A TREE-LINED boulevard ‘guarded’ by imposing bronze warriors could be the vision greeting visitors arriving at Chester Railway Station.
Council chiefs want to commemorate Chester’s 2,000-year military history in a spectacular ‘make-over’ for City Road as a key pedestrian link into the city centre.
Proposed military statues – all on impressive plinths – would begin with a Roman Legionnaire and end near The Bars roundabout with a Mercian Regiment soldier in Afghanistan combat gear.
Cllr Mike Jones, leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “Chester has been a garrison town since the time of the Romans and we thought that a tribute to this proud part of our heritage would help set the scene for our visitors.
“I believe that City Road was first planned as a boulevard when it was built 18 years after the station opened.
“But for some reason that never happened and it seemed like a very good idea to remedy that situation – albeit nearly one and a half centuries later.
“Not only would the scheme address those ‘first impression’ concerns but it would provide a major additional attraction in its own right.”
Cllr Jones hopes the first statue might be in place in time to mark the Queen’s Jubilee in 2012.
Included along the way would also probably be a 14th century Cheshire archer, Civil War Royalist and Roundhead and a First World War Tommy.
“The scheme is in its infancy at the moment but would almost certainly involve us seeking sponsorship for the various statues” said the leader.
The City of the Legions has been a military base since 79 AD and is now the temporary home of the Royal Welsh Regiment.
