News in Sandbach

The government's decision to provide £400 million to support poor children and their families during school holidays has been welcomed by Cheshire East's Labour councillors, who describe it as a "massive climbdown".

A winter grant scheme will support families in need with support for food and bills as well as the expansion of a holiday food and activities programme was announced over the weekend.

Firefighters rescued two people trapped in a car following a collision on the A534 Wheelock Bypass, near Sandbach.

The fire service were alerted to the incident at 1:40pm yesterday (Sunday) and on arrival they found a car on its side with two people inside.

Cheshire East Council's highways service have painted a specially designed poppy on a Sandbach road to mark Remembrance Sunday.

The marking on High Street is among a ten installed at locations in Cheshire East.

Cheshire East Council's Remembrance Sunday commemorations have gone virtual this year as the second lockdown prevents people from gathering as normal.

The council has prepared a short virtual service led by the borough's mayor, Barry Burkhill and people have been urged to perform their own act of remembrance.

Children living in Cheshire East have a unique opportunity to tell world leaders how they feel about climate change.

The borough's library service is running a year-long project for children, the results from which will be shared with organisers of COP26 – the United Nations climate change conference, due to take place in Glasgow, in November 2021.

Virtual council meetings could continue once the coronavirus pandemic is over, according to Cheshire East councillor Amanda Stott.

Cllr Stott, the CEC cabinet member whose responsibilities include IT, told the LDRS that "the Local Government Association has been asked to lobby the government to retain the regulations, so as to enable local authorities to continue to hold formal virtual public meetings without any time limit".

The chief constable of Cheshire Police has joined his counterparts in forces across the North West to issue a warning to residents who breach Coronavirus restrictions as we head into the second lockdown.

In an open letter to the public, Darren Martland and his fellow police chiefs said they would be taking a "firmer stance" when it comes to the enforcement of the rules.

The proportion of positive coronavirus tests in Cheshire East has risen to 8.7 per cent over the last week, according to one Director of Public Health in the county.

Ian Ashworth told officials on Cheshire West's Covid-19 outbreak board that the CEC rise in positive tests were recorded in a week which saw a 13.6 per cent fall in the number of residents getting a test.

More than £600,000 has been spent on body-worn video cameras by Cheshire police since 2017, the LDRS can reveal.

A freedom of information request to the force shows that £535,000 was spent on equipping "frontline operational" officers with the technology since 2018, with another £90,000 for "taser officers and football spotters".

Cheshire East Council has confirmed Network Rail is looking at how fencing and signage can be improved at an area of the Sandbach Flashes where a dog drowned on Friday (read the story here).

The council said safety measures had been put in place following a similar incident five years ago but added the fences "appear" to have been damaged and signs removed since then.