Cheshire and Warrington Sustainable & Inclusive Economic Strategy - Consultation June - early July 2025

Cheshire and Warrington Local Authorities and Enterprise Cheshire and Warrington are currently seeking the views of interested stakeholders on our draft Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Strategy. Read the exec summary. This Strategy sets out to deliver our ambitions to be the UK’s healthiest, most sustainable, inclusive and fastest-growing economy by 2045. 

Partners have been working together to develop the new Strategy since our initial public consultation on the evidence and the priorities in 2023 (details are outlined in the attachments below). Our new consultation draft of the Strategy sets out a series of action areas that respond to the challenges and opportunities identified, such as poverty and rising inequalities, climate change and energy, food and water security, AI and digitalisation, improving connectivity, and securing transformational sector growth. It acknowledges that effective collaboration will be essential to achieve this, with diverse stakeholders including businesses of all sizes and sectors, community and voluntary sectors, education, the health and wider public sector, and the diverse communities living and/or working in Cheshire and Warrington.

What We Want to Achieve by 2045

Sustainable

• Reduce carbon emissions by 81% by 2035, and 100% by 2045, meet Net Zero and seize the resulting economic opportunities
• Deliver 1GW of Renewable Power and Storage by 2030
• 30% of our land and sea to be connected and protected for nature’s recovery by 2030
• Achieve EPC C for all housing stock by 2035

Inclusive and healthy

• Connect everyone with opportunities and ensure economy helps deliver better health outcomes
• Life and healthy life expectancies improving and above national average by 2045 in all parts of C&W
• No communities in C&W in bottom 20% of IMD by 2045
• An economy that works for everyone, in all of our communities, including rural areas
• No child in Cheshire & Warrington living in poverty and no household in fuel poverty by 2045
• No young person not in education, training or employment (NEET)
• Better economic conditions leading to reduction in crime
• All workplaces offering fair employment

Growing

• C&W to have highest rate of economic growth and productivity growth in North to be achieved by 2045
• Productivity to be growing and at least as fast as Northern average by 2035
• Share of GVA and number of jobs in manufacturing to be growing by 2045 and first investments in net zero manufacturing for companies new to C&W by 2030
• Establish Cheshire and Warrington as a leader in responsible AI and digital adoption by 2035

Enabling Infrastructure

• Improving public transport and fibre connectivity to all communities by 2045
• Electricity grid upgrade results in no projects being restricted by capacity of grid access by 2045
• All trunk roads provide access to fast EV charging points every 10 miles by 2045

Tracking Progress

• We will develop intermediate targets and report progress annually

Consultation Workshops

We are inviting you to engage with us via a series of consultation workshops in June and July that will provide feedback to Cheshire and Warrington Leaders. The workshops are expected to last around 1.5 hours. The workshops are taking place on:

• 13^th June, 12.00 - 13.30 / Online
• 16^th June, 18.00 – 19.30 / Online
• 20^th June, 15.00 – 16.30 / Online
• 23^rd June, 15.30 – 17.00 / In person (TBC) in Warrington (venue TBC)
• 26^th June, 12.30 – 14.00 / Online
• 1^st July, 09.30 – 11.00 / In person in Winsford College, Room 101A
• 2^nd July, 14.00 – 15.30 / In person in Crewe (venue TBC)

Workshops are a mix of online and in-person and places will be limited per workshop to enable effective discussion.

To register to attend a workshop, please contact Micaela Benvenuto at Mickledore by emailing mbenvenuto@regionaldevelopment.co.uk.  Mickledore is a locally based economic development agency supporting us in the consultation. If these sessions are not convenient but you would still like to engage in the consultation then please contact us.

Your valuable input will guide our actions and decisions in the coming months.

By sharing your thoughts and insights, you play a vital role in creating a more sustainable and inclusive future for our region.

Thank you for being an integral part of this journey.

For any further queries the team can be contacted on strategy@cheshireandwarrington.com