£2m public square will light up town hall
LANDMARK town centre buildings will be lit up at night as part of the new £2 million public square scheme.
Colourful LED lights will be projected onto Accrington Town Hall and the Market Hall at night to improve the appearance and safety of the area.
Council bosses have also revealed that a specially commissioned film will be projected onto the Market Hall at the grand opening of the commemorative square in November.
Works have been taking place over the last few months to transform the area with new street furniture and sculptures soon to be installed commemorating the Accrington Pals and the borough’s history.
Council leader Miles Parkinson said they have taken inspiration from other major cities across the UK.
He said: “It’s all about the visual impact on our two grand buildings which are historic within the town centre.
“We’ve seen how light can improve The Ballroom with different LED colours and of course we look around other major cities and towns across the country and it’s very popular to light up public buildings.
“They enhance the environment and also make the area safer and show the buildings off in the night time for people to see. We want to make the public realm stand out more and make them want to use that space in the evening.
“It will add to the town hall being a venue for conferences, weddings, parties and events.”
The buildings will be lit up every day but only between ‘certain hours’ and will not be active for the whole night.
Coun Parkinson said: “It will probably be on a timer and be switched off from about midnight because most places are shut by that time and people aren’t around in great quantities.”
The council has also commissioned a special film for the grand opening of the public square which will be projected onto the Market Hall.
The event will take place on November 10 - the day before Armistice Day - and will coincide with a weekend of celebrations and festivities.
Coun Parkinson added: “It’s been specially commissioned and is an historic interpretation of the past of Accrington linking into the Accrington Pals.
“The film will blend with the building.
“It’s not like a normal film. It’s been specially designed to be projected onto the Market Hall.”
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Hyndburn council leader
WE are in the process of setting the 2018/19 budget which has highlighted again the need for the Council to maintain a strong financial base with a regular income flow.
In 2010 the Council’s budget was £15.5m. For 2018/19 that figure has fallen to approximately £11.1m – a 28 per cent reduction in the money available to the Council. The Government plans to withdraw all remaining funding it pays to Hyndburn Council by 2020/21 – this will be a further reduction of approximately £2m. For this reason the Council needs to increase and maximise Council Tax and Business Rates in order to maintain services.
This new system of Local Government finance puts more emphasis on the Council’s growth plans and is designed to encourage local Council’s to encourage and benefit from economic growth. For this reason the Council is prioritising a number of growth projects.
The Eurogarages’ development at Frontier Park, Junction 6 on the M65, near Whitebirk Retail Park, is a major boost for the economy and making really good progress with the prospect of creating up to 2,000 new jobs in manufacturing, storage and distribution uses as well as jobs in the leisure industry in the proposed 150-bed hotel and conference and banqueting facility that secured planning approval last week.
It’s more good news in Great Harwood where Keepmoat Homes are making very good progress in building 217 new homes at Lyndon Park on the former Lyndon Playing fields. With demand for the houses high the first new homes will be ready by this summer providing a major boost for the town. The project also secured an important new community space at nearby Heymoor Farm, including new football pitches and facilities for Great Harwood Rovers as well as securing the site for the long term future of Great Harwood’s Agricultural Show.
It was also good news that the Cabinet was able to support the proposed sale of the key Accrington gateway site along Hyndburn Road to a private developer for commercial use.
The new Accrington Town Square is really taking shape and on track to be completed in July of this year. Over the coming months we will see the installation of new street furniture and sculptures that have been designed to celebrate our Borough’s heritage and commemorate the Accrington Pals. We’ll also be putting an architectural lighting system in place to light up the Town Hall and Market at night time, and provide a backdrop for events and special occasions in the new square. This will be a major boost for the town centre and with the potential to increase visitors and footfall and we hope it will encourage new business to the Town.
A further major step in supporting the Borough’s growth was last week’s Cabinet decision to approve the work on reviewing the Council’s local plan which will look at suitable sites to support our growth plans. The growth options consider a range of new housing ranging from 1,200 to 6,240 new homes up to 2033. One of the spatial options will be to explore the amount of new housing and employment that can be supported in the Huncoat Housing Zone.