Now what happens?

4:54pm Monday 12th May 2008

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NEWLY-ELECTED members of Cheshire East Council had no idea how the new authority would be run or what their responsibilities would be.

The shadow unitary authority will operate alongside Cheshire County Council for a year before replacing it in April 2009.

However as the six Conservative councillors representing Knutsford and Bucklow Hill celebrated their victory, they had no idea how the two councils would be juggled.

"I don't know if we're going to get paid or when we're going to get paid," said County Councillor Bert Grange. "I've no idea."

The new councillors will attend a series of inductions this week but so far have not been briefed about their responsibilities.

After the election Tony Barker, spokesman for Macclesfield Borough Council - one of the six district councils that will also be axed next year - said it was still too early to discuss how the new council would operate or where the extra funding would come from.

"There will be inductions for all the councillors where they'll have an overview as to what's expected of them," he said.

County Councillor Grange will effectively be working for two councils and last week was concerned about the heavy workload. "I'll be doing my normal job at County Hall and scattered in between will be meetings to get the other council on its feet," he said.

"It'll be twice the amount of work."

He has also been asked to train the new councillors who have never dealt with county-wide responsibilities before.

"A lot of councillors haven't got a clue for Cheshire," he said.

"They've only ever dealt with district issues." County Councillor Grange said he still did not know how Cheshire East Council would be funded.

"I don't think any new members can see where the money is coming from," he said.

"The Government said the council charge mustn't go up but I think that's going to be very difficult."