Middlewich councillors are urging residents and businesses to have their say on the town centre vitality plan.

Cheshire East Council has commissioned an expert team to produce bespoke town centre vitality plans for each of the borough’s nine key service centres.

The council says the draft plans are about establishing an agreed set of priorities and are not a commitment to finance the delivery of proposals - funding would need to be found once plans are agreed.

Cllr Carol Bulman told members of the public at Monday night’s meeting of Middlewich Town Council: “The consultation’s open now so you can look at the presentation and then do the consultation, which will ask you what are your priorities.

“I think maybe there’s eight or nine different areas that, if we had any money, we could put into. There is no money at the moment but we have to be ready.

She added: “Their plans are nice but we’re not Knutsford. We don’t want to be some pale copy of a little Cheshire market town do we?  We are industrial, we have got an industrial heritage and I think that should be celebrated.”

The town councillor, who also represents Middlewich on Cheshire East Council, said some of the suggestions are obvious.

“We need the place to look cleaner and tidier, we need the retail offer to be more obvious,” she said.

“We need to do something about Town Bridge – that would be my priority, try and do something about Town Bridge because that’s the view that most people get of Middlewich when they drive in – that very undeveloped part and it is a shame.”

The consultation on the Middlewich town centre vitality plan, and the plans for all the other town centres, is open until November 8.

The link to the Middlewich consultation is here.

The link to the general consultation page for all the towns is here.