Shotwick Park engagement information

Background

In November 2024, Cheshire West and Chester Council took the decision to retain the land at Shotwick Park. The Council is now exploring ways to help ensure that the site reflects the needs and aspirations of local people and protects the historic and ecological assets of the site, whilst attracting enough external funding, grants and other income to sustain the management of this land into the future.

Map of Shotwick Park - Please click on the map to enlarge it.

Shotwick Park is an area of 150 hectares of land comprising of pasture, woodland, arable land and an area of historic parkland. The land is located in Saughall, to the north-west of Seahill Road and Church Road and south of the A494. There is land either side of Lodge Lane, with the majority lying south of the lane. It does not include a section of land in the middle of this area, where the Shotwick Castle ancient monument is located.

For an interactive map of Shotwick Park, please click here.

Vision for Shotwick Park

In response to community feedback, the vision for the site would see the establishment of woodland and habitat creation, transforming the site for the benefit of the local community and environment. This would include:

• Creation of community woodland
• Maintaining current woodland, habitats and historical features
• Creation of a public space that provides better access to nature for people local to Shotwick Park

The project would not affect public access to the footpath network on the site or the site of Shotwick Castle which is recorded as a scheduled monument and has statutory protections.

Trees for Climate programme

Enhancing the land at Shotwick Park is dependent on the creation of a new community woodland on the site, which would bring in funding from The Mersey Forest’s Trees for Climate programme. The Mersey Forest is the area's Community Forest who are working alongside communities and partners to create woodlands and help people explore nature on their doorstep across Cheshire and Merseyside. For more information, please click here.

A new community woodland would be part of a wider network of woodlands across Cheshire that help to deliver a huge range of benefits for people, nature and the economy. The main areas of new woodlands proposed for Shotwick Park would be established on land further away from Saughall village, beyond ridge and furrow and historic parkland.

The funding would also provide further opportunities to safeguard the future management of the park. Historic landscape features such as the castle monument and medieval ridge and furrows would be protected and could be maintained or enhanced in the future as hay or species rich meadows, rather than planted with trees.

It may also be possible to make the following improvements, to bring more opportunities for local people to connect with nature, if these are ideas that residents would like to consider:

• Plant new parkland trees to enhance the landscape of the historic parkland. In time these would become veteran trees.
• Accommodate a small community orchard and/or arboretum, a botanical garden specialising in trees or woody plants.
• Improve existing woodlands and hedgerows, as many are in a poor ecological condition currently.

The Council would like to understand your views on the vision for Shotwick Park, as well as any ideas you have for how the park could be enhanced and positively managed for the benefit of the community and the environment, to ensure future plans for the site reflect the views of local people.

Please click here to return to the Shotwick Park engagement page.