Cheshire West and Chester in running for Co-operative Council of the Year award

Cheshire West and Chester Council and communities have been shortlisted for the Co-operative Council of the Year award and you can play a part in choosing the winner.

The prestigious award recognises councils across the UK which are committed to co-operative principles and working with communities to achieve common goals.

Our borough has been shortlisted for its co-operative approach to building stronger communities, encouraging residents to play their part in shaping our future.

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “This is not just a nomination for the Council but for our whole community, and for our collective approach to working together to build stronger communities.

“We are taking a co-operative approach to decision making because we want our communities to thrive and, by working together, we are able to achieve much more.

“We took a co-operative approach to declaring a climate emergency. A public evidence session defined the way forward and an advisory panel of partner organisations and local environmental groups meet monthly to consider key themes.

“Together we adopted a strategy to tackle poverty, together, by creating a Poverty Advisory Board of local people with lived experience of poverty, so that the Council considers the impact on poverty of all our decisions.

“We tackled the pandemic together to ensure people were safe, matching volunteers with requests for help and support. Our communities were interacted with our Covid outbreak management board. We developed a network of 350 community champions to share trusted messages.

“Together we created an arms-length company run on co-operative principles to manage household waste collections, with active involvement from residents and staff.

“The winners will be decided by a public vote. By voting for our borough we are celebrating our collective successes in what has been a very difficult past year.”

Among the many organisations to have worked in partnership with the Council in the last year is Cheshire West Voluntary Action.

Clare Harrison, Deputy Chief Executive of Cheshire West Voluntary Action (CWVA), said: "We're delighted to have worked closely with the Council and other partners throughout the pandemic to make sure our communities were supported in the best possible way.

"Our communities had to adapt quickly and the support of such a forward-thinking Council, working together across different sectors, was vital. We should all be very proud of how we worked as one big team.

"It'd be fantastic to see people across Cheshire West and Chester vote for the Council and help recognise all the fantastic work that has been done."

Cheshire West and Chester Council is shortlisted along with Kirklees Council, Rochdale Council, Torbay Council, Telford and Wrekin Council.  

The judges’ scores will be combined with public votes to decide the winner. Voting closes on 1 June and the winners will be announced on 5 July 2021. To vote, visit:

www.uk.coop/vote.

Pictured - Councillor Louise Gittins.