual harassment. I am working with Emma Storey, CEC’s Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Development Lead Advisor, to get a presentation in Congleton about this campaign.

I and the White Ribbon Ambassadors made a series of White Ribbon Videos as follows:

You can watch the entire White Ribbon Congleton Playlist here.

We also had a publicity campaign including a ‘home page takeover’ of our Facebook Page and Website, flying the White Ribbon Flag on the Town Hall and articles in the newspapers.

If you like you can join our White Ribbon Congleton Facebook Group. This is a private group intended to be a safe space for men (especially) to have constructive conversations with each other about how to challenge sexism and behaviours that lead to violence.

If you, your employer, your sports club or any other group would like a White Ribbon awareness session, please get in touch: info@congleton-tc.gov.uk.

If you want to get personally involved you can get in contact with anyone on the White Ribbon Working Group, or you can make your own White Ribbon Promise here.

Working with the Police

We heard in the Community & Environment Committee meeting in November that there have been 54 incidents of anti-social behaviour,  48 incidents of Domestic Abuse and 14 Sexual Offences reported in the 7 weeks since the previous meeting. These figures cover Congleton, Alsager and Odd Rode and represent an incident of DA every day and two sexual offences a week.  Plain clothes officers have been patrolling near high schools after an incident where a schoolgirl was followed.

Violence against women and girls is a priority for our new Local Policing Unit which is headquartered in Congleton, and led by Chief Supt Claire Jesson.

Some posters were circulating in Sandbach that were entitled ‘Drink Spiking – Don’t let it Happen to You’ and it was thought that they had police endorsement. This was brought to my attention by women who – like me – were appalled at this headline, apparently making it the victim’s job to prevent this crime, rather than targeting perpetrators. I made a few enquiries and our Police colleagues confirmed that these were not centrally endorsed by Cheshire Police. Most of them have now been taken down on the request of local people.

Meanwhile our PCSOs delivered to me some more helpful posters – addressing perpetrators – created by Rape Crisis – these are now available in our Information Centre. See image. If you would like a poster like this for your venue or workplace please get in touch with me.

I also followed up with Cheshire Police on an incident of homophobia that I was made aware of. Although the number of hate crimes in Congleton is low, the local force has a ‘zero tolerance’ approach and they were happy to pursue this. In 2022 I will continue to work with the Congleton Pride team on partnering with the Police.

I am delighted to have been appointed at a member of Cheshire Police’s External Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (EDEI) Board. This body meets regularly and its role is:

  • To have an overview of the force’s commitment and ongoing work in regards to DEI in line with the NPCC Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Strategy 
  • To scrutinise the priority areas of the NPCC toolkit identified by the force gold governance group and to consider the adequacy of action being taken to address those priority areas
  • To act as a critical friend to Cheshire Constabulary giving constructive feedback and advice on identified areas of DEI practice for the force
  • To provide independent qualitative reviews on areas of DEI progression within the force referred by the Chief Constable or their statutory officers
  • To advise on the development of new and existing force policies and strategies in relation to DEI.

I attended an initial meeting with the new board and we have kick-off workshop in January 2022.

Congleton Green

Cllr Suzy Firkin, Officer Ruth Burgess and I met to discuss how to account for our carbon offsets resulting from activities supported by Congleton Town Council including tree and hedge planting and ‘rewilding’ projects.

I will be working on adding these offsets as calculations to the project plan for all the different areas where these activities are underway, and this will total to our ‘overall offset’ so that we can get a sense of where we stand and how much more we need to do.

I’ve also volunteered to work with Officers on the marketing and digital campaign for all of our Congleton Green activities, and we’ll move forward on this in early 2022.

I helped our excellent Tree Planting Volunteers, led by the talented Ruth Benson, with some tree and hedge planting during this period and will continue to do so in 2022.

Congleton 750th Year Celebration

I’m on the working group for this celebration and during this period I contacted people I know involved in ceilidh bands and Morris Dancing Groups, so that the events team can invite them to the Medieval Ball and to the town centre events respectively.

