The Cheshire West and Chester Conservative Group, led by Councillor Adrian Waddelove (Farndon, Con) and Councillor Simon Eardley (Saughall and Mollington, Con), have today announced their 6 key pledges to deliver for residents ahead of the Cheshire West and Chester Council elections in 2027.
As the largest opposition group on the Labour-run authority, Cheshire West Conservatives have committed to 6 key pledges that will deliver a more focused, leaner and more effective Council from May 2027. Headlined by the key commitment to deliver a £200 million Highways Recovery Plan, each Conservative councillor and candidate is prepared to do whatever it requires to return the borough to sustainable financial and infrastructure standards. If the Conservatives take control in 2027, they pledge to:
1. Deliver a £200 million Highways Recovery Plan
2. Minimise Council Tax increases by cutting waste
3. Support local businesses to energise high streets
4. Create cleaner neighbourhoods for all
5. Revive our towns, protect our villages
6. Reconfigure your Council so it is focused on you
Speaking to the pledges, Cllr Waddelove, the Conservative Group Leader remarked that:
“For over a decade, the Labour-run Cheshire West and Chester Council has not truly prioritised the needs of local residents. Whether by raising Council Tax to the maximum amount at each and every opportunity, historic underinvestment in our highways that means a pothole plague, or by allowing public finances to grow out of control, this Council has dropped from the gold standard that the Conservatives left it in 2015 to teetering on the edge with a depleted set of reserves.
“With 11 months until the biggest set of elections in Cheshire West for over a generation (with the first Cheshire and Warrington Mayoral election alongside the Cheshire West and Chester Council election), we are totally aligned with our Shadow Cabinet, councillors, candidates and Cheshire and Warrington Conservative Mayoral candidate Ben Fletcher on how we will deliver for residents if we win. Whether it is investing £200 million into our highways, developing truly sustainable planning policies that revive our towns and protect our villages, minimising Council Tax increases by cutting waste and by restoring civic pride across the whole area, this set of pledges demonstrates how we will deliver in Cheshire West and Chester from 2027.”
Cllr Simon Eardley, Deputy Group Leader, also speaking as the Shadow Cabinet Member for Highways, who will be responsible for delivering the £200 million Highways Recovery Plan, added that:
“Our pledges are practical, costed and entirely deliverable. For too long, it has been the political choices made by Cheshire West Labour that have held our residents back and allowed the managed decline of our roads and footways to continue. Only the Conservatives will reverse over a decade of failure by Labour; only the Conservatives are in position to deliver this.
“We are totally aligned with our Mayoral Candidate Ben Fletcher on diagnosing the ills of this borough and the solutions to fix them. He has already pledged ‘Not One Penny’ to avoid burdening taxpaying residents further, and we must make sure each pound spent in Cheshire West goes as far as possible. This is the only way to deliver £200m into our roads and footways whilst ensuring we keep Council Tax increases as low as possible. We are the only party that promises practical, deliverable and local priorities over national political rhetoric.
“The whole team and I are excited to use the next 11 months to make the positive case for how electing a Conservative Council and a Conservative Mayor will benefit all of our residents and neighbours.”
6 Pledges in more detail:
1. Deliver a £200 million Highways Recovery Plan
We will deliver a £200 million Highways Recovery Plan to tackle potholes, repair drains, clean gulleys and restore pavements, helping you travel safely and reliably.
2. Minimise Council Tax increases by cutting waste
We will launch an immediate and full review of spending, stop unnecessary use of consultants, freeze non-essential recruitment and use technology to deliver improved services more efficiently – helping keep costs down for you.
3. Support local businesses to energise high streets
We will give new small businesses targeted rate relief in their first year and bring empty properties back into use to revive our towns and village centres by ensuring planning applications are completed within 12 weeks.
4. Create cleaner neighbourhoods for all
We will introduce new dedicated teams of ‘Community Action Squads’ entirely focused on practical activities such as street cleaning, protecting nature, removing graffiti, tackling fly-tipping and keeping public spaces well maintained.
5. Revive our towns, protect our villages
We will, on our first day in office, demand the Government review our local housing targets so we can protect green spaces, focus development on brownfield land and in town centres, and ensure infrastructure is delivered before new housing.
6. Your Council, focused on you
We will improve response times to resident queries and community communications, and increase local councillor funding so decisions and investment happen closer to residents and communities.
