Call to create town council for Bacup

A CALL for the return of a local town council was discussed at a recent council meeting.

Resident Doug Spencer told the council that since Bacup became part of Rossendale Borough Council in 1975 it had ‘lost many services and amenities’, including the swimming pool, leisure hall, Irwell Terrace gardens – and said buildings such as the Woolworth building and Regal bingo hall have been allowed to fall into disrepair.

He said: “Would the leader of the council agree that the only way Bacup will ever improve and grow would be to have its own town council again and become as independent from Rossendale as possible, and that this is the best way for Bacup to promote itself and have real input into its future?”

The question – asked at Rossendale’s recent full council meeting – was answered by the cabinet member for regeneration.

Coun Andy MacNae said: “I actually agree with you Doug, I think a town council within the context of the right local authority can be a massive benefit to the town. You see the way it works in Whitworth and places like Darwen, unfortunately the unwillingness at county hall to move forward with a combined authority make it increasingly difficult to move forward with things like town council.

“Local democracy really close to people is a very good thing, but it’s got to fit within the rest of the local authority structure that we have.”

Addressing the issue of compulsory purchase of deteriorating buildings in Bacup, Coun MacNae said it was something that the council were determined to make progress on.

He said: “No result is just not enough anymore, we need to get a result with those buildings. We need to have the bingo hall addressed, we need to have the Woolworth building addressed.

“So the regeneration in Bacup is part of the context which we have been working on hard for five years now and we are only just now starting to figure things out.”

Coun MacNae added that he also recognised that the leisure provision in Bacup requires improvement – but highlighted Stubbylee Park as a major success story.

He said: “The level of leisure facilities in Bacup is not an acceptable standard of facilities and I do really agree that this is something that we really need to push hard on.”

Last week we revealed how 113 residents met at Bacup’s Pioneer building to discuss controversial £500,000 improvement proposals to St James’ Square.

Objectors to the scheme claim they believe it will go ahead despite most people in the town being opposed to the changes.