PROGRESS in the negotiations that Nantwich Town Council is having with Cheshire East Council over the towns assets is reported in the latest edition of the local authority's newsletter, "Talk of the Town".

     [The glossy, eight-page A4 publication used to be labelled Spring, Summer, etc, but now uses the publication date.]

   The local council manages four allotments, already owning two of them - Wellington Road and Welshman's Lane. They are now in talks with the borough council about the other two - both at Brookfield Park (right), adjacent to the Town Council's base, Brookfield Hall.

   And now I hear that the town council will be taking over (from Cheshire East Council) the running of the Tourist Information Centre (TIC). That's based in the Civic Hall, in Market Street.

WHEN Cheshire East Council announced it was going to close or sell off some of the town's assets because of budgetry cutbacks, the Town Council decided it made sense for them to try to buy them, even if it meant the local precept - the amount that ratepayers pay the council for various services - having £67 a year per household added to pay for running the assets.

   The Spring 2013 "Talk of the Town" says the council "has resolved to increase allotment fees and charges to £26 per plot for allotment holders living within the Town Council boundary." In future, households will be allowed to have only one allotment. Local people get priority on a waiting list for allotments. People living outside the town boundary will be charged £52.

The Snow Hill toilets transfer - which was delayed while the Town Council considered a programme of repairs - was "the latest asset to be transferred" said a paragraph on the front of the March 2013 edition of "Talk of the Town".

    Cheshire East Council had agreed to provide financial help for the work and an upgrade and

renovation was to be carried out. This has now (2014)been done, I understand.

    With the closure of other toilets in the town, the

Town Council is working on a "comfort scheme" in which retail outlets such as shops, cafes and pubs will, in return for a small subsidy, allow members of the public to use their toilets free of charge and without making purchases.

One of the allotments

on Brookfield

Park

    However, the toilets on The Barony (at the edge of Barony Park) and the Civic Hall car park will not be re-opening. Another paragraph on the front of "Talk of the Town" said the Town Council had acquired them and they would be converted for storage use. Again, this has been done (2014).

l The Town Council acquired the Civic Hall at the beginning of May, 2011. At the same time, the Cheshire East Council office was transferred to the Public Library next door with some services moving to Crewe.

l The council became the owners of the Market Hall and the outside market on September 4, 2012.

l The running of the Tourist Information Centre - now called Nantwich Information Centre, judging by some new leaflets (2014) - became the responsibility of the Town Council on May 1, 2013.

As of June 2022, vacant allotments are available. Contact the Civic Hall on 01270 619224 or www.nantwichtowncouncil.gov.uk/allotments   

   Changes have been made (2014) in the layout of the TIC area and next to it is the Civic Hall desk. Visitors to the TIC / Civic Hall information are faced with the desks as soon as they walk in.

   The area "round the corner", which used to be the TIC desk, which became a clear area with racks on the walls for leaflets, is now the offices of the Town Council. This has been transferred from Brookfield Hall where the council still meets - and which the public can hire. 

   Nantwich Museum, Nantwich Players and Nantwich in Bloom have exclusive notice boards.

FOOTNOTE: I was walking through town on May Day (May 1), 2013, and was pleased to see that there were visitors strolling around. Some shops were open for them, but I'm not sure how many of them were operating the new system of allowing visitors to use their toilets - even if they were not customers. But the Market Hall toilets were closed. The Civic Hall car park toilets and others have been closed for a while - now used for storage - and the Civic Hall toilets are available only for people attending an event in the hall.