Accrington Plan Gets Updated
You spoke, we listened
The proposed Accrington Town Centre Investment Plan was put to the public in early 2022. Over 1,000 people took part in the informal consultation, the majority being Accrington residents, and hundreds of people left additional comments about the proposed plans.
The results clearly indicated people would like to see Accrington Market Hall, The Victorian Arcade and the Arndale Centre as priority areas for investment. Other key priorities included food, shopping, entertainment and retail being available in the town.
The results did also indicate that people felt some of the proposed interventions were not the right investment for Accrington. These included the creation of a park and ride scheme and changing warner street into a pedestrianised footway. The final version of the Town Centre Investment Plan has seen these removed.
Cllr Miles Parkinson OBE, Leader of Hyndburn Council, said:
“It is important we listen to the people of our borough and change plans accordingly. The vast majority of the interventions proposed for Accrington Town Centre were very well received, however our community felt very strongly against two items – a footway for Warner Street and a Park and Ride Scheme.
“We have listened, discussed with experts and the stakeholder board and I am pleased to confirm these interventions have been removed from the updated Accrington Town Centre Investment Plan.
“Since the informal public consultation, we have been working hard to bid for and secure funding for other priority investments. The top three priorities: Market, Arndale and Arcade, are all key locations in our ongoing bids. The Market Hall is a core component in our Levelling Up Bid, submitted in August, Creation of a masterplan for the Arndale is part of our UK Shared Prosperity Bid, submitted in September and we are working on an expression of interest for funding from Heritage Funds for the Arcade.”