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 my surgeries – the next one is on the 11th March – join on Facebook here or email me to get the Zoom link.
Equal Access Congleton
Following a vote by the Community Committee last year, we invited a group of disabled people to help us improve accessibility and inclusion in Congleton. Many thanks to all those who came to the first meeting. The group has called itself Equal Access Congleton.
We had people in mobility scooters, with visual impairment and representatives of those with neurodiversity and dementia. The discussion was very wide-ranging and there are a great many areas we would like to work on – both ‘quick wins’ and more long-term goals.
The group elected Deborah Lawson as its Chair. Deborah is a disability advocate with a great deal of experience and national recognition. We are lucky to have her in Congleton!
We are keen to listen to the needs of our residents, so as a first step, the group has launched a survey to get input from more people across our town. If you have a disability, please complete the survey here before its closing date of 10th March.
If you need help to complete the survey, phone me on the number above and I will support you, or get in touch with the Town Hall.
I went on Churnet Radio to promote the survey (listen here) and talk about our initiative.
As part of this work, I attended Communications training by access expert Val Scaresbrook for Councillors and Officers. This helped us understand how to use text and documents to communicate effectively and inclusively. As a quick-win, soon after this training, Officers started to use larger text, better fonts and matt (instead of glossy) laminate for documents in the Town Hall, for example to explain about how to use the facilities.
Support for Parents
I helped to complete a long-standing project to launch a section of the Town Council website supporting Parents and Families. We worked with nursery providers and parents some time ago and discovered that there is little information about where to get help and support, childcare options, schools, and the myriad of other questions that new parents, or parents new to Congleton, may have.
The new section Parents in Congleton includes information on places, clubs and activities for families as well as links to sections on
- Support for Families – general health, education and wellbeing
- Support for Children and Young People – including mental health and disability
- Working Parents – information on rights regarding maternity/paternity, parental leave, flexible working etc.
- Help with Childcare Costs – explaining the options for free and tax-free childcare
All the sections signpost to resources and websites for further information where relevant.
If you can think of anything else we should include in these pages, please let me know.
We continue to work to make Congleton a Breastfeeding Welcome Town, by encouraging local venues and businesses to become breastfeeding-friendly. An article about this went into the Winter issue of Bear Necessities.
If you’d like to get Breastfeeding Welcome certification, please get in touch with the Town Council or Cherubs direct.
Working with the Police
I attended the Police Community Cohesion group which scrutinises the work of the local team from the public’s point of view. We looked at bodycam video and evaluated use of force and other criteria.
I chair the Congleton Town Council Community Safety Working Group, which has been discussing recent challenges with antisocial behaviour and shoplifting in Congleton. We have helped increase collaboration between shop owners, and CCTV has been enhanced in the town.
An ongoing major focus of Cheshire Constabulary is violence against women and girls, and the Working Group has discussed instances of sexual harassment and spiking in Congleton.
It is very important if spiking is suspected that the Police are called (and not just an ambulance). Where the NHS will support someone from a health point of view, the Police will conduct forensic testing to establish whether spiking has taken place. Access Cheshire Constabulary’s resource centre about spiking.
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’.
Following the success of White Ribbon Day 2023, our group had a workshop, led by Chair Richard Walton, to discuss the White Ribbon activities for 2024. We hope to run a general awareness session in the Town Hall (as previously agreed by Council) and make an explanatory video to increase awareness, as well as reach out to local night-time venues once more.
We are also hoping to work with younger children, and high school teachers have supported this idea. White Ribbon UK does provide age-appropriate materials for younger children, focusing on ‘fair’ and ‘unfair’ behaviours and respecting one another. Using these, I am putting together a session for primary school children and two of our Ambassadors will visit years 5 and 6 of Astbury St Mary Primary in March to deliver it.
I’m on the White Ribbon Steering Group of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), and, following Congleton Ambassador Mark Edwardson presenting at its National Assembly, we are planning a series of Webinars for councils who want to become White Ribbon Accredited.
Civility and Respect
I’m delighted to report that Congleton Town Council has voted to adopt the Civility and Respect Project. I helped NALC officers put some of the materials together for this project, especially around recruitment and training.
I am Co-Chair of the Women’s Network of NALC and we often hear of harassment and bullying affecting members of the network. We invited Jackie Weaver to a meeting to discuss some strategies to combat these behaviours, and had a very productive session.
Domestic Abuse
I attended the Steering Group Meeting of the Cheshire East Domestic and Sexual Abuse Partnership’s (CEDSAP) ‘Whole Housing Project’ in which we learned about the progress of the 3-year pilot, hearing from local and national partners as well as what’s to come over the next year.
The pilot is showing real impact in terms of positive outcomes for families affected by abuse, including avoiding placing children in care. There are also financial benefits, in some cases with the Project helping to save more than 90% of the cost of supporting families by intervening earlier with support before crimes and dangers have escalated.
We had a discussion about male victims of domestic abuse in Council, and some Councillors suggested we should promote the Mankind Charity, which lobbies for and supports male victims. Our White Ribbon Group already carries their leaflets on our stalls.
I consulted with our local service provider, myCWA, who informed me that Mankind always refers victims to them and it would be better if men affected by abuse rang the Cheshire East Hub number direct. Mankind is only open part time and the Cheshire East Hub is open 24/7.
We agreed at Council it is important to reach out to male survivors of domestic abuse and signpost them to services, so an article went into Bear Necessities to encourage men to come forward if they are affected, providing a number of ways they can access support.
From CEDSAP we learned myCWA has some additional resources for trans survivors of abuse, who often, like men, have specific barriers to coming forward and experience some specific types of abuse. These resources are on the myCWA website.
