A Letter from Nantwich

August 2006                                                                                                            Update

Uplifting news

Snow Hill car park - with the swimming baths in the background  

WELCOME news has been announced (Nantwich Chronicle, August 9) that the start of a big facelift scheme for parts of the town is imminent after Nantwich Now Market Town Project managed to get a promise of £230,000 from Rural Enterprise.

    It is the first of three phases of a £600,000 scheme for the town. The first phase covers:

lSnow Hill: improved footways, together with new lamp posts, bins and signs.

lThe Square: new street furniture. This includes "furniture" literary with the replacement of old seats. There will be new litter bins,  upgraded notice boards and an improvement to the electricity supply route for the Christmas tree lights.

lMill Island: ditto. 

   The second and third phases - due to start in November after businesses have been consulted on the work - will include:

lPart of the Riverside scheme.This will include a "major enhancement" of Mill Island "to make it more easily accessible", says The Chronicle (presumably quoting a press release from Beverley Cope, the Nantwich Now Market Town Project Manager). A small bridge from the island to the old Gas Works site across the River Weaver (£113,000, this will make it easier to get to Welsh Row from

Swine Market . . . a tourist attraction? I don't see it myself

this part of the town centre. This bridge was included in an idea for the island (covered here) which was proposed just over a year ago. 

lFurther improvements in Snow Hill, including the open-air swimming pool (top of page).

lImprovements in Swine Market. A feasibility study for Snow Hill and Swinemarket will look at possible community use and "economic benefits as tourist attractions". Not sure what will attract tourists to those particular areas. We will see.

   I asked Beverley Cope whether this latest news meant that the suggestion of a new Tourist Centre for Mill Island was a step nearer. This is particularly relevant as Nantwich Civic Hall undergoes a two-month project which will culminate in the moving of the Tourist Information Centre from the Parish Hall in Church Walk to the hall.

   She told me: "We actually have no preconceptions about what the feasibility outcomes will be. It will explore all possible avenues. Many people have expressed an interest in locating a combination of community and tourism features on this site but until the consultation is carried out we won't know whether any of these ideas are possible or, indeed, wanted. It will be interesting to see what emerges over the next year."

   It is reported that The Nantwich Now Market Town Project - backed by Cheshire County Council - has 40 organisations involved in it.