What will Wigan town centre look like 16 years from now?
That’s the question that council planners have been asking primary school pupils at a town centre school as part of a major new action plan.
Work has now begun on the plan for the future regeneration of Wigan Town Centre – known as the Wigan Central Area Action Plan.
Over the months ahead, the council will be speaking with people who live in and around Wigan town centre, businesses and other interested parties to get their views of the future and the issues facing the area before developing a detailed plan. And if you’re going to ask anyone about what the future should look like, a good group to start with has got to be the children.
Council planners set pupils from St Mary’s and St John’s School, Standishgate, the task of describing their ideas on how Wigan town centre should look by 2026 in words and pictures.
The children’s thoughts and images range from: ‘more colourful buildings’, ‘more benches and statues’, ‘more greenery’ through to ‘less litter’ and ‘more things for older children to do’.
The pupils have also been set the task of drawing how they think Market Place should look in the future to coincide with the launch of the plan on Friday July 2. The children’s thoughts and images will be used as part of the wider consultation exercise.
The Wigan Central Area Action Plan will look at the town centre, the Wigan Pier Quarter and the northern and eastern fringes of the town. The council has already identified a number of sites that are in need of redevelopment. These include the old police station at Harrogate Street and the final phase of the Grand Arcade development on Millgate.
The plan will include detailed policies on where new shops and offices can be built, how to improve travel in and out of the town centre, what can be done to attract more businesses to the town centre and how leisure activities and the town’s ‘night-time’ economy can be improved.
On Friday July 2, Wigan Council’s Cabinet Champion for the Environment, Cllr David Molyneux and Wigan MP Lisa Nandy joined the children in the town centre to officially launch the plan.
The children received a special certificate for being involved in the project and a digital camera so they can record the changing shape of the town centre as it happens.
Cllr Molyneux says: “The action plan is going to be an important document in shaping the future of the town centre and its surrounding area. We face many challenges and the preparation of this plan gives us a real opportunity to work with businesses, residents and all those with an interest in the town centre to draw up a practical and forward-thinking plan.
“I would like to thank all the pupils who have given our consultation the best possible start by letting us know their thoughts and feelings about their future.”
While Lisa Nandy adds: “This plan is vitally important for the future of the Town Centre creating a vibrant centre boosting jobs and bringing into use unused brownfield sites. I thank the children for their enthusiasm in getting involved and their creative ideas. I am pleased the council are involving local children and the wider community in drawing up this plan."
