Burscough town centre
regeneration
In previous retail planning studies for the district it
had been identified that there was a need for more food
retailers, as many people travelled to the neighbouring
borough of Sefton for their food shopping.
Proposals by Tesco PLC to develop a
foodstore on brownfield land at the northern end of Burscough town
centre provided an excellent opportunity to encourage the
return of some of this lost retail spending.
To address local concerns that the proposed
foodstore would severely damage the existing town centre, we
worked pro-actively, with the support of Tesco, to regenerate the
wider town centre.
Burscough Bridge Interchange
One of the
main areas identified that required significant
improvement, was Burscough Bridge Railway Station. This key
transport link has been transformed from an old and
unattractive site that attracted anti social behaviour, to a new
site which now incorporates a bus and rail interchange. The new
facility is staffed seven days a week and
provides a shelter, ticket office and café, as well as
travel and tourism information.
St John The Baptist
Church
Within the Burscough regeneration project
there are many unique touches and intricate details, including
inscriptions on the clock tower and various bespoke paving
schemes.
One of the most impressive
features though, is the illumination of the Grade II* listed
St John The Baptist Church. This particular piece of work was
done in consultation with the church authorities and is believed to
be only the second church in the country to have this particular
lighting scheme installed.
The colours of the lighting change in
accordance with the church calendar, for example on Christmas
day the lighting scheme is yellow/gold to almost white and in
the run up to Easter the lights change to show purple to mauve,
with Palm Sunday changing to red then to dark purple.
Access routes
The development of Burscough also
included an improved access route to the rail station and food
store with the installation of a roundabout and turning point.
This infrastructure extends beyond the original route towards
Burscough Sports Centre to the northwest of the food store.
The Council worked very closely with
Lancashire County Council on this part of the project, which
was managed by the Lancashire Community Rail Partnership.
Related information