Winnington and Castle - CWAC Cllrs

03/12/2025

*Toxic Free Tomorrow - Community Meeting*

There was a good turnout on Sunday for Toxic Free Tomorrow’s community meeting to discuss the work the campaign group are doing around the Wallerscote land remediation proposal. It was good to hear the anecdotal stories of the lime beds and the examples of other applications and similar situations in other parts of the country.

The group is led by some very motivated, positive people that will be directly affected by this application. All of the group's members are using different skill sets to support the campaign.

This group is about proactive commitment to a cause people really care about. Sometimes it’s not easy to see how things can be improved or changed and it takes a lot of energy with the road ahead not always being clear. Thanks to the group (residents and councillors) for what you are doing. If you’d like to be involved please get in touch and join the facebook group for further updates.

P.S more people came than in that photo! just didn't want to share anyone's identity without permission.

Toxic Free Tomorrow
https://www.facebook.com/groups/808068638627503

24/11/2025

*Ward Walk*

A few weeks ago we met with someone from the local community and did a walk around of a specific area in W&C. The person we met with showed us issues they were concerned about in the area and we discussed ideas on how to improve things in W&C.

Issues / ideas raised included (not exhaustive!):
- cleaning the plaque at the battle of Winnington Bridge
- refreshing some disused planters
- general drains and overgrowth
- giving the parklands some TLC
- council processes
- improving accessibility at Victoria Infirmary
- Verdin Park

All issues have been flagged / reported and will be followed up on. Thanks very much to the individual who met and took the time to tell us what mattered to them and what they thought could improve W&C.

We will do another one of these next month - please get in touch if you'd like to do one in a specific area of W&C.

19/11/2025

**NOTICE**

The Councillor Surgery organised for tomorrow is cancelled due to illness. We will reschedule a date in December.

Thank you

08/11/2025

A beautiful Oral History Project for the River Weaver....

The River Weaver’s industrial, boatbuilding and trading history is well documented in our archives, but there’s an important chapter missing. We need your help to tell the story of how the river has been transformed by leisure, pleasure, and environmental and natural habitat conservation. What w...

07/11/2025

A project supporting Men's Mental Health has been ongoing.

There's a workshop for interested men on Wednesday 19 November, 2pm — 3pm; or 6.30pm — 7.30pm pm in Northwich. See below for further information and for a link to a video from the artist.

Thanks

***

Breaking the Stigma

Artist Mark Titchner is working on a project in Ellesmere Port and Northwich in response to the rise in male suicides locally.
When he visited in July, many of the men that Mark met talked about feeling invisible. In response, he has developed a project idea around shadows. He is planning to make shadow portraits of men in the area; these will be placed in public spaces alongside information about the project and crisis support that is available in the area. These portraits will be anonymous.

He would like to invite men to join one of the next workshops to create their own shadow portrait. .

The workshops are on:

Tuesday 18 November, 2pm — 3pm; or 7pm — 8pm in Ellesmere Port

Wednesday 19 November, 2pm — 3pm; or 6.30pm — 7.30pm pm in Northwich

Please let us know if you would like to take part, and to which workshop (as we have limited spaces and need to make sure we have enough biscuits!).

Email us at:
artswest@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

If you or someone else is experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency, Get help from 111 online or call 111 and select the mental health option.

Mental health support can also be found here: Live Well Cheshire West - Mental Health Support

Meet Mark Titchner, the artist hoping to work with men in Ellesmere Port and Northwich on a visual campaign to help let others know where to turn if they are...

03/11/2025

A post on social media.

28/10/2025

Thank you to the member of the Winnington and Castle community who very unexpectedly bought me some flowers - I hope they don't mind me mentioning this as I haven't named who they are.

The role of a councillor is to be a trusted, balanced and effective advocate for the community they represent. Their primary job is to elevate issues that are important to individuals and groups of people within the community to the right people within the council.

A councillor needs to do their best to remain professional at all times in this role to ensure actions are effective and to maintain good relations both in the community and within the council. I have always done this at all times. Sometimes this has been extremely difficult to do when people have been unkind or aggressive.

I appreciate people have their own perceptions of the type of people they think councillors are. This has been difficult for me to deal with and has sometimes been of detriment to my personal wellbeing. It's difficult sometimes for me to not take this personally. I am extremely empathic - which I think is a great skill that is often undervalued - but sometimes this skill takes its toll.

Arthur and I have always been hard working in this role. We like to listen before forming any conclusions on the best course of action. We always try to speak to people when we can on the phone or meet people in person and listen to the issues they have. We respond to all casework that comes our way and elevate all issues to the right people within the council, for this community. Facebook I am finding is not always a healthy space to be operate in. Unfortunately if we don't maintain some presence we are judged as not being very effective. Please I politely ask for some kindness and respect for each other.

28/10/2025

A very polite and open post from Felicity Davies (one of the CWAC councillors for Winnington and Castle).

Our role is to represent the community. Our role is also to listen and carefully come to considered and balanced solutions. A (geographically) based community will have different groups within it. The infirmary is in our ward and that means while representing residents we also represent those people that use the infirmary, including the staff. We therefore represent a variety of stakeholders.

There has been a lot of unhappiness on facebook about this proposal which really does resonate with me. However, at the same time, I have been directly approached by residents saying they are happy with this proposal as it supports the vital work of the infirmary.

This creates a difficult position for us.

Can I ask that people let Northwich Town Council know what they think of these plans, both for and against.

I will continue to fulfil my role of listening and representing all factions of this community and come to a conclusion as to what to do having spent some further time understanding how the entire community feels.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message. Please let your views - both for and against or perhaps undecided be known to NTC regarding this important decision.

26/09/2025

Cllr Arthur Neil - Winnington and Castle and I had a meeting at Holy Trinity yesterday to try and resolve an ongoing issue in the ward, fingers crossed will get sorted. Walked past this when meeting for lunch in town after the meeting. So so beautiful and hadn't noticed before.

Walked back over the bridge to a second meeting at Winnington Urban Village. So lovely!

18/09/2025

Consultation date announced for the proposed car park plans.

Arthur and I have had enquiries about this, it seems opinion is divided on whether or not plans should go ahead. It would be good to keep on continuing to know what people think. We will be there.

There’s also frequently asked questions at the bottom of the below link. Please let us know if anything not clear or with any feedback, we can forward on to Northwich Town Council or email them directly.

Thursday 23rd October 10am - 7pm

Please also note, this hasn’t been submitted to CWAC planning yet. This is a consultation before any plans submitted, for discussion with community.

I am also only relaying this news and it would be good to hear people’s thoughts!

https://www.mcht.nhs.uk/news-and-events/news/proposed-verdin-park-car-park-come-see-plans?fbclid=IwdGRjcAM5IBBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHtPRyqX8_wHlb4XQxpvsLSxIkruUpKHsqbRW8y3Xg1bgyCH65zh0mgxsLVz0_aem_ynKjFZa7biW7Xs3TCTI3wQ

The public are invited to see and comment on the proposed plans to develop a new car park in a small section of Verdin Park in Northwich, which would result in more spaces being available for patients at the Victoria Infirmary (VIN).