Town Centre Masterplan | Knutsford Town Council

2Oct2025

Town Centre Masterplan Process Starts

Around 70 residents attended one of the two inaugural meetings about the new Town Centre Masterplan on 1^st October.

The Town Council has set out a timeline to develop a town centre masterplan over the next 15 months and the meetings provided the opportunity to find out more about the history of the issues, the process the council would follow and gave people a chance to share their views on the topics which will be looked at in the plan.

“We are pleased to be working with the community to explore opportunities to enhance the Town Centre through a well-constructed masterplan.” Said Cllr April Johnson, chair of the Town Council’s Town Centre Committee.

A new webpage has now been launched on the Town Council website with information about the masterplan, this includes a video of the presentation given by the council at the information sessions. The webpage also contains a document library with relevant background information, including the outcome of feasibility studies undertaken by the council last year.

“We have much to celebrate in our town centre. As well as being one of the most beautiful heritage towns, we have a high number of independent shops and businesses invested here, a low high street retail vacancy rate and our town centre events are superb. The Town Clerk has done an excellent job this week of presenting the journey so far and he explains the complex traffic issues which have prevented previous plans from coming to fruition” April added.

Over the next two weeks the council is inviting people to express an interest in joining one of the four sub-groups which will develop the four chapters of the masterplan.

“Through the sub groups we hope to inspire a workable, deliverable masterplan that the committee can adopt at the end of 2026. This will allow us to achieve some smaller projects and make us ready for future grants and investments in Knutsford Town Centre” April added.

All information can be found at: www.knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/tcmp

19Sep2025

Town Centre Masterplan Meeting

A timeline has been produced to develop a masterplan for Knutsford Town Centre by December 2026.

Developing a masterplan for the future of the town centre is one of the town council’s core strategic objectives, and a working group of councillors has agreed a plan to see the document prepared over the next year.

The aim of the masterplan will be to deliver a consensus view on how the town centre should develop and tackle long standing issues of the conflict between traffic and pedestrians as well as developing proposals to ensure the continued success and vitality of the town centre.

The masterplan will comprise four chapters:

Movement and Access
Public Realm and Placemaking
Development Opportunities
Economy and Uses

Cllr Christopher Gray will lead the Movement and Access chapter which will look at issues such as traffic, pedestrian access and parking. Public Realm and Placemaking will be led by Cllr Matthew Robertson, exploring streets, public spaces, materials, street furniture and heritage.

Town Mayor Cllr Bryan Hartley will lead the development opportunities theme, looking at revitalising underused spaces in the town centre. Cllr April Johnson, who chairs the council’s Town Centre Committee, will lead the Economy and Uses theme, which will look at the evening and cultural economy, town centre facilities and what uses the town needs.

To launch the new process, the council is hosting two information and discussion sessions at Knutsford Market Hall on Wednesday 1^st October at 1pm and 7pm. The council will provide more information on previous proposals for the town centre, the timeline to develop this plan and facilitate discussion on issues that the four themes need to investigate.

The council is also inviting up to seven residents to join one of each of the four thematic groups and help develop the proposes for that chapter. Residents can find out more at one of the sessions, or by emailing townclerk@knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk.

2Feb2024

Studies to be undertaken to inform Town Centre Masterplan

The feasibility of a range of changes to Knutsford Town Centre will be explored as part of the Town Council’s work to develop a masterplan for Knutsford Town Centre.

Building on the work of the From Top to Bottom Street report, which was considered in a public consulted in 2020, the Town Council has appointed a team of consultants to develop the proposals further. The work includes:

Modelling the impact of changes to town centre traffic flow from restricting through traffic and creating public squares
Exploring the cost of making these changes and developing a better understanding of the impact works would have on the town
Exploring the cost and impact of upgrading Moorside to an adoptable highway standard
Exploring the cost and traffic impact of creating an new access to Princess Street from King Edward Road
Exploring the feasibility of creating an attractive multi-storey car park on Tatton Street car park
Exploring the costs of creating public squares in Canute Place and Princess Street
Developing different options for improving the pedestrian experience in the town centre whilst retaining vehicular access

Each of these areas are ideas put forward in the From Top to Bottom Street plan and the output of this work will enable the Town Council to determine if they have merit and could form the basis of a masterplan.

The output of the 2020 consultation had been to call on Cheshire East Council to undertake these feasibility studies directly, but to date they have been unable to allocate the resource needed to take them forward.

“We know that creating a plan for improving the town centre is one of our residents’ top priorities and its therefore one of our top priorities too. This work will take us a step forward and better understand the impact of a range of potential changes” said Cllr Christopher Gray, Chairman of the Town Council’s Town Centre Committee.

This project has received £80,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The output of this work will lead to a public consultation later in 2024 and be used by the council’s Town Centre Masterplan working group to develop the masterplan.

The Town Council is also looking for those interested in helping develop the wider Town Centre Masterplan to join its working group, anyone interested can email townclerk@kntusfordtowncouncil.gov.uk.

23Jun2020

Town Centre Masterplan Consultation Conclusions

The Town Council held a consultation on proposed changes to traffic and parking arrangements in Knutsford Town Centre from 5th February to 16th March 2020. These form the first stage of a comprehensive Town Centre Masterplan.

In total we received 658 responses to the consultation which demonstrate overall support for the proposals. A report on the consultation has been prepared and will be published in July when the recommendations from the Town Centre working group are presented to the Town Council.

The number of respondents supporting or opposing the three aspects of the proposed scheme are:

Discouraging through traffic – 426 (65%) FOR | 232 (35%) AGAINST

More parking & a multi-storey – 517 (79%) FOR | 139(21%) AGAINST

Limiting parking on King and Princess Streets – 505 (77%) FOR | 151 (23%) AGAINST

The numbers answering the question “Overall, do you support this 3-part scheme as a first step towards securing the future of Knutsford town centre?” were:

YES: 383 (58%) | NO: 268 (41%)

61 respondents identified themselves as business owners/ managers; of these 38 voted YES, 23 NO.

The many comments qualify and explain the support or lack of it for the various aspects of the scheme. Topics attracting comment include:

traffic congestion on the A50 and Adams Hill caused by closing King and Princess Streets to through traffic,
drivers being confused by the proposed road changes, and disappointed at having to drive around the town, not through it,
support for a multi-storey especially at the Tatton St. car park, but concern that unless well designed, it would be out of keeping with Knutsford’s heritage.
concern that a multi-storey on the King Street car park would spoil the view from the Moor,
traffic along Moorside posing a hazard near the children’s playground,
the desire to be able to park near a shop and call in for a few minutes, free of charge,
the pedestrianisation of King Street,
enforcing the double yellow lines,
the state of the pavements in King and Princess Streets,
consideration for the particular needs of town centre residents,
low cost parking for town centre employees,
the ultimate need for a bypass.

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.