Bromley Farm Community Development Trust (BFCDT)

Following the AGM of the Trust at which it was clear that little progress has been made on the points made in the Cheshire East Review, it has been announced that the Constitution is going to be updated together with 10 other actions that Cheshire East Officers have requested to make the Trust more inclusive. I have been supporting some residents who are interested in getting more involved with the Trust.  I have had a number of conversations with residents and with the Cheshire East Officers who are supporting the Trust in implementing the improvements. I also attended a meeting about the fact that some of the Bromley Farm residents’ efforts towards InBloom were not recognised on the prize-giving night. I will continue to support the Trust working for Bromley Farm residents in any way I can in 2022, and will happily work with the current leadership to make the organisation more transparent and accountable.

COVID-19

A number of residents are still concerned about having to travel out of Congleton for COVID booster jabs.  I raised this as an Urgent Item at our Community & Environment Committee Meeting and have continued to pursue this with the local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group. More booster clinics are planned in Congleton.

I am an NHS Volunteer Responder and have re-activated my account in the first responder system so that I can volunteer for vaccine clinics in the New Year.

Congleton Partnership

I attended at Congleton Partnership meeting at which the new Chair, Peter Aston, discussed his vision for the future of the Partnership. There are number of areas where the group believed it could improve, especially in terms of clarity of purpose, accountability/transparency and the specific role of the Town Council supporting the Partnership (which is separate from the Council).  As Partnership liaison Councillor I offered to be part of the working group to redefine how the Partnership works, and if not on the group I will certainly offer ideas about the liaison role.

Congleton Museum

My brief for the future ‘Global Museum’ project – to digitise our collection and make it available to people remotely – has been sent to vendors and during December I conducted meetings with 3 of them who are preparing proposals for us.  The current brief is to complete the strategy and business case that we can use to submit for more funding to develop the project further.

The idea is to allow people to interact with the museum and its collections online in a variety of ways, and to add digital components to a ‘real-life’ museum visit. 

If you would like to get involved with the Museum, please contact me or info@congletonmuseum.org.uk

Elizabeth’s Group

I have been working with a local architect, Tom Withers, who prepared the drawings for the location of our statue of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy on Bridge Street, Congleton, and we submitted the Planning Application complete with drawings, background story and Heritage Statement.

These are now on the Cheshire East Council Planning Portal and the public has come out in force in support of the application. More than fifty members of the public have written letters of support to the Planning Portal, and the official response from the Cultural Economy Team at Cheshire East Council is also in support. The Landscape, Archaeological and Highways responses offer no objections.

Three commentators asked about possible hazards for the visually impaired or wheelchair users. I got some advice from the Sensing Culture project (of RNIB) which recommends how to make artworks accessible for the visually impaired, and from a doctor who is a national disability rights campaigner, both of whom support the idea of the statue as ‘street art’ that is at wheelchair-level and accessible by touch (with appropriate sensory paving around it) rather than placing the artwork on a plinth out of reach.

Hybrid Council Meetings

I have been working with Town Hall Manager Mark Worthington who has done a fantastic job in sourcing a solution that will allow us to run meetings with remote attendees and decent sound and visuals, using software such as Zoom. Cllr Suzy Firkin (Chair of Town Hall, Assets & Services Cttee)  and I tested it with Mark and Chief Officer David McGifford, then we conducted a larger test at a Council Planning Meeting.

I hope this will be a route to opening up our democracy and allowing many more members of the public (including those with caring responsibilities or without transport) to attend our Council meetings.  

Congleton Town Regeneration Group

I attended a meeting of our Regeneration Group with the new Chair of the East Cheshire Chamber of Commerce, Jackie Randles.  We shared a number of ideas for who we can work together to support Congleton Businesses, including CTC possibly hosting one of the Chamber’s Thursday Thirty breakfast meetings. More on this in 2022.

Budgeting for the Coming Year

As Chair of the Community & Environment Committee I made some suggestions for the coming year’s budget, which has now been ratified by the Council. This included an upgrade for the Council’s Website, which is how many residents choose to interact with us, and funding for work on the climate change (including carbon offsetting), and biodiversity, as well as integrated transport.

