Middlewich Town Council is to set up a warm hub at its Victoria Buildings as the cost of living crisis forces people to choose between heating and eating.

As councils and groups across the country are preparing to open up warm banks where members of the community can go to and keep themselves warm for a few hours during the day, the town council voted unanimously to provide a warm shelter for its residents.

Town clerk Nicola Antoney told last night's meeting (Monday): "We know that gas and electricity prices are going to go up, they're going to go up beyond a lot of people's reach.

"What a lot of councils are doing at the moment, whilst obviously they can't give residents money to pay for gas and electricity, they're looking to open up libraries and public buildings to offer warm hubs for people to come and sit, have a cup of tea, bit of a natter so they don't have the cost of heating their own home.

"Because we're all open anyway, all the offices, it would just be a good thing for the council to offer a haven where people can come and sit in the warm."

Clr David Williams (Lab) said: "I'm all in favour of this."

Cllr David Williams

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He said if fuel poverty is defined as people spending 10 per cent of their income on energy costs then a lot of Middlewich people were going to be affected.

"Can I ask, is there a possibility we could write to our energy provider and ask them for a contribution towards this?" he suggested.

The council agreed that should be done.

Cllr Carol Bulman (Lab) questioned whether it would be better to open up smaller rooms rather than the hall.

The clerk said if the take-up wasn't too high they could always use a smaller room in the building.