?5m expressway to be
scrapped – after 35 years
by David Skentelbery
A 35-year-old plan for a ?5 million expressway cutting through Orford, Warrington, looks set to be scrapped.
Town Hall chiefs are to be urged to drop the long-standing proposals for an east-west through route to relieve Long Lane of heavy traffic.
The decision would clear the way for a major regeneration project for Orford, including improvement and development of Orford Park with new leisure, education, health and community facilities.
Proposals for a new east-west road date back to the days of the Warrington New Town Development Corporation, which was set up in 1968.
Land was reserved at the southern end of Orford Park, linking Winwick Road with Birchwood Way, as part of the proposed New Town highway network. More recently it has been retained through the borough council’s own Unitary Development Plan and Local Transport Plan.
However there have been difficulties in funding a scheme which would cost more than ?5m to implement and it is looking increasingly unlikely that such funding will ever materialise.
The need to keep land available for the new road has constrained the Orford Project by preventing a more imaginative approach to regeneration.
Alan Stephenson, the council’s strategic director of environment services, admitted there would be benefits from the road scheme.
But he added: “The Orford Project is so exciting and will be of such benefit to communities living in the inner wards that to prevent its full impact by sterilising an area of land for a road scheme that may never happen is not a realistic option.”
Tenants offered free
health check for dogs
by John Hendon
DOGS are being offered a free ?MOT? in North Warrington ? courtesy of Golden Gates Housing.
The borough council?s housing management organisation is offering the free health check and free micro-chips to dog owners in the WA5 post code area from September 11 to October 6.
The offer includes a full veterinary check up, a full set of vaccinations, worming and flea treatment, neutering at a local vet, plus a microchip, all absolutely free of charge.
All dog owners have to do is call 07739 255 044 and find out how to arrange an appointment with a local vet. Owners must be aged over 18 and the health check must be taken as a complete package.
The doggy MOTs are being organised by Golden Gates Housing in association with Warrington Borough Council and dog welfare charity the Dogs Trust.
Aim of the initiative is to reduce the number of stray dogs and according to the Dogs Trust, the most effective and humane of doing this is through neutering.
It’s a simple and painless procedure that also has great health benefits for dogs. Neutering can also help protect against womb cancer in bitches and testicular cancer in males.
Having a bitch spayed will put an end to packs of dogs following her around in season and it can stop male dogs from wandering off looking for romance! Most importantly it prevents unwanted litters of puppies.
In addition to the legal requirement for a collar and tag, the charity also urge dog owners to have their dogs micro-chipped, which again is a very simple, safe and painless procedure that can be performed by a vet.
Peter Fitzhenry, director of housing services at GGH said “This is a fantastic opportunity for dog owners in North Warrington to get a free service while helping to reduce the number of stray dogs in the area”.
Hospital treatment for
40 after pop festival
by David Skentelbery
FORTY people required hospital treatment during or after the Creamfields pop festival at Daresbury, near Warrington, it has been revealed.
The majority were treated for ?minor ailments? but two were admitted to Warrington Hospital.
A first aid tent on the festival site dealt with more than 300 people but some had to be transferred to hospital.
It is understood revellers required treatment for conditions such as exhaustion, the effects of drugs or alcohol or minor injuries arising from falls or assaults.
North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed that approximately 40 people attended the accident and emergency department following the festival.
Director of nursing Kath Holbourn said: “The Trust was well prepared for this event and as part of our major incident planning, extra staff had been rostered to work over this weekend to ensure everything ran smoothly. I would like to thank all of our staff for their hard work and dedication.”
She said that the Trust would be paid at the national rate for each patient treated, in the same way as any patient receiving hospital care.
It’s a small world
says reporter Mark
by staff reporter
THE world is a small place?and Warrington really is Worldwide, as reporter Mark Hemmings discovered on a trip ?Down Under?.
He visited a shop in Sydney ? and found a woman who had obtained a BA honours degree in business management at Warrington?s Padgate Campus.
