Town Council News | Knutsford Town Council

16Apr2020

Cllr Katherine Fletcher Steps Down

April 16, 2020

Cllr Katherine Fletcher, Councillors, Nether Ward Town Council News

Nether ward councillor Katherine Fletcher has stepped down from the Town Council after being elected as MP for South Ribble in the December 2019 general election. Katherine, who was elected unopposed in the May 2019 council election, resigned with “heavy heart” to the Town Mayor on 15^th April.

In her resignation letter Katherine said “I had hoped to serve Knutsford through this COVID crisis as well as perform my duties as a newly elected MP. It has now become apparent that the sheer volume of work within Parliament and constituency, leaves no room to also do my duties as a Councillor, and it’s with a heavy heart that I find I must resign.”

Katherine served on the council’s Environment, Assets and Finance Committees and was the council’s representative on the Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership.

Mayor of Knutsford Cllr Andrew Malloy said “Katherine’s enthusiasm and knowledge on areas in particular relating to the environment have been a real bonus to the council, especially as we have been considering the impacts of everyday life on the environment, flora and fauna. I would like to thank Katherine for her time on the council and wish her all the best in her career as a MP.”

The process of electing a new councillor for the ward is affected by coronavirus with regulations made by the government postponing any by-election to May 2021. Guidance is currently awaited from Cheshire East Council as to whether the preliminary process, giving the residents of Nether Ward the right to demand an election before allowing the council to co-opt a new councillor, can still go ahead.

An announcement will be made in due course formally declaring the casual vacancy and giving electors the right to demand an election for the seat.

Any by-election will only be for the single Nether Ward seat, not the whole council and the elected or co-opted councillor will serve the remainder of Katherine’s term, retiring with the rest of the council in May 2023.

30Jan2020

Town Centre Masterplan Proposals

Knutsford Town Council is launching a consultation on proposals for changes to Town Centre Traffic and Parking arrangements as the first stage of developing a Town Centre Masterplan.

Led by Cllr Christopher Gray the council’s Town Centre Masterplan Working Group, which comprises local residents, businesses and councillors, has prepared proposals for a limited-vehicle access scheme for the Town Centre. The scheme aims to reduce the volume of traffic on King and Princess Streets whilst maintaining access to all homes, businesses and car parks.

The bold proposals include creating new pedestrian squares at Canute Place and outside Lost and Found on Princess Street as well as the development of well-designed multi-storey car parks to increase parking. The proposals also include creating an access to Princess Street directly from the A50 through the car park behind Waitrose.

Town Clerk, Adam Keppel-Green said, “These proposals form the first part of developing an overall master plan for Knutsford Town Centre with the overriding aim of ensuring we have a town centre which continues to flourish. These proposals focus on the mechanics of the town centre, and future work on the masterplan will look at issues such as pavement and road surfaces”

Public consultation events are being held on Tuesday 4^th February (6:30pm) and Wednesday 5^th February (2pm) in Knutsford Methodist Church. Town Centre residents and businesses were invited to preview the proposals at events held this week and the Town Council hopes to engage as many stakeholders as possible to garner their views on the proposals.

The consultation commences on Wednesday 5^th February when full details will be published on the Town Council website. The consultation runs to March 13^th.

27Jan2020

Town Council Precept Increase

Knutsford Town Council is aware of the recent comments in the Knutsford Guardian concerning the council’s 2020/21 budget and precept (our share of the council tax) and wishes to provide additional clarity on the changes and answer some people’s concerns.

What is the change?

The Town Council sets an annual precept which is collected as part of Council Tax. In 2019 this cost a Band D taxpayer £64 per year and in 2020 this will increase to £88. This is an increase of £24 over 12 months.

This change sees the council collect £511,118 from council tax, a £140,048 increase on the 2019 figure of £371,070.

How did the Belle Epoque affect the budget?

La Belle Epoque Limited was a tenant at 60 King Street, a property owned by the Town Council. Under the lease, which was agreed with the former tenant the council was required to undertake the maintenance of the building which owing to its age and listed-status was significant and on-going.

