A PETITION calling for the council’s city status bid to be abandoned has secured more than 1,100 signatures.

Following cabinet approval, the council is submitting an application to the civic honours competition for city status, as part of the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

However, some residents in the borough are against the move.

A petition calling for the bid to be abandoned, set up by Richard Buttrey, had secured 1,194 signatures as of November 23.

He said: “There are surely more pressing matters for the council.

“Accounts haven’t been signed for four years, borrowing rates are on the increase, the council debt is going on £2.3 billion and there are concerns about risky investments like Together Energy, Redwood and THG and a major new local plan to navigate which will result in a huge housing estate with the distinctive villages losing their identity and character turning the town into a dormitory city for Manchester and Liverpool.

“Make no mistake, with visions of all the additional council tax this will bring in, city status will be used by the council as a reason to push further development.

“Instead of spending effort and money on a city status bid, let’s concentrate on the thousands of families in need of social housing first.

“These things are not just about economics. It goes to the heart of what people intuitively feel for all sorts of softer reasons than pure arithmetic.

“When the public have been consulted properly via a referendum and say yes then that’s the time to make the case for becoming a city.”

The petition ‘seeks to let the council know the strength of opposition’ to a bid.

It says: “We the signatories request the council abandon work on and don’t submit a bid for city status.

“For the avoidance of doubt we’re happy that Warrington remains a town.”

To sign the petition head to smartsurvey.co.uk/s/wbcepetition175728784.