Portal:Cheshire/In the news/Archive
Past news items featured at the Cheshire Portal or at WikiNews. To suggest a current news item for inclusion, use the suggestions page
2021[edit]
1 November: Warrington council announces plans to bid for city status in 2022. BBC
29 October: The mayor of Crewe announces plans to bid for city status in 2022. BBC
13–14 October: Prince Edward visits Chester and opens a Fire Service training centre in Winsford. Chester Standard, Cheshire Lieutenancy
8 October: Castle Street shopping area in Macclesfield reopens after refurbishment. Cheshire East
4 October: Restoration of the grade-I-listed Bridgegate, part of Chester city walls, is completed. Cheshire West & Chester
25 September: A bronze frieze by the sculptor Tom Murphy is unveiled in Warrington, as a memorial to the band Viola Beach. BBC
9 September: The fifth stage of the Tour of Britain cycle race takes place in Cheshire, starting at Alderley Park and finishing in Warrington. Tour of Britain
24 July: The grade-II-listed Crewe Market Hall formally reopens after refurbishment. Cheshire East
15 July: Crewe, Runcorn and Warrington are awarded potential funding under the "Town Deal" government scheme. UK Government
26 February: The Silver Jubilee Bridge (pictured) between Runcorn and Widnes reopens to traffic as a toll bridge after three years' refurbishment.
11 February: Phase 2a of HS2, from the West Midlands to Crewe, is approved by Parliament. BBC
25 January: The trial of Wood Treatment Ltd and its director for corporate manslaughter over the Wood Flour Mills explosion of July 2015 in Bosley, in which four employees were killed, opens at Chester Crown Court. BBC
21 January: Widespread flooding occurs in the north of the county during Storm Christoph, particularly affecting Northwich. BBC
2020[edit]
26 December: As part of a national town-centre recovery plan, Winsford is allocated nearly £10 million in funding and Crewe is provisionally allocated £14 million. Guardian
24 November: The Crewe Town Clock, known as "Big Bill", is taken down, as part of the demolition of the Royal Arcade in Crewe, including the clock tower. Crewe News
11 November: After an investigation into increased neonatal mortality at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015–16, a nurse is charged with 8 counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder. Guardian
4 November: Cheshire Wildlife Trust reintroduces a pair of Scottish beavers near Hatchmere. BBC 1, 2
3 November: Demolition of the Royal Arcade in Crewe commences, to include the Town Clock tower. Cheshire East
2 November: An outbreak of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza at a farm in Frodsham requires the slaughter of 13,000 birds. BBC
27 October: Warrington enters tier 3 restrictions in an attempt to control the local transmission of SARS CoV-2. BBC
24 October: The Monsoon Forest area of Chester Zoo reopens after a fire in December 2018. BBC
22 October: A review headed by the former judge David Pearl has found that the late Victor Whitsey, who served as Bishop of Chester (1974–81), committed multiple acts of sexual abuse against young people and others between 1966 and 1981. BBC, Church of England
12 October: Macclesfield Town football club is expelled from the National League, after going into liquidation in September. BBC
12 October: Halton is included in the tier 3 COVID-19 restrictions imposed on the Liverpool area. BBC 1, 2
22 September: A report includes Hare Hill in Over Alderley and Quarry Bank Mill in Styal among 93 National Trust properties that are linked with slavery or colonialism. BBC
9 September: A Roman gaming counter in bone and other artefacts are found in excavations at Northgate, Chester. BBC
27 July: David Artell of Crewe Alexandra F.C. is recognised as League Two football manager of the year, after the team is promoted to League One. BBC
15 July: Mark Tanner is confirmed as Bishop of Chester.
3 April: East Cheshire NHS Trust requests donations of medical scrubs on Twitter for Macclesfield Hospital. Guardian
17–19 March: The Storyhouse theatre in Chester, the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe, and The Brindley theatre in Runcorn all close for a temporary period.
18 March: Cases of novel coronavirus are confirmed across Cheshire, including Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Warrington and Halton. UK government
14 March: A case of novel coronavirus is confirmed in Cheshire East, and cases have also been confirmed in Cheshire West and Chester (12 March) and Warrington (11 March), but not in Halton. UK government
13 March: The Queen's planned visit to Crewe and Macclesfield on 19 March has been postponed owing to the coronavirus pandemic; cases have been confirmed in Cheshire West and Chester (12 March) and Warrington (11 March), but not in Cheshire East and Halton. BBC, UK government
12 March: Two cases of novel coronavirus are confirmed in Cheshire West and Chester, after the first case in Cheshire was confirmed on 11 March in Warrington. Public Health England
11 March: A case of novel coronavirus is confirmed in Warrington, the first in Cheshire. Knutsford Guardian
10 March: Unilever announces that it plans to close its washing powder plant in Warrington, threatening more than 120 jobs. BBC
25 February: Cransley School in Great Budworth closes for a week to reduce any possible risk of novel coronavirus spreading after pupils returning from a holiday in Bormio, northern Italy had respiratory symptoms. BBC
18 February: Stanlow Refinery at Ellesmere Port is one of two British plants to share a government grant to begin manufacturing hydrogen as a low-emission industrial fuel. BBC
30 January: The Unilever washing powder plant in Warrington is under threat of closure, potentially affecting more than a hundred jobs. BBC
21 January: Halton Transport, which provides bus services in Runcorn, Warrington and Widnes, has entered liquidation after making losses of £620,000 in 2019. BBC, Halton Borough Council
16 January: A stretch of Chester's Roman walls collapses due to excavations from adjacent building work. BBC
14 January: Stanlow and Thornton, near the Stanlow Refinery, was the joint least-used railway station in Britain in 2018–19. BBC
12 January: A fire badly damages the late-19th-century mansion, Tilstone House, in Tarporley. BBC
10 January: Ofsted rates Cheshire East Council's Child Protection services as requiring further improvement, after a negative review in 2013. BBC
3 January: A major fire occurs at Northwich Outdoor Market. BBC
2019[edit]
19 December: Macclesfield Town is fined six points by the English Football League after leaving players' salaries unpaid and failing to play a League Two match against Crewe Alexandra. BBC
16 December: Warrington West station opens in Chapelford, near Great Sankey, Warrington. BBC
12 December: In the general election, the Conservative party gains Crewe and Nantwich and Warrington South, and holds Congleton, Eddisbury, Macclesfield and Tatton, while the Labour party holds City of Chester, Ellesmere Port and Neston, Halton, Warrington North and Weaver Vale.