The former tenant, La Belle Epoque Limited is now in liquidation; the company entered this owing the Town Council just over £67,000, primarily for legal fees incurred by the Town Council in seeking to enforce the lease. Towards the end of the tenancy La Belle Epoque Limited had been failing to pay rent on time for almost three years and had been frustrating the council’s ability to undertake essential maintenance. While the Town Council took no pleasure in terminating the lease with the company we did so in the long-term interests of our taxpayers.

The short term consequence of the termination is that the council has incurred additional costs; including paying for the removal of the rubbish and furniture left by the tenant, additional maintenance of the vacant building as well as the costs involved in obtaining a new tenant. These have been in the region of £19,000. The Town Council had also spent just over £46,000 from its general reserve fund in the 2018 financial year to cover the cost of scheduled maintenance which it planned to cover from the 2019 rent. In total this left our year end position with a combined deficit of £132,000.

The Town Council took the decision to forfeit the lease with a view to securing a new tenant on better terms. The Town Council is currently considering bids from three prospective tenants and under all options the tenant will be responsible for the maintenance of the building; rather than the next five years seeing the council make no surplus on the property (as we would have under the old lease), we anticipate that our 2021 budget will see a surplus that would allow the council to reduce the precept.

In addition, the Town Council’s Finance Committee will be looking at reviewing the council’s reserves policies with a view to ensuring that the council’s reserves can better accommodate any future changes in tenant without needing to rely on a precept increase.

Why increase the staff budget?

The Town Council’s staff budget has increased by around £50,000 for 2020. £20,000 of this is covered by the income from Knutsford Cemetery which the Town Council became responsible for in January and this funds the administration and maintenance of the cemetery.

During 2019 the Town Council undertook a root and branch review of its staffing. This resulted in the creation of a separate Events Officer role (previously combined in other roles) to provide better management of the organisation of the council’s events programme and an increase in the number of hours for our Town Ranger so he can spend more time out and about tackling the small jobs that matter to residents. The new staffing structure ensures that the council has the staff it needs to deliver the varied services we provide to the Knutsford community.

What does the Town Council do for £88?

Here’s just a few of the things we do for the £88 charged to a Band D property the Town Council:

Provides funding support to local charities and community groups
Funds the provision of the Citizens Advice service in Knutsford
Provides public toilets, allotments, the market hall, a cemetery and Wallwood
Will be renovating/creating gardens behind Booths Supermarket and around the Chelford Road Obelisk
Will be undertaking reviews of the town Conservation Areas to ensure our heritage is preserved
Organises the Bunny Hop, Pumpkin Path, Music Festival, Christmas Lights and Christmas Market to help keep our town thriving
Will be organising a street party on the Moor to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of VE Day

Statement from the Mayor

Town Mayor, Cllr Andrew Malloy said “As taxpayers ourselves, councillors are of course very conscious of the impact of any rise on our residents. We know that a 37% increase sounds dramatic but encourage residents to consider the pounds and pence – this increase is £24.07 over 12 months, or 46p per week”

“Whilst it is too early to prepare our 2021 budget, I can say that we have the intention to reduce the precept next year and we fully expect we will be able to”

“As well as seeking to secure increased net income from 60 King Street, the council is looking to reduce the costs of operating its public toilets and looking to secure tenants for new commercial spaces it is creating within the buildings”

“We welcome scrutiny of our budget, which is available on our website, and invite residents with queries about any aspect of the budget to contact our Town Clerk.”

21Jan2020

Town Council takes back Knutsford Cemetery

Knutsford Town Council marked the turn of the new year by becoming a burial authority as Knutsford Cemetery returned to local control; this followed a review of options which took place in September 2018 when the council decided to terminate the service agreement with Cheshire East Council.

The five-acre site on Tabley Road opened in January 1902 and whilst it had been managed by Cheshire East Council and the former Macclesfield Borough Council since 1974 the ownership of the site has always been held by Knutsford Town Council.

