Political Leadership: Cheshire East Council

Cheshire East Council is a large unitary authority in the North West of England. Since its creation in April 2009, the authority had been a conservative majority control council. This changed at the May 2019 elections when the authority moved to NOC.

The Labour group and Independents formed a ‘joint administration’ with the Labour Group leader as leader of the council and the Independent Group leader taking the deputy council leader position. After the May 2023 elections, Labour increased its councillor number to 31 and continues a close working relationship with the Independent Group.

Lorraine O’Donnell took over as chief executive in March 2020 – almost a year into NOC working – and left to become chief executive of Bradford in Summer 2023. Her reflections on the lessons of working with the joint administration are included below.

Part of the agreement between the joint administration was for a move from a cabinet with leader model to a committee system. The council runs several service committees (adults and health; children and families; economy and growth; environment and communities; and highways and transport) alongside the usual quasi-judicial and partnership committees and boards. There is also a corporate policy committee which provides strategic direction, developing and recommending the corporate plan. This is chaired by the leader and the vice chair is the deputy from the Independents. There is also a scrutiny committee chaired by a member of the opposition.

A focus on relationship building

Investing in relationships, building good working relationships and building trust over time are crucial to working well with a joint administration. For this reason, during the pandemic there continued to be face-to-face meetings between the chief executive and leaders of the joint administration. The chief executive was also keen to ensure that the deputy as well as the Leader was very well briefed; treating them ‘hand in hand’.

Providing informal ‘stilts’ for collaborative working

A range of informal meetings supports this focus on developing and maintaining good working relationships. The chief executive would have weekly two-to-one meetings with the leader and deputy; a one-to-one meeting every three weeks with the Leader of the Opposition; and monthly meetings with the smaller groups. Before full council the chief executive would meet with all group leaders together. With the committee system, there would be an informal policy briefing meeting, chaired by the Leader, bringing together all the committee chairs which the senior management team attended. This would provide the opportunity to take draft reports and discuss policy over the longer term. In addition, each executive director meets with the chair and vice chair of particular committees.

A member focus

Having an outlook which enjoys working with members and values their contribution is important. Wanting to understanding what motivates members and what they want to achieve can be key to working well with members in a joint administration. This can involve a lot of active listening.

Understanding the needs & working of different political groups

Part of this ‘political empathy’ involves understanding that different political groups have different needs. In particular, non-traditional political parties often require different officer support and approaches. Independent groups may need longer to debate policy and agree group positions; officers need to adjust their procedures to give more time or provide more information. For example, member briefings were provided on adults and children’s services. Generally, administrations which work across parties need to provide for discussion within groups and across groups in a way that is not typical for a majority control authority.

Political awareness

All of the above puts a premium on good political awareness. And encouraging other officers to understand the political side of the council; a chief executive can have a very positive influence if they role model a positive relationship with members.

Importance of the ‘golden triangle’

Having a cohesive, well functioning senior management team is important for effective joint administrations, in particular a strong ‘golden triangle’ of the chief executive, monitoring officer and section 151 officer.

A committee system working well

The committee system was seen to be working well for the joint administration. It perhaps provided a bit more ‘wriggle room’ in addressing potential disagreements between the political partners than a cabinet.

Honest conversations

As part of the need to invest in relationships, the chief executive often has to have honest confidential conversations at times with leading members.

Lorraine O’Donnell (former chief executive at Cheshire East & currently chief executive at Bradford)
Lorraine.O’[email protected]

David Parr, chief executive at Cheshire East
[email protected]