Council needs Reel ambition to improve the Valley further
WHEN Labour took office a decade ago in Rossendale, they made it clear they had one big goal above all others: sort out the Valley Centre.
The ugly, decaying shopping centre had become a blight on the Rawtenstall townscape. What had once been a hub of life in the 70s and 80s had been largely emptied.
Whether you agree with how the council went about solving the Valley Centre problem or not, there’s no doubt the problem was solved.
This column has long argued that Haslingden was short-changed in the process - it lost the funding to build a new swimming pool so the council could buy the Valley Centre. A decade on, and Haslingden still hasn’t been reimbursed for the loss of a treasured, and vital, facility in the swimming pool that closed as a result.
But Rawtenstall town centre is better off with the new town square and the bus station than it was with what went before.
The question for the council after a decade in power is: What next? What’s the next big ambition for the Valley?
At the turn of the century, Peter Britcliffe, dad of Haslingden MP Sara, was council leader in Hyndburn. He felt voters were telling him Accrington needed a cinema. This was at a time when cinemas were only being built out of town.
People laughed at the thought of a cinema coming to Accrington. But eventually, after the council really pushed, and got involved itself, the cinema arrived. It’s changed owners since, but a Vue cinema in Accrington is still there.
This is the sort of ambition we need to see from Rossendale Council. General statements about economic development and town centre revivals are well meaning, but what do they actually mean?
A bold statement which says ‘ we’re going to buck the trend and get this here’ is a powerful thing to do.
A cinema would not be a bad place to start. Clitheroe has one - an Everyman, a bit posh, but proof small cinemas work. Blackburn has two - one of which only opened the other week, a Reel cinema.
Reel have also invested in their Burnley site.
Rossendale has plenty in terms of culture: The Whitaker Museum, the Royal Court in Bacup, the new events at St Mary’s Chamber, the
Boo theatre in Waterfoot and so on.
But still, so often, if you want to go to the cinema or go to an event, you have to go out of Rossendale.
Could Rossendale’s not big dream to be the venue which enables us to spend more time in Rossendale?
Why couldn’t we have a cinema?
It’s easy to say stuff like this and ask the council to build it - so here’s an idea: Why can’t Rawtenstall have an arts centre, which allows for events ranging from concerts, theatre productions and, of course, cinema shows?
It would be another reason to visit Rawtenstall.
It might be a rubbish idea - but what’s the good idea.
What’s the big idea?