A Frodsham Town Council Amenities working group have agreed a proposal that would see the Green Gates area of Ship Street reinstated as a park and managed jointly by Frodsham Town Council and the Green Gates Community Project.

In September 2020, an options appraisal working group put forward several options for the future of Green Gates, which had at one stage been involved in loose plans for a 'land swap' with the Meadow Court retirement apartments complex, which would have seen the building of 22 homes on the park site.

When Weaver Vale Housing Trust rejected this idea, the options appraisal working group presented the following proposals:

1. Green Gates Park land would remain a multi-generational recreational area, funded by Frodsham Town Council and the Green Gates Community Group.

2. Green Gates Park land would remain a multi-generational recreational area, with a small community hub.

3. Green Gates Park would remain as a multi-generational recreational area, with a multi-purpose community hub. This permanent, purpose built facility might be able to host Council offices and/or other public sector organisations, such as community nursing.

4. The area would be sold to a housing association for affordable homes, but with a stipulation that the development would include a play area. Revenue generated would be invested in developing and improving Saltworks.

5. No action would be taken.

However, in yesterday's (Tuesday) Amenities working group meeting, Cllr Bernie Wade, who is part of the options appraisal working group and Green Gates Community Project, said: "We no longer wish to have the five options. We all think, as a working group, that it is much better to have two options: either to sell or to reinstate the land as a park."

Cllr Ryan McKeown added: "I think we've done enough around this options appraisal now."

Referencing the £10,000 sum that the Council had committed to sourcing professional assistance in outlining and costing potential plans, he continued: "I think we should look at giving the land in trust to the Green Gates Community working group on a fixed term contract, so that they can go and look for alternative funding sources.

"Rather than spending £10,000 on architects or proposals for options appraisals, we could be setting them up with £10,000 to start buying play equipment."

Cllr Wade replied: "I don't necessarily agree with the idea of handing it over to us in trust when all the other play areas in the village are Frodsham Town Council-funded.

"There is funding out there that we can apply for as a group that the Town Council can't apply for and that's why we propose to work hand in hand. We will go for funding but [the Council] will put money into it as well.

"Why shouldn't Waterside residents and children have a park funded by the Council? They pay as much money as everywhere else in Frodsham."

Cllr Pauline Lowrie agreed with this position, stating: "[Green Gates] should be a park for Waterside. Frodsham Town Council should fund it jointly with the Green Gates Committee and this £10,000 would be a very good start towards it.

"We don't need more housing down there: it's too congested already and the children [living there] lack facilities.

The working group then agreed that, once they have confirmed that their plan for the site is legally possible, they will put a single option forward to their fellow councillors: reinstate Green Gates as a park under the shared responsibility of Frodsham Town Council and the Green Gates Community Project.

This recommendation will be presented to the Amenities Committee and then Council in July.