Rescue plan approved
for struggling club
by David Skentelbery
PLANNERS have cleared the way for a rescue plan for one of Warrington’s oldest social clubs which is threatened with closure.
Members of the borough’s development control committee have given the go-ahead for four houses on part of the car park at the Alford Sports and Social Club, off Manchester Road – so the land can be sold to provide extra funding for the club.
Nearly 30 nearby residents opposed the move on the grounds that increased parking and traffic problems would result in Bennett Avenue along with noise, pollution and road safety hazards.
But club manager John Skelton told the committee: “If the club fails it will probably be demolished and there will be far more than four houses built on the site.
“In addition, some 1,000 members would lose a valuable recreation amenity.
Mr Skelton said the club needed an extra ?10,000 a year for the next five years, after which it would be “out of the woods.”
The committee heard that current figures show the club to be, at best, only marginally viable. Recently it had ceased to break even.
But it provided a valuable social amenity in the area, offering accommodation to community and charity groups – sometimes without charge.
A planning department spokesman said: “There is legitimate concern that the inability to release additional capital through the development now proposed will ultimately result in the loss of this facility.”
The proceeds of selling the land would be used to modernise, refurbish and modernise the club, the committee was told.
Collegiate helps plug
building skills gap
WARRINGTON Collegiate has been praised for helping to plug the gap in building skills across the region.
Stephen Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Development Agency, said the opening of the Collegiate’s Construction and Engineering Skills Centre was an essential step in addressing the region’s shortage of trained craftsmen and women.
Opening the centre, the first phase of the Collegiate’s new ?27 million campus on Winwick Road, Mr Broomhead said: “I can take you to parts of the region where we are having to bus in skilled workmen to carry our construction work. The Collegiate efforts to recruit and train plumbers, electricians and construction workers will have an impact in Warrington, across Cheshire and also the whole of the region. I wish them every success.”
A former principal at the Collegiate, Mr Broomhead was joined by dignitaries and special guests from across the borough, including the Mayor and Mayoress Coun Hans and Coun Karen Mundry, Colin Daniels, chairman of the Collegiate’s governing body, Colin Parry of Warrington Peace Centre and Liz Davis, executive director of the Learning and Skills Council.
The Construction and Engineering Skills Centre will be used by students studying joinery, plumbing, carpentry and electrical engineering, and will offer students a state-of-the-art learning environment.
Mr Daniels said it was a fantastic moment to see the first phase of the new build development open for business and looked forward to students enjoying the superb facilities on offer.
Funding for the new campus has been raised by the Collegiate and supported by the North West Development Agency and the Learning and Skills Council.
Picture shows Liz Davis and Stephen Broomhead putting the finishing touches to the opening of Warrington Collegiate’s new Construction and Engineering Skills Centre watched by Colin Daniels.
Wolves’ new “community
floor” officially open
by staff reporter
WARRINGTON Wolves’ unique “Community Floor” at the Halliwell Jones Stadium has been officially opened.
The Mayor and Mayoress, Coun Hans Mundry and Coun Karen Mundry, cut through a primrose and blue ribbon to open the facility.
It marked the start of an open day designed to show members of the public the facilities the Community Floor has to offer.
The Mayor commented: “This facility is a unique and exciting partnership that will benefit the whole Warrington community for a long time”.
He said: “We deliver a lot of great programmes at home, but this facility and the work of the Wolves’ community team is unbelievable”.
The Community Floor is home to the borough council’s Sport, Leisure and Community Teams, Warrington Collegiate’s Community College, The Education Department’s Training and Development Centre, Horizons Place pupil referral unit, Playing For Success and a Health and Wellbeing Suite.
Pictured are the Mayor and Mayoress with Neil Kelly, Warrington’s Rugby League Development Officer.
Flats plan for
old pub site
by Terry Johnson
A PUBLIC house which once dominated Warrington’s Latchford village looks set to make way for….39 private homes!
Builder Redrow has put in plans to re-develop the site of the former Kingsway pub in Kingsway South to provide one and two-bedroom apartments.
The scheme – yet to be considered by planning councillors – is the latest of a cluster of applications for re-claimed sites in one of Warrington’s oldest wards.
Several apartment blocks are going up on Knutsford Road and close to Kingsway Bridge. Further apartments are planned for the former Cantilever garden centre site.
Zoe Development Ltd. has put in proposals to build 11 apartments at The Corner House, Sandy Lane, Warrington.
Stable plan causes
rural discord
by David Skentelbery
PLANNING chiefs are to visit a 24-acre farmland site at Stretton before deciding if it can be used as a horse-riding centre.
They are responding to opposition from Stretton Parish Council and a number of residents who fear plans for stabling for six horses on land off Spark Hall Close could be the first phase of a major development.
The site is currently used for grazing – but applicant Peter Clarkson wants to build a stable building with six horse cubicles and storage area and provide hardstanding and an exercise arena for the horses.
Horses would be exercised on the remaining land, in rotation with continuing agricultural use.
Neighbours warn of increased traffic, parking problems, noise and smells and believe the equestrian centre would conflict with the nearby Park Royal Hotel.
They are also concerned about the staging of horse shows, gymkhanas, etc, and the possible breeding and sale of horses.
The stables would in fact be houses in a large, obtrusive industrial building within the Green Belt, they say.
Planning officers are recommending the scheme be approved and point out that separate planning consent would be needed.
An earlier proposal for the same site was turned down because of the size of the stable building. But planners say the building has been substantially reduced in size.
Council says “Clear
out the clutter.
by John Hendon
UNWANTED magazines, brochures and catalogues can build up in homes during the summer so Warrington Borough Council is urging residents to clear out the clutter and get recycling.
According to UPM Shotton, Warrington’s paper recycling partner, September is traditionally a relatively quiet month for paper collections as many families have just got back from their summer holidays, with fewer newspapers sold.
But September is also a month when even more paper tends to be used – with children going back to school, spring season catalogues going out of date and junk mail piling up on the doormat.
Coun Jeff Richards, the council’s executive member for Sustainable Environment, said: “The most popular thing to recycle is newspaper, but we need residents to remember that other kinds of paper can be recycled too. With all the paper that’s lying around, we can make September a bumper month for recycling, helping to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill.”
The council works in partnership with UPM Shotton to promote the recycl
ing of magazines, newspapers, junk mail and other papers. It uses this recovered paper to manufacture newsprint, which it sells back to the local and national papers in Warrington, throughout Greater Manchester and across the UK. This means that a newspaper read one week can be recycled and re-read the following week.
