02/06/2026
๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐.
But Labour Cllrs, please, please stop trying to spin this as a โGood News Storyโ
A spade is a spade.
The ๐๐๐๐ people who deserve credit for retaining some semblance of this event are the churches, volunteers, community groups and local residents who have stepped forward to ensure one of Warringtonโs oldest traditions survives.
Iโm sorry but I cannot get on board an attempt to present this as some great success story for the council.
Letโs be honest about why this has happened.
Walking Day did not suddenly become a community-led event because everyone woke up one morning and decided it would be a better model.
It happened because Warrington Borough Council is facing a financial crisis so severe that support for long-established traditions and services is being withdrawn.
Time and again residents are told that cuts are unavoidable, services must be reduced and communities need to do more for themselves.
Then, when volunteers step in to fill the gap, we are told it is a positive new chapter.
๐๐จ. ๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐.
Residents have just been hit with a 7.8% council tax increase.
For many Band D households that means hundreds of pounds more each year.
At the same time people are seeing reductions in the services they rely on.
We have seen changes to Council Tax Support. Concerns over school transport.
The loss of crossing patrols.
Reductions in CCTV provision.
Questions about community safety resources. Continuing pressure on highways, environmental services and neighbourhood services.
And like many residents I fear there is more to come.
Every week I receive emails, messages and phone calls from people asking the same question:
โWhat exactly are we getting for the extra money weโre paying?โ
That is the reality facing many Warrington residents.
The councilโs own financial position remains extremely challenging.
Exceptional Financial Support may have bought time, but it is not a solution. Residents know there are difficult decisions ahead and many fear further above 5% council tax increases and further service reductions in the future.
The people of Warrington are resilient.
Communities will always step up when needed. They always have.
But residents should not be expected to celebrate the fact that volunteers are increasingly being asked to preserve services, events and traditions that a financially stable council would once have supported.
Walking Day will survive because the community refused to let it disappear.
That is testament to the amazing people of our town.
That is a community success.
The circumstances that made it necessary are not.
The people of Warrington deserve honesty about the scale of the challenge facing the borough.
They deserve honesty about the consequences of the decisions being made and above all, they deserve better than having every piece of bad news repackaged as a success story.
โCCTV saved until Octoberโ - according to the budget itโs was ALWAYS going to run to October.
โFor the price of a coffee you can save your PCSOโs - Iโm hearing the promised total number is now at risk of NOT being hit?
Residents cannot continue to be treated as though they wonโt notice the difference.
WARRINGTON Walking Day is entering a new era this year on Saturday, July 4th, as responsibility for organising the event returns to the community.
