The month kicked off with a petition set up by traders on Brook Street who were angry at council plans to charge people to park on the roadside.

Famed for its independent shops, the street had always offered free parking for shoppers for up to an hour.

Business owners feared plans to charge £1 could lead some of them to close.

In a predictable move, the Government once again allowed a housing development to go ahead in spite of local opposition. This time it was the application for 142 homes on floodplains off Clifton Drive.

The city’s indoor market showed early signs of what we now know has been a hugely successful revival with the arrival of ‘Stile Napoletano’ pizzeria and ‘Crustum’ cafe and bakery.

In the courts, a curry house boss was jailed for fraud and a prominent city doctor was convicted of having almost 17,000 indecent images of children.

Devastating news came midway through the month that popular mum-of-two and school worker Nicola Hitchen had lost her battle with cancer.

The community had rallied behind her, raising money to send her for pioneering chemotherapy treatment in Turkey. Her family said she fought her illness with “courage, determination and complete love and devotion to her boys”.

This month, we also featured a special report on the city’s growing homelessness crisis as a new council contractor prepared to take over homeless services. We spoke to key agencies about how best to help people who can be seen as both victims and villains by many.

Later on, Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, received an honorary degree from the University of Chester and we asked if people should be worried about the growing number of empty shops on the high street.

People were also kicking up a stink about the number of overflowing bins in the city.