The Community governance review phase 2:

23rd February 2026

Following a very successful phase 1 with over 200 responses the council have drafted a proposal that is to be further consulted upon. The recommendations to take forward are as follows:

(i)            a new civil parish for the area of Willaston be created;

(ii)          a new local council for the area of Willaston be created and this could be an individual council or grouped with a neighbouring local council:

(iii)         the area (boundary) for the new civil parish/local council to be determined after the outcomes of the second consultation are known but, in principle, the proposed area is set out in Appendix 1;

(iv)         the name and style of the new council be more particularly detailed following consideration of the results of the second consultation (for example: parish, village, community or neighbourhood);

(v)          the electoral arrangements for a new local council (council size and warding) to be determined following consideration of the results of the second consultation;

(vi)         should a new civil parish and local council be created, as part of a Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council Order (Reorganisation of Community Governance) the polling districts for UJ1, UJ2 and UJ3 be redrawn to accommodate the creation of a new local council. This would be prepared in accordance with the above recommendations and that the Order be effective from May 2027. The recommendations relating to creation of a new local council for the area of Willaston shall come into force on the ordinary day of election of councillors in May 2027; and

(vii)        the second public consultation take place over six weeks, and that Council Officers hold one public drop-in sessions to inform residents of the community governance review process.

This second review begins today and will run for 6 weeks, keep an eye out for letters coming soon and, if you completed the last consultation and agreed, an email with a link to complete the second phase survey.

A summary of the responses from phase 1 and the terms of reference document (quoted as appendix 1 above) are now also available on our website. Check out the documents page (link above) for the downloads.

          Warm Regards,

          The Willaston Matters Team