A new Councillor has been co-opted to sit on Great Sankey Parish Council.

Nikki Cotter was accepted as the new Parish Councillor for Central Ward of Great Sankey due to a vacancy arising from Councillor Linda Butler’s resignation.

Peter Watson, Chairman of Great Sankey Parish Council said “We are delighted to welcome Nikki Cotter onto the Parish Council; we feel she will be an excellent addition”

Nikki Cotter said “I’m delighted to accept the position on the Parish Council and look forward to working alongside my fellow Councillors to respond to the needs of our local community and engage in projects which make Great Sankey a wonderful place to live.”

Co-option is the process by which casual vacancies on the Parish Council may be filled if an election is not requested by electors following notification of the vacancy. Casual vacancies occur when a Councillor leaves office due to resignation, death, or disqualification.

The Parish Council meet the second Wednesday of each month at Tim Parry Community Centre off Wroxham Road at 7pm.

Since March 2020, the Sankey Community has achieved so much together

The COVID-19 pandemic reached England in early March 2020, and our community came together delivering over 10,000 ‘Good Neighbour’ leaflets. They set up a social media group, opened a community centre as a food hub, and delivered over seven and a half thousand food bags across the Parish of Great Sankey for our elderly and vulnerable. Lead by Cllr Amanda King and volunteers, supported by the Parish Chair, Cllr Peter Watson, the Parish Council and Warrington West Church.

The first food support hub started its deliveries on the 21^st of March and continued for twenty-one weeks, including supporting the various nursing homes across the area with TV’s, water jugs, PPE, and some food stock. Additionally, support was given to sheltered accommodation areas along with Warrington Housing Association, Warrington Voluntary Action, Warrington Wellbeing teams and Warrington West Church, who also helped set up a telephone befriending service.

Over the twenty-one weeks from March to August, the community came together to offer milk, eggs, fresh fruit, veg and long-life food. We shared many events including.

• Giving Easter eggs to many residents and local schools,
• VE Day special celebrations with cakes and music for the community,
• The Big Breakfast – an idea by the volunteer admins Amanda King, David Simm, Lindsay Baker and Chris Hansen Garnett, to link up with the Shannon Bradshaw community café charity and local policing PCSO’S to deliver hundreds of cooked breakfasts,
• Delivering afternoon tea in August with jams and scones,
• delivering plants kindly donated from Christine Brophy when garden centres were closed,
• The Christmas Project saw hundreds of Christmas hampers delivered with support from Warrington Open Doors at Christmas (WODAC).

All of this has been achievable by working with Great Sankey Parish Council, many community volunteers, local Councillors and local businesses such as; Abbey Eggs, Harding Packings,  Carters Craft Cardboards, Traditions Sandwiches, Hurst Bros, Snoutwood Trotters, Co-Op, Morrison’s Warrington Community,  Warrington Disability Partnership, Warrington Food Bank, Chapelford Farm,  Seven Woods Pub, the Butchers Arms  local  Warrington West Scouts, Pastor Ayo and his community from the gospel mission, Mo Hussain from the Warrington Ethic Communities Association,  WODAC and The Hayloft.

Special thanks are also given to Heather Copperwheat, Mark Wilson and Gill Wilson for help with setting up the befriending service, on line funding and grant applications; local child minder, Victoria Egan, for providing weekly fresh baked cakes; local family Karen, Grahame, Sam, and Rosie Pike for making masks, cupcakes and building a post box to collect hundreds of handmade letters and pictures to go out with the parcels bringing joy to many isolated in their homes; local British Gas Engineers and Managers who came together to collect and deliver prescriptions to homes, and all of the community champions who stepped up.

Cllr Amanda King said,

“This community has pulled together, hundreds of volunteers gave up their time to deliver leaflets, check on their neighbours, collect, pack, prep and deliver food and essential goods free to our elderly and vulnerable. The speed at which operations were set up meant we could reach people fast; liaising with housing associations, Council wellbeing team, using local knowledge and street volunteers to identify who needed help. We regularly delivered over two hundred parcels a week, sometimes working  seven days  a week. The achievement has been heart-warming and humbling; the compassion from our community is outstanding. Together, Great Sankey has proven that community spirit is well and truly alive!”

