KEEP PUBLIC SPACE AS IT IS
I MARVEL, yet again, at our local council’s ability to bounce from one idea to another in their frenzied and obtuse pursuit of trying to make Rossendale, and more particularly Rawtenstall, the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the North West.
The grandiose plan of having a major hotel chain take up residence in Rawtenstall as part of the town centre regeneration has now foundered and we’re now told the council is about to borrow a huge sum of money to help them realise an even more risky scheme that will, to all intents and purposes, result in Valley Centre Mark 2. (‘£10m loan to fund town regeneration’, December 21).
If I recollect the council paid just over £2 million for the site which has been transformed into a wonderful public space, probably the best £2 million spent in the borough in recent years and I personally wish it to remain as it is.
I find it worrying that seemingly this revised scheme has been hastily drawn up and given approval in the absence of a number of key local authority officials.
Could their absence perhaps be construed as ‘voting with their feet’?
How easy is it, after the piece, to turn around and say “it was nothing to do with me!”
Servicing the debt of £10 million, even in the manner that the council has approved, is going to place a huge burden on spending by the local authority, for the foreseeable future, and will presumably mean compromises having to be made elsewhere.
The rate of return on the investment that has been suggested is ambitious and is at significant risk if the commercial properties prove to be unattractive propositions to the small businesses they’re intended for due to unrealistic rents, limited footfall and also the potential for the area becoming a playground at night times.
Notwithstanding all of this, the local and county authorities must grasp the problem of traffic management and highway maintenance if they want to squeeze more out of the pot and encourage greater business and leisure interest in the area!
The highway design and traffic light phasing in Rawtenstall, and particularly between Burnley Road and Haslingden Road, is absurd!
On a routine basis it can take upward of 15 minutes to traverse that section of road.
Parking facilities are poorly provisioned and policed, leading to congestion and illegal parking.
And as for the public transport provision, I can think of no other large town in the UK where there is such poor bus provision between adjacent towns after teatime.
This latter problem will presumably worsen now our local bus operation has been hived off to the private sector – and perhaps best not mention the future of the money from that initiative?
Rossendale council need to radically rethink their priorities and start dealing with the problems that already exist before manufacturing new ones.
I think we all welcome progress and the pursuit of a more prosperous Valley but not to the detriment of the hard work that so many have already put in to turning things around in Rossendale over the past few years. Andy Morris via email