COUNCILLORS want to see if a social enterprise regarded as a ‘lifeline’ in a deprived part of Chester could be rolled out elsewhere.

Members of Cheshire West and Chester Council’s overview and scrutiny committee discussed the role of Avenue Services on Tuesday night.

The social enterprise was set up by CWAC in 2012 to carry out environmental, housing, employment and youth services on the Blacon estate, in Chester.

It has used proceeds from the sale of assets in Blacon to fund its work, and Cllr Mike Baynham, Conservative CWAC member for Winsford Over and Verdin, questioned if the scheme could be rolled out across other parts of the borough.

“I understand the need to keep assets and the money from those assets in those areas that it would have the most impact,” he said.

Northwich Guardian:

“But then I could ask the question – why is this not the same in some other assets that we have across the borough?

“For example, the sale of farms in rural areas – why couldn’t we ringfence maybe 10 per cent of that for social isolation, transport routes etc?

“And the other one for me would be in my own town of Winsford, the number of assets sitting there standing empty, we have seen precious little work in the last five years to release those back to the community in some way.”

Cllr Baynham’s comments came at a meeting where members of the Blacon community spoke in favour of Avenue Services being passed on the proceeds of CWAC’s pending sale of the suburb’s former library.

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Members were told how the cash is an ‘absolute lifeline’ for the community, which is regarded as a ‘deprivation hotspot’ in the borough.

The committee heard that Avenue Services has secured funding for a new enterprise centre, supported business creation, improved the environment and developed infrastructure in Blacon.

Cllr Mandy Clare, Labour CWAC member for Winsford Dene, was keen to see if other deprived communities could benefit from a similar scheme in future.

She said: “It’s just so impressive to hear what people say about how proud they feel about their community, and how important it is to invest in ways that don’t just rescue people from the disaster of the cuts, but also inspire social change.

Northwich Guardian:

“It might not be possible within this economic climate for us to make the same decisions that were made in 2011.

“But it might be possible for us to have a look at the poorest communities and whether there is something that we can draw together so we have got some commonality across the borough.”

Members of the committee recommended to cabinet that it should ‘explore the art of the possible’ to see if the scheme could be rolled out.

Labour Cllr Carol Gahan, cabinet member for finance, said: “This administration is about new ways of working.

Northwich Guardian:

“It just has to be, because the funding is not there to run our services as we would like them.

“To move forward and address issues for our community we’ve got to look at more ways we can do it.

“If this is something that is discussed, I know people would welcome you with open arms in Blacon so they can show you how success has been achieved – and not at the expense of the public purse.”