The volunteer group Good Neighbours WA5, with the support from the Parish Council, are still working on a smaller emergency scale from Hood Lane Community Centre. We are open each Sunday from two until five in the afternoon until March as we head out of the Covid-19 pandemic. If anyone needs support for basic long-life food, they can apply via the Parish Council or Cllr Amanda King.

The Good Neighbours WA5 group covers all areas within the WA5 postcode and have a second hub in Penketh run by Lindsay Baker, David Simm and Christine Hansen Garnett and are supported by other Parish Councils.

(article written by Cllr Amanda King)

The new Vicarage Community Park is set to bloom this spring thanks to Great Sankey Parish Council and Warrington Borough Council’s £160k investment to the former field off Parsonage Way adjoining Liverpool Road.

Great Sankey Parish Council and Warrington Borough Council have been working together to lay the groundwork to develop the field off Parsonage Way into an accessible landscaped community parkland.

Work on improving the drainage, replacing the boundary fence, installing a new pathway, and seating has been completed.

Tony Williams, Vice Chair of the Parish Council said

“The Parish Council is delighted to finally see this project come to fruition. We have encountered many hurdles in trying to get this project off the ground, but despite this we have kept moving forward and to now see the formally waterlogged field becoming a landscaped community park is wonderful.

The planting scheme will create a sensory experience for visitors; the sight, smell and touch of the plants have all been carefully thought about to create a peaceful and relaxing experience.

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted all of our lives and made us reflect on our personal circumstances. One of the areas it has highlighted is the importance for us all to have access to green spaces. Loneliness can have such a detrimental effect on your health, we hope that this area can become a place where people can meet, take time out and chat”

Local landscape contractor, EDR Landscape Management, has been responsible for the landscaping element of the park and will continue with the on-going maintenance.

David Ramsbottom, owner of EDR Landscape Management said

”As a local, family run Grounds Maintenance Contractor, employing people from the local area, we are absolutely delighted to be involved with the development of such a fantastic new public open space.

My team have worked extremely hard to help create an area that will provide an essential space for informal recreation and relaxation. It has been brilliant to receive so many positive comments about the scheme from local residents, particularly whilst undertaking work to plant the hedges and the raised beds.

We are really looking forward to continuing to work with the Parish Council to maintain Vicarage Community Park to the high standards that Great Sankey deserves. ”

The new arch entrance to the park was manufactured by local steel fabricator Cromwall Fabrications. The design features three salmon, which are the heraldic arms of the Parish of Great Sankey. A history board detailing the full information will be added further along in the project.

Please follow this link for a full report – Warrington Guardian

The Parish Council can also confirm that our Chairman addressed the meeting, a copy of his statement can be found below.

The Chairman spoke in opposition, mainly on the grounds of inconvenience to local residents as a result of significant increased levels of traffic.

None of the external speakers were allowed to partake in the meeting or ask questions, with a maximum of seven minutes for previously submitted statements.

St Helens Planning Application

P/2020/0061/HYBR

 Reference number 271007
Address to Planning Committee, Tues 27^th October 2020

Peter Watson, Chair of Great Sankey Parish Council, speaking on behalf of the Parish Council,  to object to the approval of the planning application. Great Sankey Parish Council has already submitted two written objections to this application but wished to speak tonight as well because of the strength of feeling in the local community about the proposed development. Considerable concerns have been expressed to ourselves,  by local residents in respect of the increased levels of traffic within the residential area created by the current and ongoing development on Omega and the subsequent inconvenience this has caused. In particular, these concerns have highlighted inappropriate use of local roads and parking by heavy goods vehicles. It is also a matter of record that the Parish Council have never previously objected to developments on Omega as we recognised the benefits it brought to the Warrington Area. We have sought to work with the local Council to address resident’s concerns. In respect of this application however, the Parish Council are of the view, the existing footprint of Omega South is such that development is at optimum level. Subsequently, we contend, that if  approved, the increased traffic levels will be  detrimental to local residents.

The Omega site, on its southern boundary, is juxtaposed by a large urban residential area. This is still expanding and many of the occupants are car owners who have been attracted to the area by the ease of a daily commute utilising the nearby motorway network. This proposed development which includes space for 383 HGV/trailer parking spaces and over 500 car parking spaces will, in the view of the Parish Council, significantly exacerbate existing traffic management issues.

