The sad red tail of the Greedy Pig....

Well, sometimes you just think the situation cant go from bad to worse and then it does...

or in Winsford, the Labour team cannot go from worse to even worse and then they do

Let me explain a little further ...hope you (don't) enjoy the ride.....

The site known as the "Greedy Pig" down by the river opposite the exquisite Liquid Lounge has been derelict, run down, abandoned for years. Unfortunately the site has multiple owners who own small strips of land. One of these is indeed our very own Labour run Winsford Town Council.

Putting all those strips together as a single option for sale site has been a challenge but as the land was highlighted in the Neighbourhood Plan (NP) for the following uses, which I have copied directly from the 2013 NP.

Policy TC 10A: Mixed-use development including hotel , leisure and commercial uses will be supported. (I have italisicised and underlined)
Policy TC 10B: Design Principles / requirements:
■ Development must address the river and the roundabout in a positive manner and be of the highest quality appropriate for this key town centre location.
■ A public river promenade must be provided and public uses, such as cafe, restaurants and / or retail should be provided along the edge. The buildings must deliver an active frontage, ideally with public uses along the waterfront.
■ Development in this location must make a positive impact onto the A54, in terms of good design, of an appropriate scale and massing, landmark buildings, key focal points and creating a positive gateway.

OK, so the world was turned on its head in 2015 when Labour were elected to power in Winsford (with some severe consequences to Winsford) and Labour Cllrs started to develop the NP and the house building started to escalate across Winsford. They set up a Winsford Regeneration Committee and I was asked to join, discussing what we want for Winsford and how to deliver it oh happy days, or so I thought.

In 2018 I was asked what I thought of developing this site with a KFC and Starbucks on it. I think I wanted to cry....a drive thru' KFC and Starbucks in Winsford, with all the associated  rubbish, poor health implications and not even stopping to enjoy our fine town and the riverfront.

My answer to Cllrs Clark and Armstrong that was a firm "No" given it added nothing to the town. Was this the only plan that came through? I asked. "No" was the sheepish reply. With the passage of time it turned out that there was another plan for some houses and a restaurant (nice looking in my opinion) brought forward by a local team.

Confused as to why the other option was not pursued, turns out Council officers discounted the other offer but that was never expressed openly or with much scrutiny apparently. It appeared that the KFC offer was preferred from the start. My contention being that if two offers came forward already, a third must be somewhere.

Fast forward to post election 2019 and a meeting I had with officers and Cllr Beacham in Wyvern House. I expressed again the fact that KFC did not represent any aspiration, did not meet the ideals of the NP and for a town with this many health problems in its population, a fast-food restaurant was not a good idea. Thankfully he agreed.

Then the housing plan appeared - and I knew I could object at the planning meeting. The planning meeting where officers said there was no one outside of the KFC coming forward to the site, which was simply not true.

Unfortunately the accident that night on the M56 stopped me from getting to the planning meeting (in Chester) and I had to watch it on the webcast.

I was horrified when I saw that Labour Cllr Tommy Blackmore stated he supported the application. Cllr Blackmore has been a Winsford Cllr for years, including the time the NP was enacted.
Was he not aware of the NP?
Did he not understand that approving the plan would almost invalidate the NP?
Did he not understand that by being a Town Cllr and that by the very fact the Town Council will financially benefit from the deal would make him look like Town Council first, Winsford Town second?

Then I see a post by Labour Winsford team on the Winsford Community (Labour) Forum saying they were going to start a campaign to overturn the decision!

I mean really - their own Cllrs approve, some of them don't agree and then they want to gain political capital by starting a campaign against themselves! Is this some strange alternate universe we've woken up in? Apart from the fact that they can't overturn the decision (the lawyers for the housing development would have a field day), don't they align as a team or are they just a gifted group of individuals who don't talk to each other? Do they even understand the planning rules?

Some of you will say that a Conservative Cllr spoke for it at the meeting. yes - but as a spokesman for the Labour majority Thrive Board (and who clearly wasn't told about the additional proposals).

Cllr Sam Dixon (Labour, Chester Cllr) said that the NP was written years ago and things change. Well, my house was mortgaged years ago and things have changed but I still have to pay the chuffing bank.

Labour have made another nonsense decision, whether its Labour CWAC, Labour WTC or the local Labour team. We in Winsford pay the price - houses coming out of every piece of land we have, no plan for the infrastructure and now we are the affordable housing capital of Cheshire.

We had a plan to make Winsford a destination but now we will have a housing estate and a drive thru town. Apologies if I sound negative because this one was one we could have got right yet the reds messed it up for us and I annoyed at the level of incompetence.

I will join the fight to over turn the decision even as I know we can't because it is the right thing to do. I think those involved should look at their own record and ask what is the right thing for them to do.