The Welcome hopes to offer Jobcentre provision in town through Connected Communities scheme

The Welcome is to become a Connected Communities centre, also offering mobile health services and further community engagement projects.

Groups offering services to residents will be able to book hours at the community centre to deliver them, while £150,000 of CEC money will fund subsidies for smaller organisations.

Jobcentre provision in Knutsford has been mooted since the closure of Wilmslow’s centre was announced in July, making Macclesfield the closest facility.

Marie Fox, operations manager at The Welcome, said: “The fact that we are earmarked as a Connected Communities centre gives us scope to deliver more services and for others to come in and deliver as well.

"We are looking at having a health centre drop in and deliver a service – there are so many possibilities. We are hoping to have a job centre adviser come in.

“This is exactly what we want – there is nowhere else on Longridge providing these services.”

An open day will take place at The Welcome on September 29 from 4pm to 6pm.

“We have invited all the services delivering in Knutsford to come and say ‘this is what we are doing, and what we can do for you’.

"It just cements everything together. We are in the ideal place to go forward with it, and the new status gives us a boost for future funding applications.”

CEC is aiming to open up 30 such centres across the borough over the next 12 months.

Cllr Paul Bates, cabinet member for communities, said: “We are thrilled to see the first Connected Communities centres offering a much wider range of services more locally to people across the borough.”

“This initiative is very much a partnership between the council and community, working together to ensure the right services, support and infrastructure are in the right places.”

A DWP spokesman said outreach provision was still being explored in the wake of the announcement of the Wilmslow centre’s closure.