Coun Alyson Barnes
Rossendale council leader
WHEN Labour took control of the council in 2011 we promised to regenerate our very neglected town centres and we are on course to achieve this.
Bacup has benefited massively from the Town Heritage funding secured in 2013. Working closely with local residents we are now looking at how we can address the issue of the large empty buildings that still blight the town centre.
We are at advanced stages of securing almost £3m for Haslingden and Rawtenstall is a long way from the town centre we inherited that had one of the country’s highest levels of empty and boarded up shops. I can’t be the only person to remember Rawtenstall’s boarded up Valley Centre site featuring in that survival drama back in 2010 either.
Much of this has been done on a shoestring - the council using some of its own resources and funding from external sources to do a lot with relatively small amounts of funding.
Buying the old valley centre, demolishing it and renovating the old town hall gave others the confidence to move their businesses into the town centre and start to make it the vibrant place it is now.
Add to this the imagination, creativity and sheer hard work of our wonderful partners at the Whitaker, Rawtenstall Market and Civic Pride, all of who have contributed to the transformation.
This is why I now believe Rawtenstall no longer needs the Spinning Point phase two proposals.
Eleven years ago when we embarked down this route the town centre needed regenerating, that is not the case now.
Rawtenstall still has a few challenges and needs more investment but we want to nurture what we have rather than deliver a development, which may hinder that process.
The recent huge storms have once again hit our borough hard. Sadly Rawtenstall saw more properties flooded than most of Lancashire during Storm Ciara. Fortunately, Storm Denis did not have as much of an impact.
The community supported by the council and our partners at the county council and the environment agency once again responded to the needs of our residents, working to try and limit the damage and disruption these events cause.
Everyone rallied round to keep people safe.
There needs to be a wider debate on government providing more resources for communities like ours especially as storms can no longer be described as these one in 100 years events. Climate change is very real and this, along with traffic build up and congestion, and poor air quality are clear examples of how it is playing out in our borough. As a council we will be putting more of our focus on this issue.
The number of deaths by suicide is significant in Rossendale and because of this Rossendale Council has joined forces with a national alliance that is aiming to eradicate suicide in the UK.
The Zero Suicide Alliance’s coalition of like-minded partners have developed an online training tool that anyone with computer access can link into free online suicide prevention-training programme. I would urge as many local residents as possible to access this valuable training resource.