Warrington plea to stop city status bid rejected

A plea to stop Warrington bidding for city status has been rejected.

A petition calling for the project to be abandoned was considered at a meeting of the Cheshire town's council scrutiny committee.

It was signed by more than 1,800 people who are simply "happy" with Warrington remaining a town, highlighting the "strength of opposition" to the bid.

The committee rejected a motion to bring the petition to full council and no further action will be taken.

The petition was set up by Richard Buttrey following the submission of an application to the civic honours competition, which is part of the Queen's platinum jubilee celebrations, following approval last year.

The petition stated: "For the avoidance of doubt we're happy that Warrington remains a town. This petition seeks to let the council know the strength of opposition to a bid."

Speaking at the meeting Mr Buttrey said the consultation was a "very poor one" and "failed to demonstrate" support of becoming a city, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

But council leader Russ Bowden said the bid was the "right thing", despite city status not being a "universal" desire.

Mr Bowden said a major part of the application was the "honour of having city status bestowed on us" by Her Majesty the Queen.

He said it would also be a recognition of the "incredible journey" Warrington had undertaken over the last 50 years.

He added that "win or lose", the bid had raised the town's profile.

Councillor Wendy Maisey, a member of the committee, said she believed the petition should go to a full council meeting to be considered as it is "the democratic and the correct thing to do".

Fellow member Peter Walker said to withdraw the bid at this stage would be "very damaging" and would get some "very negative publicity".

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