“Our aim is to have a place of remembrance in which we can all commemorate, remember and spend time with our loved ones, a place which the community can be truly proud of and we believe the town council is best placed to deliver this.”
Cllr Andrew Malloy, Mayor of Knutsford

During 2020 the council will be introducing a number of changes as part of ambitious plans to make the cemetery the best in Cheshire. The council’s plans include:

Installation of new bins across the cemetery to make it easier for visitors to dispose of on-site waste
Creation of new flower beds at the entrance to the cemetery
Installing additional benches to provide a place for visitors to sit and reflect
Planting trees to replace those which have been felled in the past
Re-standing fallen grave stones
Removing the existing ‘road blocks’ made with old grave stones and replacing them with flower planters

A new part-time post of Cemetery Groundskeeper has been created and will start in March with the mission of ensuring the cemetery is continually well cared for. On top of the essential maintenance the groundskeeper will be levelling lawns and tackling areas which have been overtaken by weeds. The groundskeeper will help the council minimise costs and cut carbon emissions by composting all green waste generated at the cemetery, creating compost which will be used on site.

The transfer of the cemetery operation is being delivered at no cost to the Knutsford taxpayer as costs are forecast to be covered by the fees charged for burials.

“We have been exploring the options on how best to manage the cemetery for a number of years and with it now back under direct town council control we are looking forward to making improvements and maintaining a quality cemetery for our residents”
Cllr Jan Nicholson, Deputy Chairman of the council’s Assets and Operations Committee and member of the council’s cemetery working group

The council welcomes feedback on all the services it offers and especially suggestions as to how it can work it make the cemetery as welcoming and pleasant as possible.

1Nov2019

Council decides not to purchase Marshall House

The opportunity to purchase a landmark building in the Town Centre was considered by the Town Council at two meetings in October. Marshall House, the Victorian former Egerton School on Church Hill, was put up for sale following the collapse of Wright Marshall. At an initial meeting in October councillors decided that it was worth exploring options for the building, recognising it could provide a additional community space and public car parking.

An options paper was prepared in advance of a deadline to submit a bid to purchase the building of the 1^st November. This paper was considered at a special meeting of the town council on Tuesday 29^th October where it was noted that the limited time available meant a fully costed and detailed business case could not be prepared. The options paper explored the idea of purchasing Marshall House to convert it into a Town Hall venue, accommodating the Market Hall and/or Council Offices. One key benefit identified was the opening up a large hall for the community, identified as a need in the Neighbourhood Plan.

It has been anticipated that the purchase price would be in excess of £1.5m and it was concluded that purchasing the building would not provide value for public money. The council accordingly resolved not to submit a bid or explore the options any further.

Town Clerk, Adam Keppel-Green said “The Town Council is always looking for opportunities to improve the facilities and services available to our community, on balance we felt that this would have presented too much risk and been a poor use of public money.

“We look forward to seeing proposals to bring this fantastic building back into active use developed by the new owners in due course”.

1Oct2019

A group holding items related to the Taste Knutsford Food Tour

Taste Knutsford turns One

October 1, 2019

A Keppel-Green

Taste Knutsford Town Council News

Knutsford’s walking food tour, Taste Knutsford, launched last autumn has recently celebrated its 1^st birthday.

The tour showcases the best of Knutsford’s culinary offerings with guests walking around Knutsford tasting a variety of foods from brunch, nibbles, ice creams, and sorbet, tapas through to afternoon tea, cheese and gin. The tour lasts approximately 3 hours and is led by local resident and cake maker – Lucy Farnon of Knutsford Bake Club assisted by Nicola Arnell who ensures the social media feed during each tour is kept up to date.

Sandra Curties, Town Centre Manager said, “Since the Autumn 2018 around 160 people have enjoyed a food tour – meaning they have tasted 160 sausage rolls, ice cream, tapas and cheese amongst other treats! We are really pleased about how well the tours have been received, our Trip Advisor reviews, and how hard the venues work when hosting a tour. The guests really love meeting the owners and finding out more about the establishment and Knutsford than you would on a normal visit”.

