Sparks fly at town plan meeting

TEMPERS flared at a heated public meeting as residents called for controversial plans to revolutionise the centre of Bacup to be scrapped.

The forum gave residents the chance to question the Bacup Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) and its public realm improvement scheme for St James Square.

But the majority of the 113 residents at the packed out meeting in the Pioneer Building voiced no confidence in the plan, and many called on the project leaders to ditch the £500,000 double roundabout and go back to the drawing board.

Greensclough councillor Jimmy Eaton asked for a show of hands to demonstrate the lack of support - with the majority voting against the proposed changes - and said: “I am going to suggest the scheme goes back to LCC for them to work round with the existing fountain and the existing roundabout.”

But Coun Andy MacNae, the council’s regeneration chief, said: “The THI scheme does not stand in isolation, we need to get the parking right and also the future of the market but I would argue that we need the additional space that this scheme offers.

“We did try and sketch out schemes that include the current structure but they don’t work with the traffic flow.

“But nothing is fixed, this is about getting it right.

“I said at the start we have to be convinced that the scheme will benefit Bacup or it won’t happen.”

Lancashire County Council’s highways lead John Gatherall was also questioned over doubts that HGVs will be able to navigate the road system, with one attendee telling the panel they were ‘living on cloud cuckoo land’ if they believed it would work.

Jimmy Doigh, who used to work as a wagon driver, said: “There is not a chance you’ll get even a eight-wheeler round without you doing some serious damage.”

The Rossendale Taxi Association chairman David Lawrie said: “The back end of any of these vehicles is going to be right across the zebra crossings backing everything up.”

Mr Gatherall told the meeting that a computer simulation of the scheme showed that large vehicles could navigate the system.

He said: “We have played that with the largest articulated lorry and we are confident it will safely get through the highway alignment, 95 per cent stay within the lines but there will be minimal incursions by the other five per cent.”