WINSFORD Town Council is celebrating after it earned a prestigious award that recognises just how good a service staff and councillors provide.

Winsford Mayor Clr Nick Harris and deputy mayor Clr Don Beckett announced at a press conference last week that the council's bid for accreditation as a Quality Town or Parish Council had been successful.

The award from the Association of Town and Parish Councils means that Winsford is one of just 42 out of 8,500 councils across the country to have received the honour.

Clr Beckett said: "I do think it's a way forward of improving the quality of services we can offer to residents in Winsford.

"We are deserving of quality status because we are fully elected as a council - all 14 councillors were elected in a democratic way and we have four fully trained, full-time staff."

And both Clr Harris and Clr Beckett said that the award could mean the town council gets new powers devolved to it in the future.

These could include the control of markets, street cleaning, looking after footpaths and highway verges, litter collection, road safety measures and development control.

And with a big local government shake-up later this year that could see Cheshire County Council or Vale Royal Borough Council abolished, the town council could see itself significantly strengthened.

Clr Harris said: "The quality status will certainly aid us because other councils will not be able to deal with those powers - and we can prove that we have quality status."

Clr Beckett highlighted some of the good work the council already does in the town, by providing free milk to every primary school, and described how allotments had been made accessible to disabled people with the aid of raised soil beds.

rfraser@guardiangrp.co.uk