Cheshire West and Chester Council passed a cross-party motion last year, aimed at promoting community cohesion and interfaith collaboration across the borough. The motion, approved on 16 October 2025, comes in response to what the Council described as a “concerning rise in incidents of prejudice and intolerance” directed at Jewish and Muslim communities. While the initiative signals a strong political commitment to inclusivity, borough-level hate crime data confirming the claimed rise in incidents is not currently available.
Council shows cross-party commitment to cohesion
Deputy Council Leader Councillor Karen Shore proposed a motion, seconded by Councillor Simon Eardley, which highlights the Local Authority’s intention to reinforce unity among residents of different faiths. The motion condemns recent attacks nationwide, including the assault on the Jewish congregation at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester during Yom Kippur and an arson attack on a mosque in Peacehaven, East Sussex.
Councillor Shore emphasized the shared values that bind the borough together, stating that acts of hatred “have no place in our society” and underlining the importance of democracy, mutual respect, and tolerance. The motion lays out a series of commitments, including:
- Promoting community cohesion and supporting interfaith activities by engaging with Jewish and Muslim leaders across the borough.
- Collaborating with the Council’s Equality and Diversity team to ensure meaningful engagement with affected communities.
- Reaffirming the Council’s commitment to inclusivity, ensuring that all residents feel safe, respected, and protected from discrimination or exclusion.
- Maintaining vigilance against hate speech and discrimination, while fostering dialogue, education, and shared initiatives
Councillor Eardley, representing the Conservative Group, described the motion as “not just a symbolic gesture,” stressing the need for the borough to remain a place “where diversity is celebrated, not feared. The cross-party agreement has been welcomed by local community leaders according to the Council press release, reflecting a united stance against intolerance.
The Council’s approach aligns with its broader policy framework, including its Borough of Sanctuary designation, which aims to ensure a welcoming and protective environment for all residents. The motion reinforces the Council’s ongoing commitment to interfaith dialogue and cross-community collaboration, extending previous initiatives in the borough.
Verification of local trends remains limited
While the motion references a rise in prejudice, verifiable data at the borough level is currently limited. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) confirmed that it does not monitor hate crimes at a regional or borough level (email correspondence). Their guidance recommends consulting Home Office police statistics for official figures, noting that these only reflect reported incidents and may not fully capture the total number of events.
This limitation means that the Council’s statement about a local rise in incidents cannot be independently verified without accessing police-recorded crime data or third-party monitoring sources such as the Community Security Trust (CST) for antisemitic incidents and Tell MAMA UK for anti-Muslim incidents. These organisations maintain records of reported incidents, but, currently there is no publicly available dataset specific to Cheshire West & Chester for the period cited in the Council press release.
The Home Office publishes hate crime statistics at police force level, but not per council or borough. Trends reported at a national or regional level may not directly correspond to local experience. This highlights the challenge of reconciling political statements with verifiable data.
Nationally, government figures show that hate crime remains a significant concern across England and Wales, with religion-based hate crime forming a substantial proportion of recorded offences. However, without detailed sub-regional breakdowns, it is difficult to assess how these national trends translate to individual communities such as Cheshire West and Chester.
Despite these limitations, the council’s motion represents an official recognition of the potential risk of intolerance within communities. It underscores the importance of preventive measures, community engagement, and proactive dialogue, elements which are widely supported by equality and cohesion experts, even when precise local statistics are unavailable.
Commitment in Cheshire West and Chester
Cheshire West and Chester Council’s cross-party motion demonstrates a clear political commitment to fostering community cohesion and interfaith collaboration. The borough’s leaders have signalled their intention to protect residents from discrimination and strengthen dialogue across faiths, aligning with existing initiatives under the Council’s Borough of Sanctuary framework.
However, the claim that there has been a rise in incidents of prejudice and intolerance within the borough can not be easily clarified. Without borough-level data from police forces or third-party monitoring organisations, the scale and nature of local hate incidents is not easy to confirm. Future reporting will benefit from obtaining detailed police or third-party data, which can help assess whether the Council’s policy response aligns with actual trends in antisemitism and Islamophobia locally.For now, the motion stands as a symbolic and procedural commitment to unity, providing a foundation for practical action. Verification and transparency through accessible data will be essential to ensure that initiatives genuinely protect communities and foster measurable progress in cohesion and inclusion.
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