A321 First Officer reported an ECAM Caution Message: WHEEL N/W STRG FAULT in cruise. The flight crew ran the QRH and check lists. The flight crew requested priority handling and performed an air turn back and precautionary landing at departure airport.

Narrative

Approximately 40 minutes into the flight during cruise at FL330 we received an ECAM caution: WHEEL N/W STRG FAULT. We used the fix strategy to evaluate the caution and went thought the QRH. I was assigned the Flying Pilot/ radios at that point. The Captain called Dispatch and Maintenance Crew (M/C) to discuss the situation. After the Captain talked with M/C and Dispatch we decided going back to ZZZ was the best option for us. With the loss of steering and the possibility of the nose gear being at 90 degrees from center we wanted the ability to do a fly by and land on a dry runway. We looked at several airports along the route and weather was affecting most of the east coast. We requested priority handling and coordinated a return to ZZZ. Upon lowing the landing gear in ZZZ we did not receive the secondary fault; along with the Tower verifying the nose gear was straight. We landed with no problems cleared the runway shutdown and got towed to the gate. We had a mechanical failure of the nose wheel steering. QRH should include a note to consider going to an airport with VFR weather.