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 100% for all council meetings and working groups, either face-to-face or virtually (17 out of 17). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 100% (7 of 7).

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 95%.

I am a member of fourteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, which meet at regular intervals, typically every couple of months. You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

September-October 2021

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the first Monday of the month. The next one is 1st November. You can join on Zoom here or look out for my event on Facebook.

Domestic Abuse

At September’s Community & Environment Committee Meeting I invited a Congleton Survivor to speak as well as Saskia Ritchie, CEO of Cheshire Without Abuse (myCWA) and the Police.

The Survivor spoke frankly about her experience, which spanned 20 years before she finally escaped with her child, and said that if there had been a local service like our Domestic Abuse clinic, she would very likely have got out sooner.

Saskia then gave some figures about the DA Clinic which has been running weekly in the Old Saw Mill for the past 12 months. Headlines were:

  • 83 clinics at the Old Saw Mill have been attended (including general advice, Police advice and Legal advice)
  • 161 referrals for 94 individuals between October 2020 and September 2021
  • 91% of the adult victims who came to the clinic were women
  • 9 Perpetrators had been to the clinic
  • 23 victims have been assessed at high risk of death or serious harm referred to Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferences – so the clinics are helping to prevent serious crime. 
  • This was backed up by the Police describing a case study of someone who had been to the clinic getting appropriate Police support and follow up.

Interestingly, Saskia mentioned that for the first time ever for myCWA, six men who were perpetrators had come to the clinic of their own accord (without a Police or other agency referral).  It is not clear why this is happening in Congleton, but it may be due to the White Ribbon Campaign (see below).

Next steps for the Congleton Hub included the initiation of a face-to-face peer support group which started in October.  

Note: if you need advice or support related to Domestic Abuse please call 0300 123 5101. In an emergency call 999. Also see the Council’s web page – Staying Safe at Home.

White Ribbon

The White Ribbon Group is getting ready for White Ribbon Day on 25th November – this is also the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Our group is planning a town centre stall on 27th November, decorating the town with white ribbons and social media/online awareness.  I am facilitating an Ambassadors’ Workshop on 9th November to help our Ambassadors prepare for manning the stall. Some of the group will also be attending the Cheshire White Ribbon Conference on 25th November.

If you like you can join our White Ribbon Congleton Facebook Group. This is a private group intended to be a safe space for men (especially) to have constructive conversations with each other about how to challenge sexism and behaviours that lead to violence.

If you, your employer, your sports club or any other group would like a White Ribbon awareness session, please get in touch: info@congleton-tc.gov.uk.

If you want to get personally involved you can get in contact with anyone on the White Ribbon Working Group, or you can make your own White Ribbon Promise here.

Cheshire East – Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence

I met with Emma Storey who is the CEC’s Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Development Lead Advisor.  She and their team are leading a number of projects, including one engaging young people to develop a campaign against sexual violence for schools. 

Emma shared with me the Results of the Safety of Women in Public Places survey – 94% of women do not always feel safe in the streets of Cheshire.

Emma undertook to work on White Ribbon Accreditation for CEC.  We will now have regular meetings to share our work in this area.

Cheshire PCC, John Dwyer

With PCC John Dwyer

I met with John Dwyer in my role as Chair of the Antisocial Behaviour Working Group. We had a wide-ranging discussion covering misogyny in the Police, hate crime, especially with regard to the LGBTQ+ community, and a discussion of road safety and 20mph speed limits in residential areas. He undertook to look at how some other countries have improved conviction rates for rape, and also promised to come and speak to Congleton Town Council about his strategy when it is published.

We spent some time discussing the PCC’s domestic abuse strategy, which had received additional government funding that is being invested in perpetrator programmes, victim support, support for children to ‘break the cycle’ of abuse and business training, among other initiatives.

