Here is an update on what I’ve been doing in the last two months since my previous blog. I would love to hear from you. What should I and the Council be prioritising? What particular challenges are you facing, if any? Do you have ideas for how we can improve things in Congleton? Please get in touch with me and let me know your thoughts:
Email cllrkay.wesley@congleton-tc.gov.uk
Call or text 07711 459740
Or you can come to one of our surgeries – the next one is on Monday 3rd July on Zoom at 6pm.
A New Council
I was very happy to be re-elected in May, and since then there has been work to do to sort out who is on what Committee and Working Group. I am Chairing the new Community Committee (we have decided to separate Community and Environment since they are both big topics and the meetings were getting very long) and I’m also Deputy Mayor, which means I can attend and vote at all Council Committee meetings.
I am delighted that Councillor Susan Mead of the Women’s Equality Party also got elected in May. You can read Susan’s blog on this website.
Town Events
I attended the Mayor-Making ceremony which was a fun event for my husband Mike and I, as the Deputy team. I’m delighted to support new Mayor Rob Moreton and his Mayoress Helen.
I was on the Panel for the Town Meeting in May in which residents were given the opportunity to ask questions. There were questions about the Neighbourhood Plan (the consultation was delayed until after the election but is now due to happen soon), biodiversity, bus services and the Congleton Tip (the CEC Working Group will continue now the election period is over).
I also helped as a marshall with the Picnic in the Park for the King’s Coronation. The weather was not ideal but the rain stayed at bay for most of the event, and thousands of people came to enjoy the stalls and entertainment.
I volunteered at the Food Festival, litter-picking at the end of a very hot day!
I joined in with the launch of the new Town Guide in my role as Chair of Community Committee. It was a fun event to thank all the contributors and sponsors of the guide. This wonderful little book contains almost everything you need to know about Congleton and is free from the Information Centre in the Town Hall – I recommend you pick up a copy!
Bromley Farm Hub
The Bromley Farm Hub group is thriving and I am helping mainly with organisation and administration and volunteering with the Friends on a Tuesday afternoon.
The Hub group organised a Coronation Party for anyone that wanted to get together and watch the event on the big screen whilst enjoying traditional British food and a cuppa. Children drew crowns on Parnell Square with big chalks whilst the adults enjoyed watching the ceremony. More than 50 residents turned up and I enjoyed it very much. Many thanks to the Hub team and especially Sam Baller for the wonderful food.
I have been supporting my colleague Susie Mead with The Bromley Bloomers sub-group and enjoyed helping at their Big Plant Up day in June. I organised the ‘name this garden’ part of the day, helped with the catering and joined in with the planting too. Lots of organisations such as Glebe Farm, Trees for Congleton, Rotary, the Bell Group, Plus Dane, Congleton Partnership, Kanga Health and Congleton Town Council have helped. The garden will be called The Friendship Garden.
White Ribbon
White Ribbon is an international organisation engaging men to stand up against men’s violence towards women, and the behaviours and attitudes that lead to it. Congleton Town Council is a White Ribbon Accredited organisation and our goal is to ‘eradicate men’s violence against women and all gender-based violence and abuse from Congleton’.
I helped our White Ribbon Ambassadors run a stall in the town centre in June. They chatted to shoppers about the campaign and our goal to eradicate men’s violence to women and all gender-based violence in Congleton. There were some good conversations and lots of people stopped by to make their White Ribbon Promise, including the new Mayor, Rob Moreton, and new Councillors Shaun Radcliffe and Mark Edwardson, all of whom have signed up to be White Ribbon Ambassadors.
The previous White Ribbon Chair, Robert Hemsley, stopped by to say hello and reiterated his commitment to remain a White Ribbon Ambassador.
The Ambassadors have also collectively written to MP Fiona Bruce, encouraging her to attend the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on engaging men and boys to end violence against women and girls on 5th July. Its focus is on education and schools, and they say
“Through educating boys and men about harmful gender norms we can begin to change long-established attitudes, behaviours and systems around masculinity, which perpetuate gender inequality and men’s violence against women.”
We have yet to receive a response from Mrs Bruce.
Meanwhile, I have been asked to help the National Association of Local Councils with their own Accreditation Project. More than 60 councils up and down the country are now White Ribbon Organisations and NALC wants to lead from the front with its own Accreditation.
If you’d like to get involved in White Ribbon or make your promise, please contact me or visit http://www.whiteribbon.org.uk.
Working with the Police
I am a member of the Cheshire Police EDEI (external diversity, equity and inclusion) board and I attended a board meeting in May at Winsford Police HQ. We discussed the ex-Service Personnel Network of Cheshire Police, and also heard about how Cheshire Police has responded to the Casey Report, by establishing an independent Ethics Panel. PCC John Dwyer (himself a White Ribbon Ambassador) wrote to me directly to confirm this.
I also joined the local Police Community Cohesion Group, this time scrutinising the response to hate crime and the use of force.
The Antisocial Behaviour Working Group of the Town Council is being renamed as the Community Safety Working Group because the group discusses many types of crime, not just ASB. The local beat sergeant and his team continue to work with us to help combat crime in Congleton.
Community Safety Charter
We organised a meeting with local Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinators to discuss how to implement the training and awareness of the Community Safety Charter we have signed up to. It was an interesting meeting but it is clear that the Town Council must take a leadership role on this.
We have received modules on harassment, hate crime, being an active bystander, antisocial behaviour and dealing with confrontation.