The Cheshire East Domestic Abuse Hub, which supports everyone affected, can be reached at 0300 123 5101.
Transport and Travel
I have spent some time reporting potholes and problems with the road to Cheshire East Council. On one occasion I helped a man tipped out of his mobility scooter by a problem patch on the road, and reported this straight away. A Highways officer visited the site within a week.
Our Integrated Transport Working Group met to discuss the CEC criteria for pedestrian crossings, and a paper on this was presented at Community Committee.
The group also mentioned the new government funding of £180m for Cheshire East for transport (reallocated HS2 funds). I hope we can persuade CEC to allocate a good portion of this to Congleton!
Congleton Pride
Congleton Pride, of which I’m a Trustee, started work with its new committee following the AGM and I have particularly taken part in the communications team, having written the policies for social media, equality and respect, safeguarding and privacy.
My business, Kanga, has offered to run a pro bono project with Pride to refresh the brand, and we held a workshop with the team at the Kanga office to kick this project off.
Trees for Congleton
This is a busy time of year for the Trees for Congleton group. I volunteer with this group by helping plant trees and hedges and also supporting communications and council liaison.
I attended the East Cheshire Tree Conference which was held in our Town Hall and attended by over 60 people from different tree groups across the borough. It was very interesting to learn from other groups’ activities, and we made some good connections for future joint working.
We held a meeting for local farmers and landowners, in which they shared their strategies and experiences with tree and hedge planting. The Tree group hopes to do more work in partnership with them.
I have joined a few planting sessions including a weekend at the War Memorial Hospital, where we planted hedges and an orchard as part of its 100th birthday celebrations. Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped, and Patti Pinto and Ruth Benson who organised this.
Congleton Green
We met with the ‘green’ voluntary groups including Congleton Climate Action, Congleton Sustainability Group, Trees for Congleton and the Rotary to put together the Green Calendar for 2024.
Part of what we have added is the idea of town-centre tables to discuss certain aspects of green living with our residents. The first of these is on 2nd March when we will be talking about reducing waste and recycling. We will be in the town centre from 10:30-13:30 on the 2nd.
I’m project-managing updates to the green sections of our Council website and also the content of the Sustainable Living in Congleton elearning course.
Health and Wellbeing
I attended the Health and Wellbeing Working Group, which heard an update from Dr Paul Bishop on challenges of and enhancements to the Primary care services. Local doctors welcome the addition of the new Diagnostics Centre at the War Memorial Hospital.
We also had an update from Plus Dane on the progress towards a mental health hub at their premises on Worrall Street.
Rachel Wallace outlined plans to celebrate War Memorial Hospital’s 100th birthday on 22nd May. The Council is planning a hospital fete in the park as part of this.
Eaton Bank School
Eaton Bank Academy invited Councillors to come and speak to years 12 and 13 about their political parties and the work of local and national government. I attended for WEP, with Cllr Suzy Firkin of the LibDems, Cllr Arabella Holland from the Conservatives and Sarah Russell from Labour.
It was an interesting discussion and the students had questions about topics such as crime, equality and diversity, the state of the roads and the cost of living. Quite a few students stayed behind to chat afterwards. It was encouraging to hear how politically-informed and aware many students were. I hope they all vote in the local and general elections!
Many thanks to 6th form Assistant Director Stephen Jenkins for organising and Eaton Bank Academy for having us.
Bromley Farm Hub
I volunteer with the Bromley Farm Hub Group as its secretary and as such I organised the paperwork for its AGM in February. This meeting invited all local residents and published the agenda and minutes, as well as an annual report of the Hub’s activities in its first year. You can read the Annual Report here.
At the AGM we voted in the new Committee for the following year, and some new residents stepped forward to take part, which was great. My colleague Susie Mead continues as Chair of the group. We also reviewed the annual accounts and formally thanked Jo Reeves for Indepenently Examining them.
The Bromley Farm Friends Group is now running a Lunch Club every Tuesday at the Wellbeing Hub on Parnell Square (12-2pm). The Old Saw Mill provides us with a hearty soup and a cake, and we provide bread, biscuits and fruit. Lots of local people have enjoyed coming on Tuesdays for lunch and a chat. I volunteer at the Lunch Club every 3 weeks. We are looking for more volunteers so if you are interested, let me know.
Elizabeth’s Group
Some members of Elizabeth’s Group, myself included, have signed up to a mentoring programme which supports young people who are leaving care. We are particularly keen to mentor young women, in order to continue the work that Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy did. I’m currently attending at 10-week training course as part of this.
I organised an email to all the subscribers of Elizabeth’s Group to invite them to the launch of our new book ‘Still She Rises’ on 8th March in Congleton Library. I wrote a poem that appears in the book, alongside much better scribings by a lot of amazing writers!
Christmas Working Group
As Deputy Mayor I have joined the Christmas Working Group as I will probably be Mayor next Christmas when we have the lights switch-on. We reviewed the highly successful event in 2023 and discussed possible accessibility improvements for 2024.
My Council Meeting Attendance
For January and February, my Council meeting attendance was 94% for all council meetings and working/other groups, either face-to-face or virtually (29 out of 31). For my principal council committees my rate is 100% (4 of 4). (This includes the full Council and the Community Committee, which I Chair. All other Committees are ‘ex-officio’ for me as Deputy Mayor, although I attend them when I can, and I’ve been to 9 out of 11 of these Committee meetings.)
I am now a member of 23 other Groups as well as the Council Committees, some of which are council-related, some are other local charities and community groups. I am looking to reduce the number of meetings and activities I’m involved with (with an eye on probably taking over from Cllr Moreton as Mayor in May) and looking to recruit my replacement, so let me know if you’re interested in any of the above! Thank you.
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 