Congleton Pride

The Congleton Pride team has had two meetings with Cheshire Police, to discuss how we can encourage LGBTQ+ to feel safe in Congleton and encourage the reporting of hate crime. The first meeting was with PCSC Amy Heath and the second with Inspector Jim Adams and Kerry Richardson, Engagement Officer.

As a result of these meetings, we have got hate crime leaflets into many pubs and also we are now discussing whether Congleton Pride can become a ‘reporting hub’ to support local LGBTQ+ people.  We will be following up with the Police in January.

Congleton PubWatch

I attended a meeting with the PubWatch group in the Town Hall at which PC Helen Hood and PCSO Amy Heath gave a talk about drugs, including drink spiking.  Many of the pub and club owners were very appreciative of the up to date information. We also handed out hate crime leaflets (see above), ‘Ask for Angela’ Posters (for women who do not feel safe), Open The Door (domestic abuse) posters for toilet doors, and White Ribbon leaflets.

Congleton Green

I attended the Green Fayre in Congleton on 31st October and spent the afternoon on the Congleton Green stall, explaining our Town Council projects to reduce carbon emissions and increase biodiversity.  The Fayre was part of a series of events billed Congleton Climate Festival and a big shout out is due to organisers Jackie MacArthur, Martha Hayes, Barry Speed and Peter Aston.

With Cllr Russell Chadwick at the Green Fayre

Integrated Transport Working Group

Our bus survey results have now been published and were presented at the Community & Environment Committee. Not surprisingly, most respondents said that buses were not frequent enough, too expensive and ‘don’t go where I want to go’.  Almost all respondents used a car for most journeys that were too long to walk. However, it was interesting that more than 80% of people said they would use buses if they were cheap and convenient enough.  We have sent the results to Cheshire East Council as input to the strategy for buses.  We would very much like Congleton to be a pilot town for improved bus services if and when funding becomes available.

Congleton 750th Year Celebration

A number of projects are getting underway to celebrate Congleton’s 750th Charter Year in 2022.  I’m on the working group for this, chaired by Cllr David Brown. 

I have drafted a letter for businesses to invite them to become sponsors of the event in exchange for advertising, including on heraldic flags that will be placed along Mountbatten Way. This letter should go out in November.

Congleton In Bloom

I attended the Congleton In Bloom celebration event and enjoyed chatting to people who have been leading various super projects around our town.  The energy and hard work that goes into all these is very impressive. The Gold Award that Congleton received from the judges is certainly well deserved. Congratulations to all involved – great job!

Social Supermarket

The Green Tree House volunteers

I attended the opening of Congleton’s Social Supermarket, run by the dedicated volunteers at the Green Tree House.

I helped the team hand out gifts in the town centre to promote the supermarket, then joined them at their new shop which has generously been provided by the LOL foundation. 

Cheshire East Vitality Plan for Congleton

I attended a meeting with the CEC Strategic Planning Team to feedback the initial Draft Baseline Overview report which will become the Town Centre Vitality Plan for Congleton.  The idea is to publish this report so that if and when national government funding becomes available, there is a plan ready to implement to make the town centre more pleasant to visit, live, travel through and shop in.

COVID-19

In September I had the great pleasure of attending the COVID-19 Thank You event for Volunteers.  Originally, CTC had planned Volunteer Awards but the judging panel felt that everyone nominated had done so much for their community it was impossible to pick ‘winners’.  Instead, with a donation from CEC, the Town Council hosted a Thank You evening.  It was humbling to hear of all the wonderful work done by all those attending.  From me personally, also – THANK YOU.

With Cllr Suzy Firkin at the COVID Volunteers celebration

Cases are still occurring in our area and our case rate is between 300 and 700 per 100,000 people in Congleton. We have high vaccination rates too, though, with 85-95% of people (dependent on location) having had one dose and 75-85% having had two.  You can track all this information if you like, on the government’s interactive COVID map. Of course serious cases and hospitalisations are much reduced but we must still be vigilant.

Some elderly residents have complained to me about having to travel out of Congleton for COVID booster jabs.  I raised this with the Clinical Commissioning Group. Since then, some pop-up booster clinics have been organised in Congleton, and Tesco at Barn Road has also been offering the booster, I believe.

