Sculpture set for new home under £44k revamp plan

By Lois Hough
LONG-awaited plans to revamp an area of Shotton have been rubber-stamped by councillors.
Shotton Town Council voted to press ahead with a scheme to improve Rowleys Drive at a cost of £44,000.
This will include tree planting, the resurfacing of the car park, the installation of CCTV cameras and the erection of a 12ft steel sculpture.
Councillors had previously been asked to decide between a scheme to transform Ash Grove at a cost of £24,000 or a pricier scheme at Rowleys Drive.
Members said both schemes were too expensive and requested a detailed breakdown of costs before they made a decision.
Gavin Griffith, housing renewal manager at Flintshire Council, told a meeting of the town council: “The renewal area funding is a window of opportunity we should make the most of before the end of the financial year.
“We don’t have a particular preference for a scheme but we have a certain amount of money we can allow for the scheme.”
Anna Roberts, renewal area project leader at Flintshire Council, said: “Both schemes offer value for money when compared to national costs.”
The makeover forms part of the Welsh Government’s 10-year Deeside Neighbourhood Renewal Area plan.
A masterplan for Connah’s Quay and Shotton, drawn up by Flintshire Council and planning consultants Urban Practitioners, was approved last July by the council’s executive committee.
It includes re-developing Connah’s Quay Civic Centre, improving pedestrian and bicycle routes, upgrading Connah’s Quay Precinct and the environment around Shotton railway bridge.
There are also plans to open up Shotton town centre by removing railings.
Cllr Janette Danks told the meeting: “If funding is not a problem then we should choose the more expensive scheme.”
The ‘steel man’ sculpture – which will take pride of place at Rowleys Drive – represents a steelworker at the old John Summers and Sons site, which at its peak employed about 13,000 people.
The sculpture, known formally as the Giant of Hawarden Bridge, was moved to a roundabout at County Hall in Mold several years ago when the former Alyn and Deeside Council offices in Ewloe closed.
But Shotton Town Council won a campaign to bring it home to Deeside.

SHOTTON Town Council is also backing a campaign to halt an incinerator being built on Deeside.
No decision has been made on the type of technology or a site to service the facility – earmarked to deal with residual waste from Flintshire, Denbighshire, Anglesey, Gwynedd and Conwy.
But an outline business case presented by North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Project (NWRWTP) bosses gave Deeside Industrial Estate as an example of a
location for an incinerator to handle waste which cannot be recycled.
Campaign leaders at Connah’s Quay Town Council wrote to members of Shotton Town Council for their support in opposition, which they pledged at a meeting on Monday night.
Previously Connah’s Quay councillor Bernie Attridge claimed a waste burner would have an “unacceptable impact” on the health of people in Deeside and beyond.
Hundreds of people from Connah’s Quay, Shotton and Sealand have also signed a petition against any potential incinerator.