Grappenhall Councillor Ryan Bate will be stepping down this summer to take up a new job in the USA.

The Liberal Democrat, who has represented Grappenhall & Appleton Thorn on Warrington Borough Council since 2016, will be joining the British International School of Washington (DC).

Ryan says: Representing the people of Grappenhall & Appleton Thorn has been a true privilege which I will dearly miss. I grew up in Grappenhall and have lifelong memories of visiting Appleton Thorn, so having the chance to champion both villages has been brilliant. Over the Christmas period, a former colleague of mine suggested I apply for the role in the USA. I love American history and politics, so the chance to develop my teaching career in the political capital of the world was too good an opportunity to miss.

The government has confirmed that the Secretary of State will not call in the decision by Warrington Borough Council's Development Management Committee to approve the massive Six56 warehouse development at Appleton Thorn and the junction of the M6 and M56 motorways.

They say that this should be a local planning decision.

Warrington Borough Council has agreed to a trial with a new machine to repair potholes much more efficiently. The news comes after the Liberal Democrats asked a question at the recent Council meeting.

At the Budget Council meeting I mentioned a specialist vehicle designed by JCB to repair the country's potholes in record time. The 'Pothole-Pro' can repair a pothole in eight minutes which speeds up the fixing process by 700%.

The Liberal Democrat Group on the Borough Council seeks to achieve cross-party consensus whenever possible, while responsibly opposing policies we do not agree with.

This has been increasingly difficult under Cllr Russ Bowden's leadership of the Council where what he says goes and is loyally supported by the Labour group. This has led to some errors of judgement which have not been open to proper scrutiny or challenge.

Local Liberal Democrats are concerned about the likely onslaught from developers and builders at the 'Examination in Public' of the Local Plan.

The Plan was passed by Labour at the Warrington Council meeting on Monday, despite opposition from Liberal Democrats and other groups. The officers' report made it very clear that many developers were very unhappy about their sites being removed from the plan due to the Council's decision to reduce the housing requirement and reduce the Green Belt take.