Congleton Partnership

The Partnership has a new Chair, Peter Aston, and as Chair of the Community & Environment Committee of the Council I met up with Peter to discuss how he wants to take the Partnership Forward and how I can support him.

Supporting Parents

Congleton is a great place to bring up a family and we want to support Mums and Dads as much as possible, with both parenting and working. I’m helping to draft some new content for our website about this.

I continue to discuss our remote learning courses with representatives from Macclesfield College.  This initiative started pre-COVID and is to help local people such as single parents get training to get into work, without having to travel to Macclesfield or Crewe.

I wrote some revised wording for the Council’s Employee Handbook on flexible working and shared parental leave and sent it to Officers as input to the latest Handbook updates.

Congleton Museum

I wrote a brief for a future ‘digital museum’ and shared this with fellow Trustees at our September meeting.  I am now incorporating their feedback and we will be inviting vendors to pitch to develop this new offer.

The idea is to allow people to interact with the museum and its collections online in a variety of ways, and to add digital components to a ‘real-life’ museum visit.  This was one of the projects that came out of our Strategy workshop in the summer.

If you would like to get involved with the Museum, please contact me or info@congletonmuseum.org.uk

The Museum is still collecting ‘100 objects’ that tell Congleton’s Story to celebrate the 750th Charter Year in 2022. Do you have an object that might be included? Email Congleton100@congletonmuseum.co.uk to suggest it.

Elizabeth’s Group

The Council met in October and I put forward a proposal that Elizabeth’s Group (of which I am a Trustee) should have the final say on the exact site for the Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy statue, since the group is self-funding.  The Council voted in agreement and also agreed to ‘support the outcome’ of Elizabeth’s Group’s deliberations.  The project can now continue apace and the sculptor, Hazel Reeves, has almost finished the clay version of the statue.

The day after the Council meeting the BBC interviewed Sue Munro, Chair of Elizabeth’s Group, and we dressed in period costume to welcome the BBC to Congleton.

You can watch the BBC video and read about the statue’s progress here on the Elizabeth’s Group website.

Bromley Farm Community Development Trust

I attended the AGM of the this organisation and supported some residents who want to get involved in volunteering with and helping run the Trust. The work continues, with the Trust committee taking the welcome step of setting up a Steering Group to allow residents to have input into how the Trust is organised and managed in future.

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 100% for all council meetings and working groups, either face-to-face or virtually (12 out of 12). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 100% (3 of 3).

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 94%.

I am a member of fourteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, which meet at regular intervals, typically every couple of months. You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.

July-August 2021

Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog.

If you want to chat to me about what I am doing in the Council my monthly surgeries are continuing on the second Monday of the month. The next one is 4th October. You can join on Zoom here or look out for my event on Facebook.

COVID-19

Cases are still occurring in our area and our case rate is between 170 and 460 per 100,000 people in the Congleton area. We have high vaccination rates too, though, with 85-95% of people (dependent on location) having had one dose and 75-85% having had two.  You can track all this information if you like, on the government’s interactive COVID map. Of course serious cases and hospitalisations are much reduced but we must still be vigilant.

Restrictions are lifted and council events are being planned, but we still have to consider allowing for social distancing and encouraging people to practice hand-washing, sanitising and appropriate use of face-coverings.

Domestic Abuse

Congleton Chronicle report on increase in domestic abuse reports

The DA Clinic has been continuing weekly in the Old Saw Mill, and virtually. This is run by myCWA in partnership with Cheshire Police.  At our recent Community & Environment Committee and Antisocial Behaviour Working Group meetings we have heard from the Police that Domestic Abuse reporting has increased slightly year-on-year.  Whilst this my be due to the Euros football (which often results in an increase), myCWA thinks it might also be because people feel more confident reporting to the Police due to our DA Clinics.

Note: if you need advice or support related to Domestic Abuse please call 0300 123 5101. In an emergency call 999. Also see the Council’s web page – Staying Safe at Home.

