SALTNEY should be given town status, senior community leaders have decided.

Flintshire Council’s deputy leader, Cllr Tony Sharps, said Saltney should be classed as one of the county’s towns in the next financial year.

He made the call at an executive committee meeting this week, when it was agreed Flintshire Council should make a bid for European funding to improve town centres.

If accepted, the county would be given £1.8 million to improve its high streets and Cllr Sharps said Saltney, which has grown in size, should not miss out on the cash.

He added: “This issue has troubled me for the last 12 months or so.

“We are told there are seven towns in Flintshire, but in fact there are eight. We should look at Saltney in the next financial year and add it to the list.”

Saltney Stonebridge councillor Veronica Gay said the decision would mean Saltney would finally get the recognition and support it deserves.

Cllr Klaus Armstrong-Braun, who represents the Saltney Mold Junction ward, said: “I have been campaigning since I first became a councillor in 1995 for Saltney to be given town status.

“I am very pleased that the executive committee has made this decision.

“Saltney has got much bigger over the past few years and we have a great deal of industry here.

“What we need now is a town plan to help us determine what is good and bad about Saltney and those things which can be improved, either by demolition or investment.”