FACEBOOK COMMENTS
WHAT you’ve been saying on our Facebook page:
●● HOMES plan for the Arndale site (February 12):
Patricia Allonby: I don’t agree with housing here. But something needs to be done as it’s filling up now with charity shops. I think the decision should be left till the pandemic is over. I’d rather it was turned into a market with quality stalls inside.
Maria Patefield: Accrington Town centre is horrible, it’s like a ghost town with so many empty shops. Hyndburn Council have just allowed this to happen. Look at Great Harwood for inspiration, they have loads of great independent shops as well as supermarkets and even during this pandemic they’ve done well because they’re all in it together.
Get it sorted with proper shops, not more housing. How the hell will that help the economy? We should be a thriving market town, not somewhere people are ashamed of
Samantha Welch: Accrington was once a fantastic town for shopping and it can be again if the right businesses are attracted. Everything has been done to kill off this town and those responsible should hang their heads in shame.
Ian Johnson: If you look at Bury with The Rock this is housing (apartments) and retail which appears to work.
Elaine Holmes: Demolish the lot, Arndale, the car park, the building with Costa coffee, cash generator and Wilkinson’s, leave the Victorian market and bus station side of Union street, and build something like The Rock at Bury incorporating the market and bus station into it, under cover with multi storey car park, eating places, good shops and even living apartments. Total change. Denise Kenny: Building houses there won’t help the town whatsoever. Get a grip Hyndburn council, that will destroy the town altogether and besides if ever the night life got back to life and the shopping. Would you like to live in sheltered accommodation?
Are you lot for real!?
Sarah Louise: Why make more homes when there’s nothing to do in the town. We need a mall like Blackburn’s to get people back in to town. I feel sorry for all the small business owners
Chris Bruce: If council etc help to help generate shops and markets and they stay open for longer then the performance of the town will start to pick up again. Especially when the locals want to shop in the local town and people will and should help by shopping in the shops instead of going online. Paul Seddon: How can building new homes actually benefit the shopping and night scene in Accrington. Miles mentions sheltered accommodation which are mainly for elderly people which is all good but where is the financial boost to the economy of the stores etc, it lists shops and apartments above that’s like going back to urban centres in the early 70s which are now demolished too. To get folk in you need quality stores or open market, niche bar like facilities similar to Altrincham for one, open space and live entertainment.
Pauline Smith: Rates for the shop are high compared to Blackburn, there was hardly any people shopping in Accrington. Then the council spent all that money for the front of the market.
And shops was closing down all around.
Lynda Milburn: Accrington was ruined when some clever people got rid of the old market many years ago. Used to be a nice place to shop but has turned into a slum town.
Lee Passco: Open up Broadway as a road again and reduce rents on shops it’s not that hard to figure out, closing Broadway killed the town centre with all the silly one way routes Alan Smithee: Knock it down, open up the river and make it a feature of the town and give us some green space. Accrington could be a high quality commuter town with good links to Manchester.