White Ribbon

Our Congleton White Ribbon purpose is to “Strive to eradicate all forms of gender-based violence and abuse in Congleton”, and we have been a very active group, taking the message out and in particular tackling the male behaviours that lead to violence.

We had a Town Centre stall on 10th July which was ably manned by the White Ribbon Ambassadors in our group.  (I was self-isolating, but had prepared much of the material used).  It was a quiet day but a few new people offered to volunteer to help White Ribbon and we are following up with them.

White Ribbon Ambassadors man the stall

If you like you can join our White Ribbon Congleton Facebook Group. This is a private group intended to be a safe space for men (especially) to have constructive conversations with each other about how to challenge toxic masculinity and behaviours that lead to violence.

If you, your employer, your sports club or any other group would like a White Ribbon awareness session, please get in touch: info@congleton-tc.gov.uk.

If you want to get personally involved you can get in contact with anyone on the White Ribbon Working Group, or you can make your own White Ribbon Promise here.

Supporting Parents

I continue to work with officers on a section ‘For Parents’ of our website which will cover everything from play parks to childcare to the rights of working parents. Congleton is a great place to bring up a family and we want to support Mums and Dads as much as possible, with both parenting and working.

I have discussed our remote learning courses with representatives from Macclesfield College.  This initiative started pre-COVID and is to help local people such as single parents get training to get into work, without having to travel to Macclesfield or Crewe.

Congleton Museum

I am a Trustee of Congleton Museum and the recent challenges we faced during the pandemic brought home to the team the imperative to modernise and consider what the museum will be like and how it will work in the future.

To this end I designed a Strategy Workshop and facilitiated it with the support of Cllr Suzy Firkin (also a Trustee).  We looked at the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) for our museum and considered how other museums around the country have modernised their approach.  We then brainstormed new ways of working to address our key challenges and came up with 4 projects to work on. These include further digitisation, building up our volunteer base, engagement with schools and re-looking at the museum’s space.

We are now taking these forward and I’m particularly working on the digital side for which I’m drafting a brief for a potential provider of a ‘digital museum’ solution. We’re also doing desk research into digital platforms.

If you would like to get involved with the Museum, please contact me or info@congletonmuseum.org.uk

The Museum is still collecting ‘100 objects’ that tell Congleton’s Story to celebrate the 750th Charter Year in 2022. Do you have an object that might be included? Email Congleton100@congletonmuseum.co.uk to suggest it.

Congleton Pride

The Congleton Pride event was on 21st August 2021. I hope you enjoyed the event, if you came!

The Pride event was a great day in spite of poor weather – a really wonderful festival for Congleton. There were stalls from retailers, political parties, charities, the Police and the Fire Service and one from 7 Congleton Churches. The outdoor stage catered for everyone from children’s magic shows to drag acts. The day was topped off by an amazing evening event at the Vale Club. The positive, inclusive spirit was inspiring and people of all ages and backgrounds joined in. A fantastic time was had by all and the Pride team have been inundated with thanks and positive comments.

The WEP Team at Congleton Pride

Many thanks to all the organisers, stallholders, entertainers and everyone who came along on the day.

The Pop-up Vaccine Clinic, with Nurse Marie Townsend

I helped with the set up and also did stints on the WEP stall and on Elizabeth’s Group.

I also managed to get a Pop-Up vaccine clinic organised for the Pride event, to allow anyone to come along and have their first or second jab.  This was very successful and 228 people were vaccinated during the day.

In the run up to Pride I and a few members of the team went to United Reformed Church the previous Sunday as a gesture of friendship, as the URC has been a great Pride supporter and welcomes everyone to its worship.

We were sorry to find in the weeks before the event, several Pride advertising banners were torn down.  The Police are investigating but the Pride team carried on regardless. This showed to me the importance of Pride in continuing to break down barriers in our town, although I’m sure the opposition numbers are low in Congleton.

If you want to get involved in future events or connect with other LGBTQ+ people, please contact Congleton Pride.

Congleton Green

The Sustainable Living in Congleton online course is now available.  I have been a member of the team putting this together. 

