A NEW investigation and disciplinary committee (IDC) for Cheshire East Council is set to meet for the first time next week.

The ‘IDC II’ will meet at Macclesfield Town Hall from 10.30am on Friday, September 28.

Conservative councillors Gary Barton, Janet Clowes, Hilda Gaddum and Les Gilbert will be in attendance, along with Cllr Steve Hogben, Labour, Cllr Derek Hough, Liberal Democrat, and Cllr Toni Fox, independent.

An agenda published online for the meeting gives no clues on what the new IDC will discuss next week – with an unnamed report set to be discussed without press or the public present.

No further details on the meeting are available which are not contained in the agenda – but there is a chance for the public to speak at the meeting before it is held in private.

The first IDC had been investigating officer conduct – including that of Mike Suarez, CEC’s former chief executive, who was suspended in April 2017 and resigned from his position in July 2018.

He was one of three top Westfields chiefs to be suspended last year – along with Peter Bates, chief operating officer, and Bill Norman, the former chief legal officer who resigned last December.

It was also announced in April that Cllr Howard Murray, chairman of the first IDC, had been asked to stand down from the position while CEC investigated ‘information which raises concerns about actions taken’ by the member for Poynton East and Pott Shrigley.