A NEW women’s centre will be set-up by Cheshire West and Chester Council if councillors give the go-ahead at council cabinet this week.

The centre will initially be established in Ellesmere Port in October, with a satellite site eyed for Northwich or Winsford by early 2021.

The project had intended to get going in April, but this was pushed back to later in the year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A pre-cabinet meeting report seen by the Guardian suggests the centre will ‘support women to access a range of services that collectively can reduce re-offending and avoid incarceration.’

It adds: “The project aims to work with up to 200 women in a twelve-month period with referrals open to the probation services, police, and substance misuse services.

“The ambition is to reduce the number of contacts with women who are known to the criminal justice system by 10 percent during 2021. We also want to see the number of women offenders who attend court reduce by 15 percent over the period of the project.”

The total cost for the project is predicted to be £60,000 — which would be made up of funds provided by the national probation service and office of police and crime commissioner.

Therefore, CWAC will provide premises ‘in-kind’ — and has identified Ellesmere Port library and WorkZone as the most suitable home for the project, with it being open one day per week during the duration of the scheme.

The proposal will be discussed at CWAC cabinet on Wednesday, September 16.