Cheshire East's leader and deputy remain in post after surviving a vote of no-confidence sparked by the controversy surrounding the possible development of a new town at Adlington.

After a somewhat ill-tempered debate at full council, during which Poynton and Adlington councillor Michael Beanland (Con) walked out of the meeting before a vote was taken to kick him out, 41 councillors voted to keep Cllr Nick Mannion (Lab) in post as leader and Cllr Michael Gorman (Ind) as deputy.

Thirty-six councillors had voted in favour of ousting them and one councillor abstained.

The Conservatives had put forward three reasons for tabling the motion of no-confidence.

But it was the controversy surrounding a letter sent by the leader and deputy last summer to New Towns Task Force chair Sir Michael Lyons appearing to support the proposal for the 20,000-home development at Adlington, which sparked most calls for the two leaders to step down.

Adlington residents told the meeting at Tatton Park on Wednesday, February 25, they had been 'betrayed' by the two leaders.

Many councillors too were furious at the lack of transparency, saying the leadership had acted outside their authority.

Conservative group leader Stewart Gardiner said: "By the letter not specifying their support for a new town in the north west was a personal opinion, it was implied it was council policy.

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"Michael Lyons assumed this by placing Adlington on the list of preferred sites."

Adllington campaigners at Tatton Park (Credit: LDRS)

Adlington is one of 12 sites nationwide put forward for possible new town development.

Cllr Gardiner said he accepted the leaders had apologised publicly in December, but the implications of sending the letter 'may be irreversible and the decision taken has caused a breach of trust'.

Cllr Michael Beanland, before leaving the meeting, said the NTTF had taken the letter at face value 'and that put Adlington firmly on the list for consideration'.

He added: "An apology is far from sufficient."

He said they were 'not worthy to be the leader or deputy of Cheshire East Council and should resign'.

Cllr John Knight (Macclesfield, Green) said the letter has left Cheshire East Council with a 'huge credibility gap'.

But Cllr Rob Vernon (Macclesfield, Lab) said that in December the council had voted unanimously to oppose the Adlington new town.

"Unanimously means that includes Cllr Nick Mannion and Cllr Michael Gorman, both of whom apologised for their part in signing that letter," said Cllr Vernon.

He then added: "I wonder whether they did sign it.

"Given the rumours of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), things may not be as they seem.

"Was it signed on their behalf? Are they even allowed to answer such questions?"

Cllr Gorman said the council had been 'muzzled' by the NDA and could not even disclose that it was in place, let alone what it was concerning.

He told the meeting he did not write the letter to the New Towns Task Force or sign it.

"I did not approve the letter as asked to on June 18 as I had real concerns that the proposal was not aligned to the local plan or our policy framework," he said.

"The letter was forwarded to Sir Michael Lyons on the June 19 with my electronic signature. On that day, I was out of the country on annual leave."

Cllr Mannion told the meeting he had been subjected to 'weeks of increasingly hurtful and personal abuse on this matter'.

He said: "I have publicly, previously apologised for the ambiguous content of this letter. I do so again."

He said with regard to who knew what and when, regarding the Adlington new town proposals: "The deputy leader and I were completely and absolutely excluded from the Adlington new town process other than that letter."

With regard to the NDA, he said: "It seems that no-one was permitted to tell myself, nor the deputy leader of the council, of its very existence."

He said he may get into trouble for even mentioning its existence now but added: "I think to inform the residents, of Adlington especially, is more important than to risk sanction by Homes England."

Cllr Mannion told the meeting the NDA was applied to discussions between officers at Cheshire East Council, the New Towns Task Force, civil servants in various parts of government, Belport (developer) and possibly others.

"Again, I don't know, because I am not allowed to even see it," he said.

"This excluded any sharing of any information whatsoever – now I think that's fairly categoric – between myself, the deputy leader, any other of the 80 elected members of Cheshire East Council, any member of any town or parish council, and any other organisation."