Regeneration inspiration

AFACT- FINDING tour gave food for thought for the regeneration of a Valley town centre.

The ‘seeing is believing’ tour was organised by Rossendale Council’s Economic Development Unit with a view to improving Bacup.

Council representatives, along with residents from business, heritage and the community, hopped on a bus to visit Urmston and Altrincham in Greater Manchester in a visit held in conjunction with IntoPlaces, a consultancy borne out of the team that led Altrincham

●● Bacup Pride’s Pat Smith admires a book sculpture in Altrincham

Forward.

They met Kay Johnston,

McGoff Project Manager, at the site of what will become the new Market 41 in Urmston.

She explained that the vacant site used to house a traditional outdoor market, but it was now being redeveloped to provide an indoor food hall setting with food and drink stalls and a central dining area.

In Altrincham, IntoPlaces’ Matt Colledge, Penny Bell and Sonia Cubrilo led groups on a tour of the town.

The Rossendale visitors got to experience the revived covered market, which still has a traditional outdoor feel, the linked hugely popular indoor food hall and smaller outdoor market.

They met with business owner Martin Duff and artist Jo Cushing, who leads a community arts and wellbeing project in what was a large vacant unit.

Simon Dalley, chairman of Bacup Vision 2040, said: “Small things make a huge difference, like the music in the market area in Altrincham - it gives the market energy and makes it welcoming.”

He praised the market food hall where there was a diverse range of ages from pensioners to young families and every seat was taken with more people standing and soaking up the atmosphere.

His views were echoed by the youngest visitor on the trip Leon Dalley, 10, who said: “If Bacup market was like this, I would go there all the time.”

Martin Duff, owner of independent retailer Randalls Jewellers, explained how a loan scheme, run by the community, helped businesses to establish and also provided ambassadors as mentors to assist the fledgling businesses.

Bacup Pride chairman Pat Smith was keen to see that local businesses were supporting planters and public realm improvements in Altrincham centre.

Barry Hyde, chairman of Bacup Now and a member of Bacup Vision 2040, said the visit had been “fantastic”.

He added: “The food hall and the market are a mixture of traditional and artisan and I like the idea that the businesses helped to provide funding for arts festivals.

“A community arts hub is something I can see working in Bacup because we have many local artists in this area.”

IntoPlaces director Penny added: “Whilst Altrincham and Urmston are different size towns with different catchments, the challenges faced were very similar - high vacancy rates, negative perceptions and non-use by local people, lack of investor and business confidence, markets that were no longer meeting requirements, neglected and dilapidated heritage buildings.”