The last man elected?

3:22pm Tuesday 13th May 2008

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HERBERT Manley may have written himself a place in Cheshire's local government history.

Clr Manley, 69, who won the by-election for Northwich's Abbey seat, could be the last member to be elected to the 119-year-old Cheshire County Council.

I’m hoping that experience in all three authorities will make me a better all-round councillor. It certainly won’t leave me an awful lot of spare time.

Herbert Manley

The four star authority will disappear from April 1, 2009, to make way for two unitary councils representing east and west Cheshire.

Cheshire's latest - and possibly last - county councillor claimed the Abbey seat with a majority of 1,356.

Already a Vale Royal Borough councillor, holding the portfolio for regeneration, lifestyle and area working, lay reader Clr Manley is a member of the Manchester Port Health Authority and sits on the Cheshire and Warrington regional overview and scrutiny committee.

He completed a memorable day by also topping the poll in the same ward in the elections for the Cheshire West and Chester shadow authority. "I'm hoping that experience in all three authorities will make me a better all-round councillor. It certainly won't leave me an awful lot of spare time," he said.

Cheshire County Council was among the first in England and Wales, created in 1889, and is responsible for more than 80 per cent of the services enjoyed by the people of Cheshire, such as education, social care and trading standards.

It opened the first countryside office in England in 1966, quickly followed by the first country park (Wirral Way).

The council also introduced the world's most advanced ice prediction and forecasting system in the 1980s, to protect the county's 3,000 miles of road.

Clr Manley, a Hartford resident for more than 40 years and a lay reader at Whitegate parish church, is a former employee of ICI and its successor companies in the Northwich and Runcorn areas. He now takes on the task of being possibly the last county councillor to be elected in Cheshire.