When the NHS Trust applied for planning permission in April 2023 to build the new elective surgery hub at Victoria Infirmary, they reassured everyone that parking wouldn’t be a problem. They said they would simply re-mark part of the existing car park and squeeze in just 7 extra spaces. That was the story the council and the public were told.

But now, thanks to Freedom of Information disclosures, we know the truth. By December 2023 – only months after the application was approved – NHS managers were already admitting they had “more or less exhausted alternative locations” for parking, and were instructing staff to draw up feasibility plans to take land from Verdin Park. They had even engaged property search agents and contacted decked car park suppliers, before deciding to target our park.

This is classic salami-slicing – split the project into parts, get the shiny new hospital hub approved first, and then quietly push through the controversial bit later, once it’s harder to stop.

It’s not just bad behaviour. It’s deliberately misleading the public and the council, hiding the real scale of the parking problem when they knew Verdin Park was in their sights all along.

Verdin Park was gifted to the people of Northwich. It should not be sacrificed through half-truths, secrecy and manipulation.

If you’ve already signed, please share this petition widely. The more people know about this deception, the harder it becomes for them to get away with it.

Together, we can hold them to account.