Borough Life Winter 2006: Shorts
Reserved for nature
Orrell Water Park is set to become the borough’s newest nature reserve. Water meadows that border the former Victorian reservoirs on Wigan’s western fringes will be given special protection because of their rich array of wildlife, including rare dragonflies and damsel flies.
The park is also home to a healthy population of water voles, one of Britain’s best-loved but most threatened mammals.
Often mistaken for rats – Ratty from Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic, The Wind in the Willows, was actually a water vole – they have been decimated in large parts of the country by mink.
Orrell will become the borough’s third local nature reserve, joining Borsdane Wood in Hindley and Wigan Flashes, and will be the first to be announced by Natural England, the country’s new conservation watchdog.
As part of their biodiversity plan, Wigan Council and Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust have pledged to create one new nature reserve every year. They are working with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and a dedicated local community group to protect and enhance the wildlife found at Orrell Water Park.Guide Dogs HQ moves to Gibfield
GIBFIELD has gone to the dogs! The flagship 300 acre business park and leisure project in Atherton recently scored a major coup by attracting the new regional headquarters of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
The association is moving its HQ and dog supply unit to Gibfield and will be used to train up to 100 guide dogs at a time. When the new centre opens in early 2008 it is anticipated that it could bring as many as 100 new jobs to the area.
The entire Gibfield project will create 200 acres of country park with footpaths, bridleways, wildlife habitats and grazing land. The site will also include a 34 acre business park, 450 houses with a district centre, a strategic road link and streamside nature walk.
A grand design
When the town’s Grand Arcade shopping complex opens next spring, it will display some of the historic items found during the dig that took place before building started 18 months ago.
Council planners have been talking to developers Modus and archaeologists about a permanent exhibition of the finds that revealed how Wigan was an important Roman settlement. One of the most exciting items was a rare “hypocaust”, an unusual type of under-floor central heating, indicating that Wigan was an important place during Roman times.
It’s hoped to recreate this in a courtyard behind the old Penningtons building, and display many of the fragments of 2nd century pottery recovered from the site.
Cllr John O’Neill, cabinet member for planning and regeneration, said: “Everyone said how much they hoped that the finds would be returned to the town. Thanks to Modus this will happen, and it will make the Grand Arcade more than just another shopping centre.”
The £120 million centre will also include a tribute to the legendary Wigan Casino.
It’s anticipated up to 700 jobs will be created, plus a further 300 during 2007 as other retailers move into town. The council has teamed up with retailers to offer retail skills advice throughout December and into the new year.
First for Platt Bridge
A groundbreaking multi-million pound development in Platt Bridge is up and running.
Platt Bridge Community First, one of the borough’s first ‘extended schools’, is home to a wide range of public services all on one site.
Nearby Low Hall and St Nathaniel’s schools have merged to become Platt Bridge Community School – and 300 pupils are quickly settling in to their state-of-the-art surroundings. Housing and health services will be opening soon, but already in business are Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust with a brand new library and Wigan Council with Sure Start children’s and families’ centres.
The trust has invested more than £170,000 to fit out the library with an array of excellent facilities, including a children’s library, an area for teenagers including soft seating, Play Station and a PC; and a separate adult library with computers, DVD/CD collection and over 6,000 books.
Platt Bridge parents with children under five now have a range of Sure Start services at their fingertips, including early learning, day care, parental outreach and family support. These will complement child and family health services such as ante-natal care and a baby unit.
The centre has already been shortlisted for a major national prize for extended schools.
Police get neighbour-Leigh
Leigh, Lowton and Golborne are the first towns in the borough to benefit from neighbourhood policing.
The change, aimed at making the police more accessible to locals, means that officers will be dedicated to specific areas or beats across the township.
There will be regular high visibility patrols and community surgeries, and officers will have mobile phones to improve communication with local residents while they are out on the streets.
Leigh Inspector Steve Wilkinson said:
“Neighbourhood policing is about officers working with partner agencies like the council to tackle anti-social behaviour and criminal damage.
“Local people are best placed to know the local issues and residents are encouraged to contact the Neighbourhood Policing Team to discuss their concerns and what needs to be done.”
Neighbourhood policing will be brought in to the rest of the Wigan borough in 2007. For more information on how to contact the Leigh team call 0161 856 7229 or log onto the GMP website at www.gmp.police.ukCalendar date with local heroes
A brilliant Atherton scientist, Professor Eric Laithwaite, is one of twelve notable sons and daughters of the borough commemorated in a new calendar produced to raise funds for the mayor’s charity.
Laithwaite, who died in 1997, invented the Maglev – a high-speed magnetic levitating train now operating in China. The calendar also features other local heroes, including Hindley actress Lily Brayton, Golborne boxer Peter Kane and Wigan artist Lawrence Isherwood. The calendar costs £5, and proceeds will go towards DIAS, the domestic violence charity, and Victim Support. It is available from libraries, council offices or the mayor’s secretary, tel 01942 827156 or email c.charnock@wigan.gov.uk