Exciting new vision for town needs cash to become reality
I’M sure I wasn’t the only one who raised an eyebrow at the eyecatching artist’s impression of what an £11m project in Bacup could look like - if the council was able to secure the funding.
There are plenty of sceptics around here who will point to the recent demise of the Spinning Point phase 2 development, the exact cost of which is yet to be fully confirmed by the council.
That project at various points included shops, a spa, a hotel, flats … and was presented through a number of visualisations from artists as people got excited about what might happen.
There are reasons, this column would argue, for sceptics to perhaps reduce the height of their eyebrows when it comes to the Bacup scheme, however.
First of all, the next part of the Spinning Point scheme always felt as though it was adding something to the town centre of Rawtenstall which it was hard to prove there was a need for - as it ultimately proved with the council’s decision to scrap the second phase this year.
At the heart of the Bacup scheme is a plan to remove the former Barclays Bank building and create a ‘remodelled’ market with two new buildings added to accommodate an indoor market and food hall, plus a cyclists’ cafe, and five retail units.
Crucially, the near£12m bid to the Future High Streets Fund would also help underwrite the kickstarting of other stalled redevelopment projects in and around Bacup town centre.
It feels as though the council, and its partners, have come up with a plan which would make Bacup a unique attraction and place to visit, drawing on the town’s heritage to plan for the future.
People in Bacup often complain about being overlooked compared to Rawtenstall - a claim any councillor will tell you is wrong, but perception is so often easier to relate to than reality. This scheme, if funded, would change that.
The big if is whether it will be funded. The debacle of Bacup even making it onto the list of towns to benefit from the government’s huge Future High Street Fund was embarrassing - local MP (and then Northern Powerhouse minister) Jake Berry giving the impression on national radio that Bacup had made the fund list, only for it to emerge later that it hadn’t.
Bacup was included on a second wave of towns - with around 100 towns now eligible for money from government.
And while it was great news that Bacup made the list (eventually), now is the time when we’ll see just how much the notion of levelling up the North - a mantra pushed by Mr Berry on behalf of the Government during the General Election - actually means anything at all.
For while the perception that Bacup (and Haslingden for that matter) are overshadowed by Rawtenstall might be challenged by the council, it’s very hard to argue that Rossendale isn’t overshadowed by pretty much everywhere when it comes to getting any attention from government.
Rossendale Council has produced a sensible and exciting - if indeed something can be both - plan which would reinvigorate Bacup. The Government now needs to deliver the funding to make it a reality.
It’s small change for the Government financially, but potentially a huge change for the fortunes of Bacup.