Knutsford Town Centre Masterplan

The feasibility of a range of changes to Knutsford Town Centre will be explored as part of the Town Council’s work to develop a masterplan for Knutsford Town Centre.

The feasibility of a range of changes to Knutsford Town Centre will be explored as part of the Town Council’s work to develop a masterplan for Knutsford Town Centre.

Building on the work of the From Top to Bottom Street report, which was considered in a public consulted in 2020, the Town Council has appointed a team of consultants to develop the proposals further. The work includes:

1. Modelling the impact of changes to town centre traffic flow from restricting through traffic and creating public squares
2. Exploring the cost of making these changes and developing a better understanding of the impact works would have on the town
3. Exploring the cost and impact of upgrading Moorside to an adoptable highway standard
4. Exploring the cost and traffic impact of creating an new access to Princess Street from King Edward Road
5. Exploring the feasibility of creating an attractive multi-storey car park on Tatton Street car park
6. Exploring the costs of creating public squares in Canute Place and Princess Street 
7. Developing different options for improving the pedestrian experience in the town centre whilst retaining vehicular access

Each of these areas are ideas put forward in the From Top to Bottom Street plan and the output of this work will enable the Town Council to determine if they have merit and could form the basis of a masterplan.

The output of the 2020 consultation had been to call on Cheshire East Council to undertake these feasibility studies directly, but to date they have been unable to allocate the resource needed to take them forward.

Cllr Christopher Gray, Chairman of the Town Council’s Town Centre Committee said:

“We know that creating a plan for improving the town centre is one of our residents’ top priorities and its therefore one of our top priorities too. This work will take us a step forward and better understand the impact of a range of potential changes”.

The studies are being funded by the Shared Prosperity Fund, a UK Government Levelling Up fund administered by Cheshire East Council. The Town Council was successful in bidding for £80,000 to fund these studies in a competitive funding process.

The output of this work will lead to a public consultation later in 2024 and be used by the council’s Town Centre Masterplan working group to develop the masterplan. 

The Town Council is also looking for those interested in helping develop the wider Town Centre Masterplan to join its working group, anyone interested can email: 

townclerk@kntusfordtowncouncil.gov.uk

Pictured - Princess Street in Knutsford.