Where will the new Areas be?
Connecting Parishes together for Collaborative Mission
WHERE will the new Areas be?
We're proposing to reduce our 18 Deaneries down to 13 new Areas.
We looked at many possible configurations, from 8 to 14 Areas, trying to find the best combination that means that Areas have comparable parish numbers, population and land size. We’ve also tried to match them more closely with Local Authority boundaries, and chosen to keep the two Archdeaconry boundaries intact.
Overall, we wanted every existing Deanery to be changed in some way, so the renewed focus and leadership is felt everywhere.
The options were narrowed down statistically, but the final recommendation (13 Areas, with 7 in Chester and 6 in Macclesfield) was chosen using pastoral judgement, to reflect real relationships and shared ministry on the ground.
Three Deaneries stay unchanged, most others expand to include some neighbouring parishes, and a couple are more widely reshaped.
You can see exactly how on this interactive online map and in the full data. More information about this map and how to use it can be found here.
How will our Area Names help people know WHERE we are?
During the consultation we have used CODENAMES for each new Area, since we want the conversation about “what we call them” to be separate from “how they are formed”.
But we do need to choose new names for the 13 new Areas. We want names that make sense to other organisations we work with, that are consistent with each other, and that mark this as a genuine change - not just a relabelling - for every existing Deanery.
After considering several approaches, the clearest option leant on our historic county identity: most Areas are named as parts of Cheshire (West, Central, East and so on), with a few using the names of the major towns and boroughs they include.
Your response to these proposed names - and especially the name for your own Area - is one of the most important things we want to hear from you in this consultation.