COUNCIL chiefs cleared the Neighourhood Plan for referendum on October 23, and backed a raft of infrastructure investments across Winsford in the event of a ‘Yes’ vote.

Cheshire West’s Executive have agreed to timetable delivery on short and long term aspirations contained in the document, including the overhaul of the town centre shopping experience – if Winsford’s electorate adopts the plan next month.

At CWAC’s HQ in Chester on Wednesday, September 3, councillors urged people to get behind a ‘Yes’ vote so Winsford wasn’t ‘left behind’ by other towns in the borough.

“We need to show that we are a town that believes in growth. If we didn’t believe in growth we would never be able to move forward and we would be once again get left behind like we were in the 1970s, when industry and everyone else seemed to forget about Winsford,” said clr Brian Clarke.

“This is our opportunity to put our town back on the map, where it belongs. It’s a vision for the next 20 years for our town; by our people. Without it we’re at the mercy of speculative developments.”

Clr Stephen Burns welcomed agreements that an integrated transport assessment would be fed into a more detailed NP delivery timetable to be drawn up in the New Year.

“Access points such as Swanlow Lane, Wharton Road and Station Road are woefully inadequate to cope with the expected rise in population and traffic over the next 20 years,” he said.

“Winsford is in desperate need of an integrated transport assessment as new developments and new industry come into the town.

“These things take time and in terms of increased road usage, Winsford does not have much time before real problems start to occur.”

Congratulating Winsford Town Council on completion of the two-year document, clr Lynn Riley said: “This report says that Winsford is a town that believes in itself. It’s a place where people want to put down those long term roots.”

“This looks very similar to where we were four or five years ago with Northwich. If we look at Northwich today, a lot of that vision is now happening.

Council leader, Mike Jones, added: “We’ve got a once in a generation opportunity and I hope that people will say yes to that.

“It certainly gives me the confidence, if people vote ‘Yes’ for this, that we can invest in work on the Winsford town centre.”