Neighbourhood pride:

“I like the sense of community - living in a safe and pleasant place.” Join the conversation respondent

The opportunity

We have many proud, distinctive and vibrant communities and West Cheshire is a fantastic place to live for many. Around 80% of local residents are satisfied with their area as a place to live and during the development of this plan many local people told us what they love about where they live, highlighting access to nature, low crime, and a real sense of community. Our communities are active with three-quarter of residents involved in a local group, club or organisation. But residents have also reinforced to us the importance of doing all we can to make the places where we live cleaner, safer and easier to get around. A recent survey revealed that residents wanted to see more progress with road and pavement condition, public transport and clean and tidy streets. Getting these things right requires a close relationship with communities and strong emphasis on providing the best experience for customers but will make our communities even better places to be. Access to housing that meets a wide range of needs is an important aspect of vibrant communities, as is access to green spaces, leisure and cultural opportunities.

What success will look like

Maintaining high levels of neighbourhood pride

Road and pavement condition compares well against other areas

Timely responses to neighbourhood issues raised by residents

Increase in affordable homes

Low crime and anti-social behaviour

High levels of tenancy satisfaction with council-owned and social housing

How we will make a difference

We will further improve the responsiveness of our services but also work with community groups to keep our neighbourhoods, parks, cemeteries and greenspaces tidy. We will promote easy reporting systems and improved communications on issues that have been reported. As well as maintaining robust behaviour change campaigns we will implement the harshest possible enforcement regime to tackle littering and fly-tipping. Enhancing and promoting our beautiful countryside is also important and we will support the Sandstone Ridge Trust in their campaign to move the Sandstone Ridge from being shortlisted, to being designated, as an area of outstanding natural beauty.
The Council’s Your Streets team bring together a range of service to promote the ‘Love Your Streets’ message. They work with residents and community groups to investigate and solve environmental issues and encourage involvement and volunteering.They’ve also supported ‘it’s your neighbourhood’ entries with North West in Bloom, which brings members of the community together to make a positive change to the place they live, work or spend their leisure time.
Improving the quality of the highway network requires a level of investment which is unlikely to be fully available in the current climate. We will therefore embrace innovation to maintain our network including exploring new technologies. We will adopt leading practice to improve the condition of our highways assets - our highways, footways, cycle ways and city walls - and to tackle defects.
“Improvement to the streets, pavements, and cycle routes.” Join the conversation respondent
We will maintain community confidence through the prevention and reduction of anti-social behaviour such as graffiti and continuing to invest in CCTV. Identifying, preventing, and supporting those at risk of exploitation and doorstep crime including children and vulnerable adults is a real focus for the Council, the Police and other agencies. We are also committed to tackling fraud through effective trading standards. Working in partnership, we will tackle reoffending using Integrated Offender Management approaches. We will enhance fire safety and as a borough we will take concerted action to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on our roads to zero. Finally, we will maintain our preparedness to manage the risks and threats arising from future crises and major emergencies.
In June 2023, Trading Standards successfully prosecuted a fraudster who targeted a vulnerable resident, carrying out building work at a cost of £19,000 which was so poor that it was worth nothing.

The defendant started out quoting for minor works, before discussing ideas for an extension at the property. Proclaiming to be an expert in this field after years of experience, the defendant and his company carried out work far from professional standards with the work having to be completed replaced. The defendant was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to immediate imprisonment of 18 months. In addition, he repaid the £19,000 back in full to the complainant.

The judge in this case commented on how the defendant had “defrauded” the resident by carrying out “appalling” work. The complainant said that the fact a complete refund was also secured in addition to the prosecution result was an “unexpected but outstanding result”.

Trading Standards act to protect residents and support legitimate business by taking enforcement action against those who flout the law.
We will implement our plan to get the most out of our community buildings, transform some facilities by moving to more combined, integrated uses and transfer some of these assets to community groups and town and parish councils, where this is feasible.
We will refresh and implement our local planning policies to deliver a good supply of high quality, affordable and low carbon homes to buy or to rent across the borough with the right infrastructure to support communities. We aim to see a minimum of 4,400 new homes built in the lifetime of this plan and we want to see 30% of those being affordable. We will also bring 800 empty homes back into use by 2028. We will put the spotlight on the issue of damp and other health hazards faced by people living in substandard accommodation and seek to work with landlords to raise standards. We are proud to own our Council housing and we will work with tenants to ensure their homes are safe, decent, well managed and maintained.
“More affordable homes is a key priority.” Join the conversation respondent

Play your part case studies

How we can all play our part

Maintain the cleanliness and attractiveness of our neighbourhoods.

Maintaining our roads, footways and cycleways.

Keeping our communities safe.

Making the best use of our community buildings.

Ensuring we have housing that local people need and can afford.

Our part

Your part

Get involved in your local community: Giving to others is good for your wellbeing and for your local community, whether you support a vulnerable neighbour, join a litter pick or volunteer at a local library, group or sports club.

Report issues in your neighbourhood: It’s much easier to report things like crime, anti-social behaviour, pot holes and other neighbourhood issues. It’s also easier to see when routine maintenance is already planned.

Take pride in your community and help keep it tidy: We spend significant resources on cleaning up after people, whether that is people littering and fly tipping or irresponsible dog ownership. The more people take pride in their community, the more beautiful our communities will be.

Attend and take part in events and activities in your neighbourhood and encourage others to take part too.

Tell us if there is an empty home in your community so we can bring it into use.

How we can all play our part

Our part

Maintain the cleanliness and attractiveness of our neighbourhoods

Maintaining our roads, footways and cycleways

Keeping our communities safe

Making the best use of our community buildings

Ensuring we have housing that local people need and can afford

Your part

Get involved in your local community: Giving to others is good for your wellbeing and for your local community, whether you support a vulnerable neighbour, join a litter pick or volunteer at a local library, group or sports club.

Report issues in your neighbourhood: It’s much easier to report things like crime, anti-social behaviour, pot holes and other neighbourhood issues. It’s also easier to see when routine maintenance is already planned.

Take pride in your community and help keep it tidy: We spend significant resources on cleaning up after people, whether that is people littering and fly tipping or irresponsible dog ownership. The more people take pride in their community, the more beautiful our communities will be.

Attend and take part in events and activities in your neighbourhood and encourage others to take part too.

Tell us if there is an empty home in your community so we can bring it into use.