Has Skem become a forgotten town?
COULD Skelmersdale be one of the most overlooked towns in the North West?
It is one of the largest towns in the North without a train station – despite having a population of about 40,000 people who have been calling for a rail link for decades.
The town also lacks a centre, with the Concourse shopping centre being the only real provision in the area – and even that was recently criticised by West Lancashire Labour MP Rosie Cooper as “just a building pretending to be the town centre”.
There is no hospital and students wishing to study A-levels have to look elsewhere.
It was hailed in 1961 as a dedicated New Town to house the overspill population of Liverpool, but its origins date back to Roman times, with first mention noted in the Domesday book of 1086.
At a debate in Parliament about the challenges New Towns face, Ms Cooper said: “The new town of Skelmersdale was designated in 1961, with a target population of 80,000.
“Some 60 years on, it has a population of almost half that and little or no local facilities, amenities, transport links or adequate housing.
“It is a town built around the car, where people are driven underground and forced to use underpasses. The roads mostly have no pavements, but cars move about freely. It is a town famous for its roundabouts.
“The town is deprived of an adequate town centre, a railway station, sports facilities, education opportunities and so much more.” The first brick in the New Town was laid at New Church Farm in 1964 by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, and families began to move there just five months later on the promise of a house with a garden. Ms Cooper added: “When the local council attempted to build a genuine town centre and a modern high street, the owners of the Concourse took out High Court injunctions and made appeals to block it. “Skelmersdale is a town failed by narrow commercial interests. People are forced to spend their money elsewhere.” The MP was also highly critical of transport links in the town and West Lancashire Borough Council.
She said the area was “so poorly served that a rescue effort had to be made to provide a bus service to the whole population of Ashurst that would have been without it.”
Ms Cooper said: “It is a town failed by a lack of foresight and that is desperately fighting to get a railway station.
“It is a town where, rather than fixing the roof of a local sports centre, which was well used and generated an income, the council shut it down and it eventually burned down.
“It is a town failed by the council.
“The promised local hospital never materialised, and even education did not fare well — one high school was forced to close and its students had to relocate elsewhere.
“The recently-built college withdrew its offer of A-level studies, forcing any student with an aspiration to progress at that level or further to study outside the town. That is an obvious difficulty, considering what I said about rail connectivity and the lack of buses.”
Ms Cooper also pointed out that thousands of people were still living in “temporary housing” 60 years after it was built, and a planned development of 20,000 houses has not happened.
The rail link for the town moved a step closer last year after £5m funding was confirmed.
Lancashire County Council said it has set aside £4.32m to build the case for new stations in Kirkby, Rainford and Skelmersdale.
And Merseytravel confirmed that it would add another £765,000 to fund the latest work, with the transport body saying that a station could open within a decade – though hundreds of millions of pounds more funding would be needed.
Skelmersdale South councillor Nicola Pryce-Roberts said: “A train link is long overdue and will make a significant impact to the town when it is finally delivered.”
The plan would extend Merseyrail services from the Kirkby terminus to a new station in Headbolt Lane, Kirkby, and on to Rainford and Skelmersdale town centre.
Skelmersdale would then become the new interchange for Merseyrail, with onward services to Wigan and Manchester.
Skelmersdale North councillor Jenny Forshaw added: “It will give Skelmersdale the much-needed investment it deserves.”
Also this year, a website to promote Skelmersdale as a “great place to do business” was launched by the council.
New homes are also planned to regenerate the Digmoor area. The application to build 36 two-bedroom houses in place of nine blocks of flats that are being demolished was approved by the council last month.
A council spokesman said: “These homes will represent the third new batch of council housing provided by the authority in recent years and the council is looking at opportunities to build additional new homes in the future.”
Building work is set to begin this year.