News in Frodsham

Budget plans which would see Frodsham and Helsby residents pay 4.99 per cent more council tax from April have moved a step closer to final sign-off.

At a meeting of Cheshire West and Chester Council's Cabinet this morning (Wednesday, February 10), councillors voted to send the authority's budget for full council approval later his month.

Cheshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, the body responsible for the county's coronavirus vaccine rollout, is urging any local over-80s still waiting for their first dose to contact their GP.

The NHS is planning to vaccinate everyone in the top four priority groups – including older care home residents and staff, everyone aged over 70, all frontline NHS and care staff and all those who are clinically extremely vulnerable - by the middle of February.

People who cannot work from home are warned to be on their guard against the spread of Covid-19 after recent research highlighted workplaces as virus hotspots in Cheshire West and Chester.

Information gathered by Cheshire West and Chester Council suggests that a high level of positive cases can be linked directly or indirectly to workplaces as people pick up the infection at work and then spread it to their household.

Parish council meetings in Cheshire have come into the national spotlight in recent days.

Not only has a viral clip of a Handforth Parish Council meeting gained more than five million views on Twitter, but coverage has also focused on a Penketh parish councillor's explosive rant from last year.

This week, coronavirus cases in Frodsham have remained largely stable, while in the surrounding villages they fell considerably.

Frodsham recorded 21 new infections in the seven days up to February 3, bringing the town's rolling rate back up to 229 per 100,000 residents: just above the average for Cheshire West.

Local development network Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), has recently launched a 'Village Halls Domesday Book', aimed at celebrating the work of rural organisations across the country.

Nearly 400 village halls have signed up so far, including information about their charity's history, their response to the pandemic, and their hopes for the future in this compelling online record.

Highways England have notified the public in the last hour that one lane of the M56 is closed around Junction 12 of the M56 (Liverpool Airport, Runcorn, Widnes), following a collision.

However, more recently there have been reports that all traffic is stopped at a rolling road block.

A clip from Frodsham Town Council's January Budget Setting meeting has been featured on North West Tonight.

The clip, in which Town Clerk Jo O'Donoghue moves former Councillor Lucy Sumner into the virtual waiting room, was included in a report about a now infamous Handforth Parish Council meeting, which went viral on Friday (5 February).

This week, as lockdown dragged into its second month, there was a bit of excitement at Frodsham's Hover Force.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, a small crew from CBBC's Blue Peter, including presenters Richie Driss and Adam Beales, came to try their hand at some of the centre's adrenaline-filled activities with Frodsham locals and Hover Force instructors, Megan Lovett and Jake Martindale.

Unicorns? In Helsby? Surely not...

Unlikely as it may seem, your eyes are not deceiving you!