Resignations calls over Adlington new town letter

A council leader and his deputy are being urged to resign after it emerged a letter voicing their support for a new town led to its inclusion on the list of proposed sites.

Adlington in Cheshire is one of 12 sites put forward by the New Towns Taskforce as a potential location - but there has been local concern about the plans, particularly around the protection of green belt land.

One opposition councillor said leader Nick Mannion and deputy Michael Gorman had taken a decision which "they had no authority to take" and a motion of no confidence is now set to be submitted.

The leaders said they would "continue to get on with the job we were elected to do".

Sir Michael Lyons, chair of the New Towns Taskforce, last month told a session of the Housing, Communities and Local Government committee that local authorities in each area where a new town was put forward were contacted.

"When we came to prepare our report for government we explicitly asked in every case the relevant local authority were they content to be listed among those areas that we were recommending to government," he said.

"In that case Adlington responded by letter, signed by the leader and the deputy leader, saying they were. I think we felt that was safe enough at this stage for us to put the proposition forward to government for consideration."

Hayley Whitaker, a Conservative councillor for Poynton East and Pott Shrigley, said she appreciated a recent apology from Labour's Nick Mannion and independent Michael Gorman, but they "need to resign".

"What they've done effectively is taking a decision which in my view they had no authority to take and it needed to come through full council, it needed proper scrutiny and it needed proper transparency and in my view they should resign over this," she said.

Fellow Conservative councillor Janet Clowes agreed.

"The leader has apologised but unfortunately the damage has been done and by giving that tacit acceptance of Adlington in Cheshire East he has destroyed really all credibility, as indeed has the deputy leader who supported him," she said.

Cheshire East Council wrote to the government objecting to the planned Adlington new town, after a motion put forward at a full council meeting in December.

Concerns were also raised about comments by minister Matthew Pennycook during the same committee meeting.

Macclesfield Labour MP Tim Roca presented a petition to the House of Commons of just under 19,000 signatures in December.

Pennycook, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, said decisions on new town locations would be made "in the national interest".

"We will not make decisions on these locations based on the number of signatories to a petition in opposition," he said.

Hayley Whitaker said she felt the comments were "rude" and "dismissive" towards residents.

"I understand that he's saying the whole of the decision-making process won't hinge solely on a petition but to come out and say it in the way that it did basically sounded like they weren't going to pay any attention to local voices and as a councillor that's hugely depressing for me," she said.

The Conservative group on Cheshire East Council now plans to submit a motion of no confidence at the next full council meeting on 25 February.

Nick Mannion and Michael Gorman said: "This is the meeting that sets the council's budget for 2026-27 and this motion is both disappointing and an unnecessary distraction from the important business on the agenda.

"We will continue to get on with the job we were elected to do and deliver the vital services needed by our residents and businesses in the borough."

Green councillor John Knight said although he was only elected in November 2025, he felt the leadership had "no authority to make this decision on behalf of Cheshire East".

"Given such an egregious lapse in judgement, perhaps it is time for Cllrs Mannion and Gorman to consider their positions," he said.

Reg Kain, who represents Reform on the council, said he agreed with the calls from the Conservatives and that the leaders had shown "a complete disregard" for the local population's feelings.

"The very fact they didn't consult their own party councillors shows an arrogance that seems to infect our whole political system at present," he said.

Cheshire East's Liberal Democrat councillor has also been approached for comment.

The government is set to make a decision on the next steps for the proposed new towns in the spring.

See more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.