Emma Harrison, 26, from Cheltenham is now living and working in Australia, where she has completed a Master?s degree in arts management.
She then spent six months travelling in Australia where she met her boyfriend and, two years ago, returned to Sydney to be with him.
Mark bumped into her when he went in the Centrepoint shopping mall branch of Australian Geographic where Emma is an assistant manager.
Emma was pleased to be able to catch up on affairs back in Warrington by reading a copy of Warrington-Worldwide.
She said: “It was the radio course offered at Warrington that made me choose to study there. I do look back on my days in ?Wazza? with affection.”
Education chiefs want to
replace two high schools
by staff reporter
NEW school buildings to replace both Culcheth and William Beamont high schools are being recommended by education chiefs at Warrington.
Both would be funded from the Government’s “Building Schools for the Future” programme, with the ?18 million re-development at Culcheth opening in September, 2009.
The new Beamont school would be built between 2010 and 2016 when more Government money becomes available.
Education chiefs are also recommending the retention of school sixth form provision in central and eastern Warrington, following completiton of the first phase of consultation on a major review of secondary education in the borough.
Other recommendations are to relocate the whole of Bridgewater High onto the upper school site, using funds from the Building Schools for the Future programme and to seek funding to increase by 50 the capacity of the sixth form at Lymm High School.
It is also proposed to increase by 75 the capacity of the sixth form at Great Sankey High as well as increasing the capacity of St Gregory’s Catholic High to meet planned admission numbers and replacing temporary accommodation where possible.
A decision on the future of secondary school provision in central and east Warrington, including Padgate and Woolston high schools, will be made in 12 months time, following a further period of consultation.
The recommendations will be put to the council’s executive board, which meets on September 11 and follows a successful public consultation programme across the borough.
Strategic director of children’s services Norma Cadwallader (pictured) said: “The review looks at all secondary schools across Warrington, so the consultation process has been very wide ranging.
“More 1700 people made written submissions and more than 800 attended consultation meetings. The recommendations in the report fully take into account the views of local people.”
Residents of both Woolston and Padgate expressed support for keeping a school within their own community, for maintaining good educational provision and for new school buildings.
Ms Cadwallader said: “It is clear from the consul
tation process that the ‘do nothing’ option should not be pursued. However, no one option as it currently stands provides a good enough solution to all the issues raised for central and eastern Warrington.
“We have therefore recommended that wider, in-depth consultation is needed to address all of these concerns and to ensure that all options are fully considered. We recognise that schools lie at the heart of the community and we will need to assess the contribution which they make in this respect.”
It is proposed that this second phase of consultation runs for a further 12 months, with recommendations being made to the executive board in September next year.
Both Culcheth and William Beamont schools currently from poor buildings.
Ms Cadwallader added: “The rebuilding of William Beamont needs to be dealt with as part of the Orford Park Project, a major redevelopment involving new sports and community facilities for which the timing is not right for the 2009 Building Schools for the Future deadline.
“It is therefore recommended that the Culcheth development takes place first as there are no major obstacles to completing that building in time for opening in September 2009.”
Planners asked to
rule on lighting
by John Hendon
PLANNING chiefs are to be asked if floodlighting erected around a horse riding area at Croft, near Warrington can stay in place.
Local resident Mrs KA Duckers has made a retrospective application for planning permission for the lighting around a m?nage at the rear of Spark Meadow, Smithy Brow, Croft.
The riding area is for private use only and Croft Parish Council originally raised no objections.
But then they lodged an objection on the grounds the four lighting standards were environmentally unacceptable.
Warrington?s development control committee will be asked to decide if the lights can stay in place.
Officers say they are some 200ft from the nearest house and, subject to conditions restricting the hours they can be used, will not cause any unacceptable problem for neighbours.
Three neighbours have indicated they have no objections but a fourth says Spark Meadow has undergone substantial uncontrolled development over the last couple of years and that the lights will cause annoyance.
