SCRAPPED ‘We told you so’ say critics as council pulls plug on £9.4m Rawtenstall revamp Leader says town already booming - but spa u-turn will cost £1.4m
ADECISION to scrap the £9.4m second phase of Rawtenstall town centre’s regeneration has met with “quiet relief” and accusations of ‘we told you so’.
Rossendale council finally pulled the plug this week on plans for a stateof-the-art spa and offices complex as the flagship elements of the second phase of its Spinning Point redevelopment.
Council bosses say the first phase of the scheme - including the town square, the redevelopment of the old town hall, and the new bus station - have helped the town become a real success story, and made the risk for further investment too great for its potential benefits.
Opposition councillors have welcomed the u-turn but criticised the cost, which is put at £1.4m.
Council leader Coun Alyson Barnes said: “This council with its partners have delivered a lot. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved.
“We have bucked the trend in Rawtenstall. It’s a town on the up.
“The question then arises if the town is doing so well, with shoppers and visitors enjoying what is to offer and residents and businesses proud of the town centre, would a huge development such as Spinning Point phase two help or hinder that progress?
“I believe this will be a popular decision which will be supported by lots of people. No doubt we will get some flack but it wouldn’t be right to continue with proposals we no longer believe in.”
Last July, the council abandoned plans for a significant retail element in phase 2, with Coun Barnes admitting “the bottom has fallen out retail”.
Council papers this week shed light on a lack of interest expressed from national retailers/food & beverage offerings or from local providers in Spinning Point.
The u-turn has been backed by Rawtenstall Chamber of Commerce, who had shared scepticism over several elements of the scheme, which included a hotel when it was first approved by council planners in March 2018. This was changed to a spa in the scheme’s final option, agreed in December 2018.
Conservative opposition leader Coun Peter Steen said it was a “vanity project which had no commercial sense”, the discarding of which will cost residents £2m.
He said: “We have been opposed to these plans continually telling the Labour group that it made no sense in the current market. The disappointment is the time it has taken for this u-turn.”
The full council will meet on Wednesday, February 26 to discuss the recommendations and approve to formally discontinue the project.