You can access this module here.
Domestic Abuse
I attended a workshop for the Whole Housing Approach to Domestic Abuse project. This is an exciting pilot project won by Cheshire East from a national fund to work on all the different factors in domestic abuse to develop long-term solutions. It involves domestic abuse specialists, social services, mental health practitioners, the police, housing officers and other agencies.
This particular workshop was about perpetrators, and we learned about early-intervention programmes that spot potential perpetrators from healthcare, educational and other settings, then offer those people behaviour-change support before abusive behaviours became established. These had high success rates and the group discussed approaches and barriers to good early perpetrator interventions in Cheshire.
Defending Trees
In response to a report from a resident that a developer had brought equipment to remove some trees, I checked past planning applications and discovered that the developer was obliged to keep all the trees in that area.
I reported this to Planning Enforcement who sent an officer to inspect the site and is now planning to protect all the remaining trees in the vicinity.
We have also had a repeat planning application to fill a space on Thistle Way with houses, which the Town Council Planning Committee had previously objected to. We objected again, and many thanks to the residents who came to Committee to give their views. It is now up to Cheshire East Council.
Congleton Pride
I wrote up the results of the Congleton Pride Survey and sent the information to the local media. The conclusions are:
- Overall, Congleton has improved for LGBTQIA+ people, but there is still work to do.
- Members of the community still experience harassment and abuse, and most don’t report it for various reasons
- LGBTQIA+ people interact with Congleton Pride more, and in a wider variety of ways
- Public attitudes are more polarised, with some very supportive, yet the appearance of ‘anti-Pride’ or ‘anti-woke’-type comments
- This is not surprising, given the national narrative, especially around trans people, and the biased coverage in the national (and some local) media
- As previously, LGBTQIA+ people want more than an annual event, and there is a significant number asking for signposts to information, help and support
- Some of Congleton Pride’s ongoing and planned activities, like relaxed social events, the new website content, and plans for a ‘community’ stall, will help to address this
It was good to see that almost 90% of LGBTQIA+ people now feel ‘comfortable’ or ‘OK’ in Congleton, up from 55% in 2021, and the comments suggested that Congleton Pride has played a significant part in that.
2021 N=38 2023 N=43
The Congleton Chronicle gave the survey good coverage, which is great in the run up to this year’s Pride event.
The Pride team is preparing for this year’s event and my role has been supporting the content for the new website and helping with press coverage, as well as supporting the Sponsor’s Evening in which we got some great support from local businesses.
The new website is fantastic, with lots of information and support for and about LGBTQIA+ in response to our survey feedback. Please take a look.
It is already promoting Congleton Pride 2023 which is on 22nd July. I hope to see you there!
Tickets for the ‘After Hours’ evening event in the Town Hall are selling out fast. This is always a fun event and this year is headlined by Laura King, a Madonna Tribute. Get your tickets here: www.ticketsource.com/congletonpride
Transport
I attended a webinar about Community Transport, which described the different options for running local services. I will bring the outputs to the next Integrated Transport Working Group. Our public transport provision in Congleton is not adquate, so we may discuss options for filling the gaps.
I encouraged the new Congleton Sustainable Travel Group to bring some suggestions to the first meeting of the Community Committee of the Town Council, firstly around removing barriers for large bikes, trikes and the rickshaw, and secondly to work on creating a day for Councillors to experience travel barriers in the town centre. Both of these ideas were supported by Councillors and will be taken forward to the next stage.
Elizabeth’s Group
Elizabeth’s Group is continuing its work to educate people about Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy. Sue Munro has been giving talks and the group is planning a book of submitted works inspired by Elizabeth. We also attended the ‘opening’ of a lovely cast-iron fence around Elizabeth’s Garden, which features wording about Elizabeth. This made front-page news in the Congleton Chronicle.
My own role in the group has been in sending out the newsletter and maintaining the website. We are planning a workshop in July to develop ideas for the next project.
Other activities
I have been speaking to residents who have struggled to get the support they need with a number of family problems, and am helping signpost them to appropriate services for help.
I’ve been asked to help the National Association of Local Councils with both their Women Councillors Group and on their White Ribbon Steering Group. NALC is going for White Ribbon Accreditation. I have resigned as a Trustee of Congleton Museum, but remain a friend of that excellent establishment!
I attended a First Aid course in June which will be useful at Council events as well as at work and in life. I should get my certificate soon.
In other news, away from volunteering, my business Kanga Health Ltd won ‘Employer of the Year’ at this year’s Cheshire Chamber of Commerce Awards. The comment was
“This business stood out for the way in which it supports its team of widespread local, national and international personnel by truly understanding that their people are their most valuable asset. They have an absolutely tremendous culture living and breathing their core values of equality, diversity and inclusion”.
I hope that we can use Kanga as a role-model for other local businesses who want to improve their equity, diversity and inclusion.
My Meeting Attendance
Overall, my Council meeting attendance in these two months has been 100% for all council meetings and working/other groups, either face-to-face or virtually (17 out of 17). For the principal council committees my rate is 100% (4 of 4). (This includes the full Council and the Community Committee, which I Chair. All other Committes are ‘ex-officio’ for me as Deputy Mayor.)
I am a member of 21 other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups.
The Town Council’s remit does not include things such as Social Services, Health, Transport, Waste, Recycling – these are the domain of Cheshire East, but we can lobby in these areas.
The Equality Party 