31 January 2008 08/17
Skelmersdale: building a town centre to be proud
of
The masterplan outlining proposals to bring a new heart to
Skelmersdale town centre is unveiled today.
The masterplan shows the features that local people have said they
want in the town centre - a new high street, more shops, another
supermarket, a new leisure centre, community facilities,
improvements to the Tawd Valley, and housing.
Cllr Ian Grant, portfolio holder for Regeneration, said:
"This is an exciting blueprint to pave the way for improvements to
the town centre that will benefit everyone who lives and works in
Skelmersdale. The project, valued at more than £350 million, will
bring new jobs and investment, building a new heart for
Skelmersdale that local people can be proud of.
"The proposals, subject to approval by Cabinet, will soon be
released for public consultation. The consultation exercise for the
public to give their views will begin in mid-March and will include
public exhibitions and a newsletter and questionnaire to every
house in the town. The Council will consider all comments made
before we finalise the masterplan during the summer."
The next steps
1. All members of the Council will be briefed on the masterplan on
Thursday 7 February prior to it being discussed at the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee meeting later that evening.
2. The masterplan will be discussed at a special Cabinet meeting on
Tuesday 12 February. Cabinet will be informed of any comments made
by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Cabinet may approve, reject
or change the proposals.
3. Local people will be asked to give their views on the masterplan
in a six-week consultation period that will run from mid-March to
the end of April.
4. The Cabinet will consider all the responses to the consultation
before finalising the masterplan during the summer.
5. Developers will then submit planning applications for the first
stage of redevelopment, which is scheduled to start next year. The
planning applications will be assessed against the
masterplan.
Background
From the outset, the Council has sought wide public and stakeholder
involvement in the project, which began in 2005 when the
Skelmersdale Vision was drawn up following extensive consultation
with local people. In 2007, initial options were developed and the
Council carried out further consultation. The masterplan has been
drawn up after taking into account the views of almost 2,000 people
who responded to that consultation last summer.
In order to ensure that this is not just a 'paper plan,' a
development agreement has been signed between West Lancashire
District Council, national regeneration agency English Partnerships
and the UK's leading regeneration specialist St Modwen Properties
Plc. The agreement formally appoints St Modwen to deliver the
ambitious plans for the multi-million pound transformation of
Skelmersdale town centre.
Main proposals in the masterplan
· A new high street will be built, linking the Concourse and Asda.
This may be a pedestrian-friendly street, with limited access for
cars and buses
· A new sports centre and swimming pool for community use, and a
brand new multi-million pound building for Skelmersdale College, at
the north end of the new high street, near Asda
· A cinema, plus shops, bars and restaurants along the new high
street, with residential apartments above. Parking facilities would
also be provided.
· A new library/resource centre, a new police facility and a new
building for the Ecumenical Centre in the heart of the town
centre
· A new bus station on the eastern side of the Concourse, and a new
hotel at the side of the Concourse close to where the current bus
station stands
· A new food superstore to be integrated with the Concourse
centre.
· A new link road, with traffic calming to improve safety, running
north from the Concourse to connect with existing road
networks.
· A high-quality adventure play area for children in the town
centre.
· Improvements to the Tawd Valley, with new paths and cycleways.
The provision of appropriate specialist recreational activities
will also be investigated.
This proposal differs significantly from previous proposals for the
town centre in that it is in no way dependent on external grant
funding either regionally, nationally or from Europe. The
development and sale of new housing as part of the project will
provide the finance necessary to secure many of the less commercial
aspects of the scheme such as the new library/resource centre,
Ecumenical Centre and sports centre.
Housing
Around 1,150 new homes are proposed in the town centre. These would
be a mixture of houses and apartments and would include around 115
affordable homes, either for rent or purchase. All housing will
need to be of the highest quality and design and will respect
wooded areas, particularly in the river valley, and existing
properties close by. The masterplan allocates open land alongside
Yewdale for development and also shows the clearance and
redevelopment of Firbeck for new homes which will have a
high-quality design and layout.
Redevelopment of Firbeck has been selected as the preferred option
for a number of reasons including:
· It allows the town centre area to be planned and redeveloped
as a whole
· It will make new development on neighbouring land more attractive
and viable.
· The property at Firbeck is not well-designed or well laid out and
does not present a good image as part of the new town centre. Nor
can it provide the standard of residential environment that
residents have a right to expect. Redevelopment will enable
better-quality housing, of a range of types, to be built. It will
also enable existing residents to be offered a range of better
relocation opportunities.
If the Cabinet recommends redevelopment at its meeting on 12
February, council officers will visit all homes in Firbeck and
Findon to discuss people's individual needs, give information about
what will be provided if demolition does go ahead, and to carry out
further consultation.
The Council is proposing to work with the developer, St Modwen, to
identify a range of sites in Skelmersdale, around the town centre,
where new houses can be built to compensate for the homes lost at
Firbeck and Findon if demolition goes ahead. These would then be
offered to the displaced tenants.
Note to editors
Firbeck and Findon is a small area of 189 residential properties,
120 of which are Council stock; 51 are owner-occupier or private
rented, and the remaining 18 are leased to a housing association or
are other forms of tenure. There is also a dentist's surgery and a
day care centre.
Proposed offer to Firbeck residents
Full details of the package, subject to Cabinet approval, are set
out at Appendix 2 of the report. Some of the main points are:
Tenants:
A home loss payment of £4,400 per property and priority on the
Council waiting list for alternative accommodation with choice of
an existing like-for-like property (ie. same number of bedrooms;
similar rent levels). Opportunities will also exist for a newly
built home in the town.
Home owners:
The developer, St Modwen, will offer:
Either: to buy their home at market price unaffected by threat of
demolition, plus 10% extra and removal expenses
Or: a brand new property within the town centre development, on a
shared-ownership basis if the value is greater than their current
home.
West Lancashire District Council is committed to delivering a new,
high quality town centre for the people of Skelmersdale, involving
the local community in close consultation. The Council, a
significant landowner in Skelmersdale, has selected St Modwen as
the developer to work on behalf of both the Council and English
Partnerships to develop proposals and ultimately build the new town
centre.
English Partnerships is the government's national regeneration
agency delivering high quality, sustainable growth in England. It
does this by developing its portfolio of strategic projects and
acting as the government's advisor on brownfield land. It also
ensures that surplus public sector assets are used to support wider
government objectives. English Partnerships helps create
communities where people can afford to live and want to live.
Information on projects and programmes can be found at
www.englishpartnerships.co.uk.
English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation are working with
the Department for Communities and Local Government to establish
the proposed Homes and Communities Agency.
St. Modwen is the UK's leading regeneration specialist operating
through a network of six regional offices in all sectors of the
property industry. These regional offices enable the company to
understand local needs and to exercise on the spot control. They
work in partnership with private and public sector organisations,
continually mindful of the impact of developments on the
communities in which they operate. The company focuses on four
particular areas of specialisation: town centre regeneration,
partnering industry in its restructuring, brownfield land renewal
and heritage restoration. www.stmodwen.co.uk
Related information
> Skelmersdale regeneration
> Regeneration projects