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NANTWICH Civic Society has launched a survey of
streets in the town centre to "find out what particular problems there are with
the appearance and safety of the street surfaces, street furniture and
individual buildings."
They used a simple guide originally put
together by English Heritage and the Women’s Institute for the
Save our Streets
Campaign. Society members were joined by Nantwich Town Councillors when they
launched their latest project in mid September.
The Chairman Jeff Stubbs said later: "The
photograph shows the party of volunteers looking at cracked paving slabs, a badly
maintained commercial building, cracked windows, peeling paint and a huge pile
of cardboard left overnight. All this was on one major town centre pathway to
the main entrance of the church."
He added: "Some of the things we looked
at included sinking pavements, seating that could do with a good lick of varnish
and a clutter of four separate No Entrance signs in the same place by the side
of the Swine Market.
"Nantwich has a new council that is
keen to maintain and improve people and places. We hope to support them in this
by highlighting some of the areas that need maintenance.
"We have a lovely town square but its
brick paving was completed more than 25 years ago and it is starting to show its
age with loose bricks, unsympathetic tarmac and major parts sinking. We will
bring this to the attention of the new council and ask for their views
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on what the options are for it. We need to plan for
these things if we are going to
maintain and improve an important part of the town. "The walk also highlighted some good points: good
position and supply of litter bins, good quality seating in the main square and
– as the photo shows – the recent maintenance work on the
church looks wonderful.
"We are pleased that on the walk we had
town councillors Chris Farrall and Arthur Moran to help us and we hope to work
closely with the town council as we get further on.
"The initial walkabout forms the first part of a
wider health check on streets and buildings in the centre of town that we are
carrying out. We hope to be able to lobby for improvements to the town centre's
conservation area.
"We have been in
touch with Cllr Jamie Macrae, portfolio holder of prosperity at Cheshire East
Council to let him know we are doing this survey and to ask for his, and his
officers', help in the future. We shall also be contacting owners of buildings
that need some attention."
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To find out more about the health check, or the work
of the Nantwich Civic Society, contact Jeff Stubbs on 01270 625272. |
