The election for a Cheshire and Warrington mayor looks set to take place on May 7 next year if the devolution deal goes ahead as expected.

A public consultation is under way on proposals for a deal for a combined authority after the government announced the Cheshire and Warrington region had been confirmed as part of its devolution priority programme.

At yesterday's (Thursday, March 20) meeting of Cheshire East's corporate policy committee, where the council's response to the consultation was being discussed, councillors voted down an amendment from the Conservatives to delay the mayoral election until 2027 to coincide with council elections in Cheshire.

Cllr Chris O'Leary (Sutton, Con) said: "The current proposed date of May 2026, would result in this council spending more than a million pounds on holding those elections in a year where we don't have that in our budget, and where we are proposing to borrow money to fund day-to-day services.

"Holding the mayoral elections on the same day that we hold borough elections in both Cheshire East and Cheshire West would greatly reduce the cost to council taxpayers.

"And, really importantly, it's likely to maximise voter turnout in those elections, because we've seen in a number of mayoral elections that have already happened, that turnout tends to be lower than in the relevant borough elections for those areas."

Cllr Chris O'Leary (Credit: CEC)

Knutsford councillor Stewart Gardiner (Con) said during the first elections for the police and crime commissioners there had been such a low turnout it was 'an insult to democracy' because people had no idea what they were voting for as it hadn't been explained.

"And the current government is at risk of doing exactly the same now with this mayoral situation," he said.

Philip Cresswell, the council's executive director for place, told the committee May 2026 is the timescale the government has set.

Labour and the Independents argued the residents of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Warrington had too much to lose if devolution was delayed.

Cllr Mark Goldsmith (Wilmslow, Ind) said: "Potentially, we have the chance to renegotiate our business rates deal, which is the worst in the country by a mile, and that could potentially be £70 million."

He said with other funding which devolution could bring 'that could be £100 million that we are turning away by delaying this vote'.

Cllr Fiona Wilson (Macclesfield, Lab) argued against the amendment and said the costs of the election were not yet known.

"Our four key plans here are the economy, jobs, transport and rurality, something that's very important to us in Cheshire, and we are wanting, basically, to delay the introduction of a scheme that's going to bring significant additional benefits towards both financially and democracy wise," said Cllr Wilson.

She added: "We all have a responsibility to explain to our residents and constituents about how devolution works."

The consultation, which details what devolution is, runs until April 13 and is available on the government website at gov.uk/government/consultations/cheshire-and-warrington-devolution/cheshire-and-warrington-devolution-consultation.