Middlewich Town Council is planning to transform a piece of land next to Victoria Hall into a sensory garden in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The scheme was proposed by town mayor Colin Coules who, in a written motion, said it would be funded through the mayor's charity, sponsorship and with the help of volunteers.

Cllr Coules did not attend last night's meeting of the council, so town clerk Nicola Antoney presented the proposal to councillors.

"This would be a sensory garden," she said.

"A lot of people have come forward already and would like to be part of this project.

Victoria Hall, Middlewich

"Obviously this is just at the thinking stage at the moment and plans would be drawn up and brought back to council.

"What Cllr Coules is asking is, is the council happy for it be a memorial garden instead of the overgrown weed patch that it currently is?"

Cllr Vicky Perez (Lab) said she was in favour of the scheme but added: "I've got one massive safety issue though, with the wall that suddenly drops deep down."

Cllr Vicky Perez

She also said money had been spent on that area in the past and wanted reassurances that, if this went ahead, it would be maintained.

"I'm all for it and I think it's a great idea, but I don't want a child or somebody going over the edge and I don't want, we spend all this money and it looks lovely and then it's just left to get back to square one," said Cllr Perez.

She added: "If you're having a sensory garden I would like to be involved because I've known, in the past, places have a sensory garden and people come in wheelchairs and it's not accessible."

Mrs Antoney said the town council had not spent any money on that land – any that had been spent in the past had come from the community.

Regarding the safety issue, she said the plan was to fence that off.

One member of public suggested the town council contact the Prince's Trust which gets involved in community projects and the clerk said this would be looked at.

The council voted that, in principle, the Victoria Gardens can be turned into a memorial garden, subject to full costings and plans being brought back to a future meeting of the council.