THE sale of landfill company 3C Waste has resulted in a cash bonanza for Warrington.

In order to keep qualifying for a grant from the Government, the council has decided to invest half of the £21.5million from the sale of the company immediately.

And one of the plans on the drawing board is to improve the town centre by pedestrianising the area between the shops and the new arts centre on Winmarleigh Street.

Councillors will be told the situation at Monday's Policy Meeting. A council spokesman explained: "The most immediate impact of holding a large amount of capital receipts is that it is taken into account when the Government allocates the annual capital allocation.

"We are therefore unlikely to receive any capital borrowing allocation at all next year - and possibly in succeeding years, whilst we hold such a large sum in reserve."

Council Leader John Gartside explained: "We believe some of the money should be spent, around £5million, and £6million should be used for debt repayment. If half the money is used, that will get us out of the 'danger area' and would mean we still qualify for the Government's annual capital allocation."

Clr Gartside added: "The idea is to go to all members of the council and really get some kind of consensus about what kinds of projects should be developed. We want to bring in money from other areas to supplement what we have to spend, so if we decide on new swimming baths we would be looking for a lottery grant to help.

"Certainly the initial suggestion is to put £4-5 million to pedestrianisation of the route to the arts centre. The idea is to make the town centre more attractive.

"We would have spent some of it anyway, as we are not a bank. The money is there to be used for the benefit of the town - but equally we don't want to rush into spending it."

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