Tonight (Monday 15 February) marked the first in a series of community meetings aimed at developing draft options for future leisure, health, wellbeing and library services in Frodsham.

The meeting followed November's Cheshire West and Chester Council Cabinet meeting, where a new 'hub and spoke' model for the borough's sports facilities was approved, and it was suggested that Frodsham Leisure Centre would stay open 'on a limited basis in the short term'.

The discussion focused on the need to engage the interest and skills of members of the community in order to take full advantage of the opportunities already on offer.

"Tonight is a very special community session to kickstart our conversation about the future wellbeing and library service in Frodsham," Council leader and Cabinet member for Poverty and Wellbeing, Louise Gittins, said.

"I see this as a fantastic opportunity for us all to work together for the future of the area.

"I'm keen that we all work together and have an equal role. This is the start of a journey, and of lots of positive conservations.

Cllr Gittins went on to praise the 'passion' displayed by residents in their responses to the Brio 'Shaping the Future' consultation on the future of Frodsham's sports facilities, and encouraged participants to channel that strength of feeling into constructive plans for the future.

Attendees also heard from representatives from Helsby Community Sports Club, Frodsham Juniors Football Club and Runcorn Rowing Club, who discussed their ongoing development of new sports and changing facilities for their members.

Runcorn Rowing Club captain, George Perrin, said: "We're very excited to be part of this group and very encouraged by what's been happening locally."

Over the last two to three months, the Club has raised nearly £15,000 towards an application to build a new 11,000 foot boathouse, gym and changing facility.

Alan McKie from Helsby Community Sports Club added that the village's £4.4million clubhouse development was made possible through community effort.

"The reason we have managed it is because we have kept the cost down. I would ask people to think about the bigger picture. It can all be done with people working together and keeping costs down so that the community can afford it," he said.

Frodsham ward Councillor, Lynn Riley, commented: "What you've seen tonight is just a little snapshot of the power of local communities to find solutions.

"Although the hub and spoke model adopted by Cheshire West is great, I'm not totally convinced that your version of it will be the best for us round here.

"The challenge that I would want to bring through the working group is to see how we can build on the immense community capacity that exists here, so that the limited amount of funding can go as far as it possibly can do.

"Unfortunately Frodsham does not currently have the hub that is needed for all those activities."

This view was seconded by a member of the public, who commented: "There are so many small clubs fighting for the facilities at Frodsham, including volleyball, gymnastics, athletics, badminton...proof that a facility is required in the centre of Frodsham."

Another attendee claimed that the focus of talks should not be on multi-million pound projects, but rather on making Frodsham's existing leisure centre space more valuable to more people.

They suggested that instead of emphasising its sport provision, the centre should diversify to provide social, police and community services as well.

A project group will now be formed to produce draft options for the future of Frodsham's sports and leisure provision.

The plans will then be reviewed by Cheshire West Cabinet later in the year.

To register your interest in becoming part of the project group, please email [email protected] by 1 March.

Community organisation representatives should be limited to one per group.