It is also the case that plans for the Omega South site have been amended with some housing being replaced by two further large warehouses which have been built to let and are situated close to the M62 J8 roundabout. Once occupied, this will lead to a further increase in HGV traffic movement.

Traffic management has been covered in the applicant’s statement and the St Helens Local Plan recognises the need for improved public transport for access to the area, which would hopefully reduce car use for travel to work at the site. We have highlighted the fact that there is no current public transport to the site from St Helens or Warrington. Mersey Travel have responded to the consultation stating that approval will require a bespoke travel plan with a financially supported bus service. There is no indication in any of the documents as far as we can see as to how this will be funded in perpetuity.

It is our view, supported by the Mersey Travel comments, that the overwhelming majority of employees will travel to the site by private car. The numbers of cars parked at existing premises within the site, we submit reinforces this assertion. There are only two vehicle access points for all traffic, 1) via J8 of the M62; 2) from the A57, Liverpool Road via Lingley Green Avenue/Whittle Avenue and Omega Boulevard.

Great Sankey Parish Council has interpreted Section 4.6.2 of the St Helens Local Plan as stating that it is Warrington Borough Council who are seeking the development to meet their own employment needs. We are aware however that, when discussed by Warrington Borough Council’s Development Committee on 5^th August, considerable reservations were raised in respect of aspects of the proposal which have been included in comprehensive correspondence forwarded to yourselves.

Finally, as part of our submission dated 27^th May 2020, we enclosed a copy of an article from the Liverpool Echo dated 13^th October 2015. This confirmed the building of a new distribution warehouse at Gilmoss, Liverpool for T.J. Morris. We would expect that the earliest this could have opened would have been in late 2016. The work required for this application on Omega must have commenced in 2019, presumably on the basis that the current three-year old premises no longer meet their needs. We submit that, to a layperson, this suggests a lack of business planning skills which causes us to have concerns as to whether this  proposal will meet their long-term requirements. Any further additional future development will add further to the inconvenience of local residents.

In concluding, we ask that you consider in your deliberations, whether it is appropriate for this development to proceed, knowing that the only access which can be achieved is via the already extremely busy road network of a neighbouring authority which is already causing traffic problems for local residents.

If this planning application is approved there is no scope for ameliorating the additional inconvenience and congestion on the local road network which, because of the site access issues, will only contribute to a diminution in the overall wellbeing of our residents. For this reason, we would ask that the application be rejected.

Peter Watson

Chair of Great Sankey Parish Council

Great Sankey’s newest park has been named Vicarage Community Park.

Great Sankey Parish Council ran a competition asking the community to help them name a field off Parsonage Way adjoining the main A57.

The field is being transformed by the Parish Council and Warrington Borough Council into a more accessible community parkland.

Peter Watson Chair of Great Sankey Parish Council said

“Suggestions for names had been shortlisted from a previous public consultation and the community were asked for their help by voting for their favourite name. The votes were counted, and it was a draw between two out of the three suggestions. The Council decided to combine the two winning names and Vicarage Community Park was the outcome.

We’re delighted with the name; we feel that it reflects on the local history of the site and also the use of the field.”

Work on improving the drainage has now been completed, new railings, and pathway have also been installed.

The next phase will include an ornate arch entrance, seating, and landscaping.

Great Sankey Parish Council has re-opened its doors to the five Community Centres that they manage.

The Parish Council has worked very hard in implementing the strict government guidelines relating to coronavirus, including installing hand sanitising dispensers and increasing the daily cleaning regime.

During the COVID Pandemic the Parish Council gave free use of  Hood Manor Community Centre to a community volunteer support group that used the Centre as a community hub to help the vulnerable and elderly that were self-isolating by delivering shopping and care packages.

Karen Carter Parish Clerk to Great Sankey Parish Council said

“We have worked extremely hard to re-open the Community Centres to our existing groups, we have all worked together to ensure that safe practices have been implemented, to keep our staff and users of the Community Centres safe”

“Unfortunately , because of the increase in cleaning we have been unable to welcome all of our groups back at this present time, but hope this will be a temporary measure. The Council will be regularly reviewing Government guidance and will make any changes necessary in operating procedures”

Great Sankey Parish Council manage Hood Manor Community Centre, Tim Parry Community Centre, Hood Lane Community Centre, Whittle Hall Community Centre, and Bewsey Barn Community Centre.