Cheshire West plan for £16m Ellesmere Port council hub approved

The new building will house the council, a Jobcentre Plus and a Citizen's Advice Bureau

A council's plan for a new £16m "public sector hub" has been approved.

Cheshire West and Chester Council has proposed moving more than 500 council and public services staff into a new headquarters in Ellesmere Port.

It said the "cost effective" plan would bring more people into the town centre.

Businesses in the nearby Port Arcades said they broadly support the scheme, but were worried that cutting parking spaces "extensively used" by shoppers could have a "significant impact".

The council will leave the building in Chester that it moved into in 2010

The new development, which will be built on the site of the town's bus station, will house council services, a Jobcentre Plus and a Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Councillor Richard Beacham said it would "provide local people with easy access to essential public services".

The council's existing offices on Civic Way will now demolished to make way for housing and its existing headquarters in Chester, which it purchased for £18.8m in 2009, will be listed for rental once senior staff have moved to Ellesmere Port.

The new hub will be built on the site of the town's bus station

The proposal was scaled back in 2018 after plans for the police station, fire station and NHS services to move into the hub fell through.

A council spokesman said the proposal was passed unanimously by the authority's planning committee and work was now due to begin in January.