TWO Town Hall bosses joined property giants at a conference in France to explain the town’s ‘success story’ – but it came at no cost to the council.

It is the third year that Cheshire and Warrington has been represented at property and investment exhibition Marché International des Professionels de I’immobilier (MIPIM).

MIPIM was held in Cannes between March 12 and March 15 – with Cheshire and Warrington’s delegation led by the area’s Local Enterprise Partnership.

It was also supported by more than 40 private sector organisations.

Cheshire and Warrington’s partners or programme event sponsors included Patrizia, Knights Plc, Tatton Group, Langtree, Peel, Bruntwood, Bentley, British Property Federation, Grosvenor Estate, Pegasus and Homes England.

But the council has confirmed the event did not result in the public purse taking a hit.

Chief executive Steven Broomhead said: “The MIPIM property event is an opportunity to promote Warrington as a place to invest and to do business – and for us to explain our success story to global investors.

“Two council officers attended at no cost to the council.

“They were part of a Cheshire and Warrington delegation who organised and resourced the event.”

The council’s director of growth Steve Park, who was part of the delegation, told the conference there is a ‘real need for us to be able to exploit’ the brownfield development opportunities in central Warrington to build as many as 9,000 homes over the next 10 to 15 years.

The event came a week after the borough’s controversial draft Local Plan was published – with green belt land earmarked for up to 7,064 homes.