The Angel Hotel and a view down King Street

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:

  1. Modelling the impact of changes to town centre traffic flow from restricting through traffic and creating public squares
  2. Exploring the cost of making these changes and developing a better understanding of the impact works would have on the town
  3. Exploring the cost and impact of upgrading Moorside to an adoptable highway standard
  4. Exploring the cost and traffic impact of creating an new access to Princess Street from King Edward Road
  5. Exploring the feasibility of creating an attractive multi-storey car park on Tatton Street car park
  6. Exploring the costs of creating public squares in Canute Place and Princess Street 
  7. 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.

An aerial view of the Moor

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.
An aerial view of the Moor

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 4th February (6:30pm) and Wednesday 5th 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 5th February when full details will be published on the Town Council website. The consultation runs to March 13th.