A proposal to increase gulley cleaning and pavement ‘siding out’ in the borough by Cheshire West and Chester Conservative Councillors, to the cost of £425,000, was rejected by Labour Councillors at the Budget Council meeting on Thursday 20th February 2025.
The suggestion of an extra £225,000 for maintaining gulleys and a new budget of £200,000 for cleaning pathways (siding out) had been proposed by Conservative Group Member Cllr Mark Stocks (Shakerley, Con), in order to provide safer walk routes to locations such as schools and reduce the risk of localised flooding.
Cllr Mark Stocks said:
“As no provision for siding out has been in the set of budget papers,in many wards, especially rural wards such as Shakerley, pathways have been allowed to overgrow for too long by Cheshire West. We have a duty to ensure they are easily navigable and safe for people such as schoolchildren and our elderly, who rely on these to get to school or about in their day-to-day lives.
“As no budget for this has been offered, and as colleagues and I feel so strongly about providing walk routes that are safe, I felt that we needed to push more funding into this area. Regrettably, the Labour administration does not see this is a serious enough issue!”
“The Labour-run Council always think they know best, so used their majority to vote the amendment down on spurious political grounds.”
Seconding the proposals, Cllr Phil Marshall (Marbury, Con), reacted by saying:
“Once again, the Labour administration has made a mockery of wanting to work with cross-party consensus on key concerns.
“While we provided fair and fully-funded ideas to help stop flooding by returning to cleansing 80% of gulleys at least yearly, rather than some that have not been cleaned in over 2 years, and helping to reduce the deterioration of our roads and pavements by clearing out vegetation and moss, the Labour Council instead voted these down as they were not their own ideas.
“My residents, and many across our borough, have been screaming out for more investment in these areas. They can no longer afford Labour mismanagement, and I hope the administration takes seriously the impact of these items not being invested in, year after year.”
Cllr Adrian Waddelove (Farndon, Con), Leader of the Conservative Group, summarised the position as:
“Typical but not surprising. Despite what they imagine, we are trying to help in key areas of delivery for this council and yet we are rebuked. Why? Simply because we are not them.
“There is a lot this Labour administration get wrong, and refusing to listen to and work with opposition members is just the cherry on top.”
