Need a new plan for Sandbach Market (From Crewe Guardian)

Need a new plan for Sandbach Market

10:32am Monday 19th December 2011 in Letters

SANDBACH Market and Town Hall are important to the community of Sandbach.

They have been neglected and run down for many years by the Conservative-controlled Cheshire East Council and before it Congleton Borough Council.

Now that Sandbach Town Council has decided to take over the running of Sandbach Town Hall and Sandbach Market, we hope that the dramatic decline witnessed in Sandbach Market over the past 10 years can be reversed.

We have serious misgivings over the business plans (or lack of them) made by Sandbach Town Council and the minimal financial support from Cheshire East Council, but now that the decision to go ahead has been taken we feel that it is important to work together to make a success of running the town hall, indoor market and outdoor market.

It is good for local services to be run locally for the people of the town, but it is important to realise that Sandbach Town Council has never done anything like this before.

It’s a big project and local council tax payers will have to pay an increased precept through their council tax.

Sandbach Town Council will now have to work hard to produce a detailed business plan before April 1 when the services are taken over.

The business plan should identify new users for the town hall facilities, show how traders and shoppers will be attracted back to Sandbach market and set out the steps that will be taken to improve services for the people of Sandbach.

Clrs Sam Corcoran, Ursula Griffiths and Richard Hoffmann