The tours can be booked via www.tasteknutsford.co.uk and private tours for groups of six or over can also be arranged. These private tours are great for hen nights, birthdays or anniversaries. Eateries taking part in the tour include:

The Market Café
Morgan Edwards Fine Wines & Spirits
Rose & Crown
Evuna
Real Fruit Creamery
Wine & Wallop
The Old Sessions House
The Cheese Yard
The Courthouse
Dexter & Jones
April’s Kitchen
Project 53
Courtyard Café
Giovanni’s
The Tea Room

Alison Cunliffe of The Real Fruit Creamery said, “We love taking part in these tours. It is a great way to meet people and for people to ask questions, find out about the business and raise awareness”.

Vincent Lazzarini, Director of The Cheese Yard said, “The Taste Knutsford tours are a great opportunity for me to showcase my independent business and what The Cheese Yard has to offer. We look forward to hosting more Taste Knutsford guests in the coming year”.

If any Knutsford establishment wants to get involved, please contact us.

30Sep2019

Man Convicted after flouting Lantern Parade road closure

The Town Council is proud to host a number of community events every year and we naturally take the safety of visitors very seriously. Some of these events involve the temporary closure of roads to allow parades to pass through and we do our best to ensure that these closures are publicised in advance through signage and our social media and we seek to minimise disruption to residents and local businesses.

At the 2018 Lantern Parade a car ignored the road closure signage, verbally abused a member of Town Council staff and breached the road closure order to drive up King Street, in the process striking said member of staff on the hip, but fortunately not encountering the parade as he drove off.

This incident was immediately reported to Cheshire Police and on Wednesday 25th September Mr Paul Lockton appeared at Chester Crown Court charged with dangerous driving. Mr Lockton was found guilty and sentenced to two months imprisonment suspended for 12 months, 150 hours of community service and a 12-month driving disqualification.

In sentencing, Mr Recorder Atkinson said: “You drove your Audi R8 dangerously on a dark and rainy winters night in Knutsford Town Centre. The road was closed appropriately, and signs had been placed on King Street. It was explained to you by the marshall, Mr Garner, that a children’s lantern parade was due to emerge onto the road at any moment.

You responded with abusive language to the marshall who was there to enforce the road closure and protect the children and adults in the parade. You drove at speed in the very direction the parade was due to emerge from and in doing so struck with Mr Garner with your car. You were highly culpable and placed others at risk. Thankfully the injury to Mr Garner was minor but your actions were shocking to those that witness them.”

Town Clerk, Adam Keppel-Green said “Mr Lockton’s actions endangered the public at our event. When roads are closed, they are closed for a reason and drivers should not attempt to just proceed past barriers. We like this to serve as an example of the potential implications for those who consider that the rules do not apply to them.”

20Sep2019

Neighbourhood Plan Commended by RTPI

Planning experts at the Royal Town Planning Institute have commended Knutsford’s Neighbourhood Plan in their annual Planning Excellence Awards. The Knutsford Neighbourhood Plan received a commendation in the Spatial Planning category for the North West region, with judges praising the level of volunteer involvement from the community in developing the plan with the town council.

Bev Watson, Regional Co-Ordinator of the North West Royal Town Planning Institute said “Judges were impressed with the wide range of planning policies within the plan and the clear diagrams which hep to create a more user-friendly document. It is a good example of a community led plan, which has provided opportunities for engagement and which has helped to raise the awareness and understanding of planning issues across the community.”

The Neighbourhood Plan, which was developed by Knutsford Town Council working with representatives of the wider community, was approved at a referendum in March and sits alongside the Local Plan for use by Cheshire East planners making decisions about development in the Town.

Supported by Urban Imprint, the Macclesfield based planning consultants who helped create the plan, Neighbourhood Plan Committee Chairman Cllr Stewart Gardiner and Mr Brian Chaplin, who led the Housing and Employment working group, were interrogated by RTPI judges on the content and development of the plan.

Cllr Gardiner said “’As a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute I am extremely proud to have been the lead councillor in the team that delivered the Knutsford Neighbourhood Plan and to have been judged by my peers to secure this commendation.

However, this award is not about me, but an affirmation of all the hours of hard work and effort put into the process by my Town Council colleagues, The team at Urban Imprint and so many Knutsford residents; too many to name here but a big THANKS to you all- please share my pride”

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