Challenge 5: Cheshire West and Chester Council

Michael Barrett:
We've reached the final challenge of 2026 and we've travel back to the Northwest and we're at Cheshire West and Chester Council for this challenge that's all about local environmental issues. As we're at the end of the programme, there's an extra element of excitement at this challenge because we'll be finding out who our four finalists are who'll be going forward to compete for the scholarship.

Virginia Ponton:
What's interesting about this challenge is that it's really technical. So the teams are looking at environment and flood prevention, but with sustainable growth as the focus and related to their nationally significant industrial zone. Although we've not been on a site visit, the council have brought in and convened a huge wealth of industry experts for the teams to talk to. So it's been really fascinating.

Cllr Claire Gittins:
We always describe Cheshire West and Chester as the microcosm of England because we've got a combination of old industrial towns, a historic city, market towns, rural areas, big agricultural swathes in terms of green fields, small villages. We've got two estuaries. So we've got the Dee estuary, which is the site of special scientific industry. Got the Mersey estuary. And we've got a really big industrial zone in the form of Origin in Ellesmere Port.

Rose McArthur:
Origin is sort of defined by the fact that it's got Stanlow, which is an oil refinery at the centre of it. But actually, Origin is so much more than that. It's a hydrogen economy. It's the fastest decarbonising area of the borough. And it's really trying to kind of reinvent itself outside of this carbon-heavy, fossil fuel-heavy area to make itself into this      green net zero hydrogen economy. It's on a very flat area of land and with rising sea levels and climate change through flood risk from a number of rivers in the area. The whole of the project is at risk of flooding. So the challenge that they've been set today is about the natural resource of the area. It's about the impact of climate change on the area. And it's asking them to look kind of like 10, 20 years into the future of where we need to get to and what we need to do to actually make this area sustainable while maintaining the jobs that are here and making it a brilliant place for people to thrive.

Nadia Hussain:
So for this council, it's a huge topic. They had a flooding in 2023, so that was a huge impact. I think the oil industry stopped for the day. Now they want to look at solutions in terms of long-term solutions and what can they do to ensure that that doesn't happen again and affect their economy. So this is about being prepared, proactive, rather than reactive. Businesses don't think about 10-year plan initially. They think about, okay, this is our two to five-year plan, but actually now they need to be thinking 10, 15, 20 years ahead, and somebody needs to lead that. And I think that's part of our challenge is now kind of framing who's going to lead that, who's going to convene that, who's going to show the benefits to these partners and bring them around that table to actually look at the bigger picture and look at how they focus over the next 20 to 30 years.

Claire Goldsworthy:
I'm not scientifically minded or engineering minded, but actually when we took it back to the room and we started thinking about it from a holistic approach, what does this look like in actuality? We don't actually have to come up with the solution, but we need to find a way to the solution and that's the bit we're good at and we can do. We're trying to be quite goal orientated and things that they can do and projects that have a wider climate benefit, but might also help with the water aspect. So obviously, the Gowy floods because of excess rain in the winter, then they've got no water in the summer. How do you capture that water from the winter and then have that as a resource for the summer? How do you make those companies who use water, use it more sustainably or recycle the water? So we've been trying to think about forward thinking, but also things that can be tangible and meaningful and helpful at that sort of grassroots level.

Cllr Louise Gittins:
Team Paradigm won. And I think the reason we chose them was that they really articulated what their solution was to the challenge that we'd set them. They were very clear about what they saw as a way forward for us. 

Nadia Hussain:
The challenge was probably one of the most difficult challenges yet we were really, really calm. And I think, I just wanna say I've had an amazing team and I'm really proud of them and I think we couldn't have done it without each other. We really supported each other really well. So I am really pleased and really proud.

Claire Goldsworthy:
Based on all the feedback that we got straight after and the conversations we've had, it was really close. And I know Nadia would have done a fantastic job. And we put together a really strong proposal as did the other team. And the right team will have won, but I think they'll still implement some of our ideas and I think that's a win in itself.

Virginia Ponton:
Now that we've reached the end of the 2026 programme, it's been wonderful to look back on all the leadership skills and confidence that the cohort have developed over this journey.

Michael Barrett:
We've just found out who our four finalists are for the 2026 Local Government Challenge. And they are Shannon from the Wirral Council, Nadia from Bradford Council, Vic from Bolton Council, Harry from Norfolk Council. Congratulations to all four finalists. We look forward to seeing them at the LGA's Annual Conference in July.