A petition has been launched against moving the wheel away from Biddulph Town Hall to be incorporated into a new memorial to Biddulph's miners on Station Road.

Residents are aiming to show their opposition to the decision taken at a recent meeting of Biddulph Town Council, as part of the council's plans to develop the land near Sainsbury's into a community garden and a miners' memorial.

However, Biddulph's residents have been largely against the decision, with Biddulph Nub News reporting recently how hundreds of comments in opposition to the decision were made on social media.

Biddulph's Mayor, Cllr Sylvia Rushton, also told Nub News that she was against the decision, as were the family of former Biddulph Mayor George Humphries, who stated that Cllr Humphries would be "turning in his grave" after working to get the wheel originally put in place in front of the town hall in the 1980s.

Residents have today (Wednesday, 4th August) launched a petition against the decision on the campaigning website change.org

The petition intends to show the council "just how many residents are unhappy with this decision" and asks the authority to "come up with a better plan" for the memorial. At the time of writing this article, it currently has 42 signatures.

It states: "Biddulph is a town in the rural Staffordshire who's history and economy was built largely on the hard work and efforts of the mining community through generations.

"Mining has gone from the area now for some time but in memory of all those who worked (indeed some that died) at the coal face, the Balance Wheel was relocated from Victoria Colliery and erected in front of the town hall as a permanent reminder to the history of Biddulph town to its townsfolk.

"Biddulph town council have recently submitted and green lit plans for this memorial to be relocated and redesigned to a forgotten and oft vandalised area of Biddulph's town centre, which the residents of the town have expressed their dissatisfaction with.

"This petition is created simply so that the town council may hear just how many residents are unhappy with this decision and, in consultation with those residents come up with a better plan that remembers the history of the area in its rightful prominent place."

If you would like to sign the petition, click here.