Winsford's £21m revamp will raise aspirations, councillor says

The revamp will also include work on Winsford Cross shopping centre, which the council bought in 2018

A town centre's £21m revamp will create jobs, improve services and "raise aspirations", a councillor has said.

Submitted plans for Winsford will see the creation of a new town square and community hub, shops, restaurants, a garden centre and a boulevard.

If approved, the scheme will be funded by Cheshire West and Chester Council and the government's Future High Streets Fund.

Councillor Richard Beacham said the work would deliver "lasting change".

The plans, which will go before the council's planning committee later in the year, would see large changes made to Winsford town centre.

The Fountain Court and Queen's Parade buildings will be demolished and replaced with a retail unit and garden centre and a restaurant block, while a new boulevard will connect to the A54 subway, "linking historic buildings like the Guildhall to a new civic square... next to the library", a council spokesman said.

The plans follow the council's purchase of Winsford Cross shopping centre in 2018, which was bought to allow the authority to shape the future of the town.

'Opinions ignored'

Mr Beacham, the Labour-led council's cabinet member for regeneration, said the changes would create "a much-improved town centre".

He added that the regeneration would "attract new private sector investment, create new jobs, improve local services and raise aspirations".

The plans include relocating the town's cenotaph and war memorial to a newly-created square

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the War Memorials Trust had sounded a note of caution over the plan to move the town's cenotaph and war memorial to the new square as part of the scheme.

Trust director Frances Moreton said the charity "does not generally support the relocation of war memorials unless they are at risk", because of concerns over damage and "historical significance".

However, she said the trust would be "delighted" to discuss the proposals with the council.

Reacting to the plans, Labour councillor and the town's mayor Nathan Pardoe said local families "can look forward to a space they can enjoy and a town centre they can be proud of", as the "neglect by private owners is finally at an end".

However, Conservative Mike Baynham, who represents the Winsford Over and Verdin ward, said the council "could have made a bolder statement in its vision for the town" as large parts would "still be largely unseen" by people driving through on the A54.

He added that the local party had also "called for the library to be rebuilt in a modern style and the market to play a much greater role in the plan, [but] sadly, these opinions have been ignored".