We are doing a ‘soft launch’ at the moment and allowing people to try it out and check everything is working properly and making sense – so do let me have your feedback on it. 

This course will develop over time and we can add content as things change in this rapidly-evolving topic.


Congleton Green Page

The Green Working Group is now meeting monthly and accelerating our efforts to combat climate change, the impact of waste and loss of habitat.

We have added biodiversity as a permanent part of our agenda and we have a large number of topics we are moving forward on.

Our re-wilding project continues and Streetscape Manager, Ruth Burgess, has now put a section on the Congleton Green web page explaining which areas are covered and how we are consulting local residents.

Integrated Transport Working Group

Following our meeting with Cheshire East Council we decided to run a public survey about bus use and requirements here in Congleton and I drafted the survey questions.

We have to be careful because, as a Town Council, we do not have the budget or the authority to run public transport services and we do not want to stimulate demand for services it is not in our gift to provide. However, we know that Congleton bus services are inadequate and we are keen to lobby providers or maybe run a couple of pilot projects to see if better services would encourage public transport use. Of course this is an important part of our green agenda too.

Please complete the survey here to let us know about your travel habits and what you think about buses in Congleton: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BusCong21

Antisocial Behaviour Working Group

I chair the Antisocial Behaviour Working Group of the Council, in which we partner with Cheshire Police, Cheshire Fire Service and Cheshire East Council.  This month I have received reports from residents of some serious illegal activity in a house in a local area.  I reported it to our Police contacts, and several local people also reported this to the Police. I’m glad to say that a number of arrests have been made and the house is now empty.

My chairship of the ASB Group was challenged in our first meeting of this year, but the Group voted for me to continue as Chair for which I am very grateful. The challenger asserted that some of the items I have added to the agenda, such as sexual violence and domestic abuse, did not constitute ‘antisocial behaviour’ and should not be discussed by our group.  I and other members of the group disagreed.  This behaviour is antisocial whether it occurs on the High Street or behind closed doors, and these serious crimes should remain front-of-mind for a group like ours and indeed for a Town Council.

Congleton 750th Year Celebration

A number of projects are getting underway to celebrate Congleton’s 750th Charter Year in 2022.  I’m on the working group for this, chaired by Cllr David Brown, and have volunteered to help with any of the activities. It should be a great year for Congleton.

Elizabeth’s Group

Elizabeth taking shape

Cllr James Smith and Deputy Chief Officer Jackie MacArthur have been writing a report requested by Councillors on the options for the location of the statue, and consulting with experts such as Cheshire East’s Cultural Economy Team. I have been the Elizabeth’s Group liaison on that report – providing the Group’s perspective rather than a Council one.

The report will be provided to both Elizabeth’s Group and to the Council.  It is likely that the Council will discuss it at the October meeting.

Meanwhile the sculptor, Hazel Reeves, has been working on the statue and you can read about her progress here on the Elizabeth’s Group website.

Congleton Community Projects

My company, Kanga Health Ltd, is doing a pro bono project to update the Congleton Community Projects website. This project started in August with a requirements workshop at our office in Meadowside, Congleton, with Jo Money who runs Community Projects. The next step is to develop the site map and wireframes for the new website.

My Meeting Attendance

Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these relatively quiet two months has been 80% for all council meetings and working groups, either face-to-face or virtually (8 out of 10). For the mandatory council committees my rate is 60% (3 of 5).

I was very sorry to miss a Community & Environment Committee (which I chair) meeting due to having to self-isolate in July. We are still working on getting the right system for remote attendance at meetings, which will be very helpful in these instances! (Remote attendance will have to be non-voting due to the law, unfortunately). I am helping officers select a vendor for ‘hybrid’ meetings and we have some meetings with prospective ones in September.

In total since I have been a Councillor (from May 2019) my overall meeting attendance across all types of meetings and statutory meetings has been 94%.

I am a member of fourteen other Groups as well as the Council Committees, which meet at regular intervals, typically every couple of months. You can see my memberships on the About Me Page.

The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.