Flagship project set to brighten up more of borough's district centres

Flagship project set to brighten up more of borough's district centres

A flagship council scheme which sees Wigan Borough’s district centres spruced up through focused environmental efforts is moving into its next phase.

Over the last two years, the Our Town programme has seen council teams armed with jet washers, paint brushes and litter picking equipment descend onto 25 district centres to create cleaner, greener places for residents to enjoy.

With a further £600k investment from Wigan Council and part of the borough’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation, even more places are set to benefit with this year’s schedule.

Councillor Dane Anderton, lead member for district centres and night time economy, said: “I am delighted to announce Our Town 3, which will see a further investment in our district centres.

“The most recent Our Town two works had a strong visual impact on the 13 district centres and were delivered by the Streetscene, Network Management and In Bloom teams.

“Across the three Our Town projects, well over £1million will have been spent to deliver real improvements to townships across our borough.”

The Our Town initiative began in response to the largest consultation exercise the borough has ever seen, the Big Listening Project, where residents, communities and businesses across the borough shared their views.

Across the two Our Town projects so far, works delivered with thousands of hours of staff time has included:

• 18,000 square metres of jet washing
• Over 270 new bins installed
• 41 ‘grot spots’ cleaned
• Over 80 tonnes of litter, fly-tipping and debris removed
• Engagement with over 1,400 businesses
• 62 miles of roads and footways swept
• 312 lighting columns painted to prolong their life.

Coun Anderton, added: “This project may seem like lots of little pieces of work such as line painting, tackling grot spots, replacing old bins and benches, sweeping the footway and more.

“But it is a great example of how lots of little actions all come together to create something bigger than the sum of their parts. The teams cover a huge amount of ground, with all of these little improvements coming together to boost civic pride right across our borough.

“We know how much people care about their area and their community - that was loud and clear from the Big Listening Project - and the Our Town work helps to ensure they continue to be places we can all be proud of together.

“I’m really pleased to announce that the Our Town three programme will build on this success and is launching in April 2023.”

Our Town one started in May 2021 and visited Hindley, Golborne, Ince, Orrell, Aspull, Lowton, Standish, Pemberton, Ashton, Atherton, Platt Bridge and Tyldesley.

Our Town two then followed in 2022, with improvement works carried out in Bryn, Douglas, Atherleigh, Astley / Mosley Common, Wigan West, Wigan Central, Leigh East, Leigh West, Shevington, Hindley Green, Worsley Mesnes, Winstanley, and Leigh South.