MIDDLEWICH was celebrated as an example of a successful and innovative market town at a recent Parliamentary reception.

The event, organised by charity Action for Market Towns (AMT), gathered together members of parliament, including Middlewich MP Fiona Bruce, and the charity’s staff to discuss the future for small towns.

Government minister Jonathan Djanogly MP hosted the reception and congratulated Middlewich for being a town with particularly successful initiatives, while also commending it for winning an Action for Market Towns award - Britain’s top accolade for town community projects.

MP Bruce invited Middlewich town clerk Jonathan Williams, deputy town clerk Stephen Dent and Dave Thompson, Middlewich Town Council events officer, to represent Middlewich at the event.

Chris Wade, chief executive at AMT, said: “There is a long tradition of self reliance and enterprise in our small towns with often effective leadership shown by town councils, community partnerships and business associations.

“After a busy year of contributing positively to policy development, we look forward to sharing good practice and supporting towns to make the most of the policy agenda.

“We are doing this by supporting towns’ teams; neighbourhood planning, measuring economic performance and helping towns see themselves as department stores that offer something more than the bland shopping experience of out of town shopping malls.

“We are even investing in developing an imaginative town-wide loyalty card that can attract new customers and capture a percentage of spend to re-invest in improving and promoting town centres.”

Such a card scheme, known as the Love Local Life card, has already been introduced in Middlewich and has attracted the support of a number of the town’s businesses.

The reception also marked the formal launch of applications for the next Action for Market Towns Awards 2012.

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