9 December: Chester-born actor Daniel Craig is nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the murder mystery, Knives Out.
2 December: A trial over an explosion at a mill in Bosley in July 2015, which killed four employees, commences in Stockport. BBC
8 October: Sophie, Countess of Wessex visits Birchwood, Sandiway and Tarporley. Cheshire Lieutenancy
1 October: Keith Sinclair, Bishop of Birkenhead, becomes acting Anglican Bishop of Chester, after Peter Forster's retirement. Diocese of Chester
29 September: Princess Anne visits Chester and inspects the company of HMS Albion. Cheshire Lieutenancy
24 September: O' Magic Power of Bleakness by Mark Leckey, an exhibition featuring a full-sized replica of an M53 motorway bridge in Cheshire, opens at Tate Britain. BBC, Tate
4 September: Cheshire West and Chester Council approves a plan to move its headquarters to Ellesmere Port. BBC
15 July: The Bank of England announces that the mathematician Alan Turing, who died in Wilmslow, has been chosen as the theme for the new £50 note. BBC
7 July: Jodrell Bank Observatory is named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. UNESCO
27 June: A major fire occurs in a warehouse in the Golden Triangle Industrial Estate, Widnes. BBC
18 June: Cheshire police and crime commissioner David Keane calls for the police and crime panel's chair to resign, after the latter criticised Cheshire Constabulary's deputy chief constable for wearing a rainbow lanyard in support of the LGBT+ community on duty. BBC
13 June: Over 4,000 greater Bermuda land snails, previously believed to have been extinct, are returned to Bermuda after a captive breeding programme at Chester Zoo. BBC
12 June: Severe flooding in the Nantwich and Crewe area blocks roads and disrupts the Crewe–Chester and Chester–Shrewsbury railway lines. BBC
27 May: In the European Parliament election, 3 Brexit party, 2 Labour, 2 Liberal Democrat and 1 Green are elected in the North West. Guardian
22 May: Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester councils elect Labour leaders – Cheshire East's first – after no party gained an overall majority on either council in recent elections. BBC
19 May: An engine fire occurs on a train at Willaston, near Crewe. BBC
13 May: Labour comes to an agreement with independent councillors to lead Cheshire East Council, with a transitional cabinet. Cheshire Live
3 May: Tommy Robinson of the English Defence League has a milkshake thrown over him in Warrington, while campaigning in the European Parliament election. BBC
2–3 May: In the local council elections, the Conservatives lose control of Cheshire East, and Labour lose control of Cheshire West and Chester but hold Halton. BBC 1, 2, 3
25 April: A man from Chorley, Lancashire, admits attempting to disrupt Cheshire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Police with distributed denial of service attacks in 2018. BBC
24 April: Peter Forster, the Church of England's longest-serving bishop, announces his retirement as Bishop of Chester at the end of September; he is the subject of an official review after the conviction of a retired Cheshire vicar for historical sex offences in March. Diocese of Chester, Telegraph, Church Times
17 April: The Cheshire Civil War Centre opens at Nantwich Museum. Nantwich Museum
15 April: Consultation starts on Warrington's draft local plan. Warrington Borough Council
April: Candidates are announced for all seats in the borough council elections in Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester, to be held on 2 May. Cheshire West & Chester, Cheshire East
March: The Axis Arts Centre in Crewe closes, owing to Manchester Metropolitan University withdrawing from its Crewe campus in summer. Axis Arts Centre 1,2
19 March: Middlewich residents reject adoption of the proposed neighbourhood plan in a referendum, only the third settlement in England to do so. Cheshire East
7 March: A retired Church of England priest pleads guilty to sexual assaults that occurred during the 1970s, when he was vicar of Christ Church, Latchford. Independent, Church Times
6 March: Plans for a major redevelopment of Chester Racecourse are rejected by Cheshire West and Chester council. BBC
22 February: Widnes Vikings rugby league club goes under administration.
8 February: Darren Martland is confirmed as Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary. Cheshire PCC
7 February: Horse racing across Britain is suspended after horses from a stable in Cholmondeley test positive for equine influenza. BBC, Cheshire Live
3 February: Demonstrators rally outside Cheshire Constabulary headquarters in Winsford, demanding that the police take more action over illegal fox hunting. BBC
8 January: Plans for sand extraction from farmland at Cranage, near Holmes Chapel, are approved by Cheshire West and Chester council. BBC