Cheshire East Council debates Fight For Middlewich petition

Fight for Middlewich campaigner Laura Turner, who presented the petition at Thursday’s meeting of the corporate policy committee, had told councillors she wanted to ‘sit down with the Cheshire East leaders who are in charge of the areas of my petition’ and ‘agree solutions’.

When the debate ended she was clearly frustrated by the response, asking for more clarification, and later took to social media to express her disappointment and vowed to fight on.

The demands listed on the petition are varied, but include a swimming pool for the town; that S106 monies obtained from developers building houses in Middlewich should be spent in Middlewich; more infrastructure in line with growing population and for youth provision.

Middlewich councillor Carol Bulman (Lab), a substitute member on the committee, said: “It doesn't shine well with people in Middlewich when they hear that S106 monies, when they have got all the inconvenience of that, is going to be spent outside of town.”

Cllr Carol Bulman (Cheshire East Council)

She said she had every sympathy with residents on that.

“The swimming baths is an emotive issue, but I agree with the officers on this one,” Cllr Bulman continued.

“They're closing all over the country because of the costs of keeping them open and, basically, 10 minutes down the road we’ve got a very good swimming baths in Winsford.”

The Middlewich councillor outlined some of the positives in the town, including the Middlewich Hub and the youth club.

She summed up by saying: “I would prefer this petition to be directed to the solution which is more funding, we need better funding and then we need our slice of it, so it should go to Fiona Bruce MP and it should go to Kwasi Kwarteng.”

Conservative group leader Janet Clowes said she was most concerned about the S106 and CIL money (developers' contributions).

“It seems to me that it is not unreasonable to offer the residents of Middlewich a timeline of exactly what this is and the triggers that will release that funding… then you know what's coming down the line, even if it's not quite what you would personally have wanted it to be spent on,” she said.

The Wybunbury councillor said the importance of the Middlewich Bypass shouldn’t be underestimated ‘for the wider prosperity and accessibility of Middlewich to development and prosperity in that context’.

Regarding the swimming pool, Cllr Clowes said it was to the council’s credit it had managed to keep all its pools open with costs spiralling and suggested Middlewich residents might seek out a private provider in the future.

Macclesfield councillor Nick Mannion (Lab) told Mrs Turner: “What was clear is the frustration that you feel about this and I sympathise with you in regard to the petition.”

Cllr Nick Mannion (Cheshire East Council) (Image: Cheshire East Council)

He said many towns had suffered because of under-investment by previous administrations.

“The result is a tired and degraded public realm road and facilities. These will not be put right overnight,” he said

“This administration does what is possible with the resources we’ve got.”

The committee voted to receive the petition, to note the responses to those matters within the council’s control and to refer the other matters to the relevant bodies.