Helping local people during difficult times and getting people back into work will remain the focus of Chorley Council’s plans for the next 12 months after councillors agreed a new corporate strategy.

The plans seek to build on last year’s performance by refreshing current projects and outlining new developments to work towards.

The Council’s recent purchase of Market Walk shopping centre features in the list of priorities along with further town centre improvements and extension of the Chorley Time Credits scheme to encourage more volunteering.

Chorley Council’s deputy leader Coun Peter Wilson said: “After directly creating around 250 jobs in Chorley over the last 18 months, our pro-active policies will bring even more jobs back into the borough along with further improvements to our neighbourhoods, parks and play areas.

“We will continue to support young people with delivery of the Chorley Youth Zone and ensure that residents are happy with the service they receive from us by focusing on customer satisfaction.”

The main vision for this three year plan remains the same, ‘an ambitious council that achieves more by listening to the whole community and exceeding their needs’.

Four key priorities were set: n Involving residents in improving their local area and equality of access for all n Clean, safe and healthy communities n A strong local economy n An ambitious council that does more to meet the needs of residents and the local area Coun Wilson, added: “We are still in very difficult times so we need to invest our money in schemes that will help residents who are struggling to make ends meet and not sit back and do nothing.

“What we are planning to do over the next year will make a real difference to residents in the borough and I think it’s vitally important we do what we can to support everybody in Chorley.”

To have a look at the full corporate strategy visit chorley.gov.uk.