Can you remember the heady days of 2006? I can.

Back in 2006, Tony Blair was still in charge, we hadn't had the global financial and banking crisis, the country was basking in long, hot summers, winter was a whole lot milder (OK I may have made up that bit) and Brexit was just a twinkle in Nigel Farage's eye.

Oh, and no one had come up with the brilliant idea of getting rid of Cheshire County Council and splitting what was left of Cheshire into two new councils.

(I say it was a brilliant idea but in fact it was an utterly ridiculous idea and remains so to this day).

And then we come to 2009 when just about everything went wrong. By then, the implications on everyday life of the 2008 global banking crisis were starting to have an effect.

So what did the government do? Instead of hunkering down, it gave the go ahead for an expensive local government reorganisation in Cheshire.

I still can't come to terms with the decision to duplicate everything (at significant cost) instead of making the old Cheshire County Council a single authority, but hey, what do I know.

But it did strike me that there was always going to be a problem with what we now know as Cheshire West and Chester Council.

And that problem was (and remains in my opinion) Chester.

Don't get me wrong, I quite like Chester with its faux historic shops, its minor university, its racecourse and its exorbitant car parking charges.

The thing about Chester is it's a city – the only one in Cheshire – and as a result it has ideas way above its station.

Look at good old Cheshire East, no airs and graces there (I suppose it's hard to have airs and graces when the jewel in your crown is Crewe but we'll gloss over that.)

Not so with Cheshire West.

Chester is 'special' and has to get a mention in the authority's title. The only thing we can be grateful for is we weren't saddled with the original name that was planned for the authority – The City of Chester and Cheshire West Council.

I know you may find it hard to believe but that was the name the new council went under as a 'shadow authority' in the run up to local government reorganisation in 2009.

Anyway, at a time when the western world was tightening its belt, good old Cheshire West and Chester thought it would be a smart idea to spend almost £20 million on a shiny, new headquarters in Chester.

Unsurprisingly, it caused something of an uproar at the time given there were plenty of council facilities dotted around the place. We had the old Chester Town Hall, Wyvern House in Winsford and the old Ellesmere Port civic buildings.

But no, the ceremonial county town had to have its shiny new headquarters.

But oh how things change.

The cash-strapped council has been gradually vacating the HQ building in Chester as it rents out office space in a bid to save £2.4m over four years, moving staff to – guess where – Winsford and Ellesmere Port.

CWAC cabinet members have given the green light for a regeneration masterplan for Ellesmere Port and as part of that plan, council staff will move to a new ‘hub’.

Oh, if only someone had come up with that bright idea back in 2009 and saved us all a lot of money in the process.

But even so, some councillors don't seem happy at the 'downgrading' of Chester with Conservative Stuart Parker raising concerns about the impact the move would have on Chester’s role within the borough.

He said: “This is an exciting masterplan which has been long-awaited, and which will reverse the decline of Ellesmere Port, and turn it into a prosperous and thriving town.

“However, the transfer of the CWAC leadership team and staff to Ellesmere Port causes me a little concern, as it transfers the council administration of the borough away from Chester – the county capital – and dilutes the civic functions which are traditionally administered from Chester.”

Is that all that matters? Really?

Do we really have to be careful about hurting Chester's feelings. I think in the current political and financial climate, there might be one or two more importing issues to be dealt with.