Councillors will meet next week to determine the next steps in a multi-million pound programme to transform Barrow town centre.
A £200m investment in the town over the next 10 years through the Team Barrow partnership presents new opportunities to enable a bolder, more ambitious vision for Barrow.
A key part of this investment is the ‘Heart of Barrow’ town centre transformation programme, to include cultural and leisure offers, community facilities and new housing and employment provision.
Heart of Barrow is being led by Westmorland and Furness Council, working on behalf of the wider Team Barrow programme – a partnership between the council, BAE Systems and national Government.
Westmorland and Furness Council’s Cabinet will meet on 17 March to consider approving the Outline Business Case (OBC) for Phase 1 of the Heart of Barrow project, for ‘enabling’ works ahead of Phase 2, which would see the long-term Vision Masterplan developed and delivered.
The Phase 1 OBC is seeking approval for:
- Demolition and site clearance costs
- First phase of land assembly
- A package of meanwhile uses and cultural activity for the town centre
- Professional fees to support the procurement of a development partner for delivery of Phase 2
If agreed by Cabinet, the £35 million funding for the Phase 1 works would then be subject to confirmation by the Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Team Barrow Delivery Board.
The proposed ‘meanwhile use’ programme under the Phase 1 OBC has been shaped by feedback from community and stakeholder engagement.
This included more than 650 responses to an Early Conversation survey and targeted engagement with local schools, care home residents, youth groups and community and cultural organisations.
The programme has been designed to help the town centre economy in the short-to-medium term, to maintain footfall and support cultural organisations and businesses during the redevelopment, which the Cabinet report says is particularly important considering the recent closure of the Forum and market hall.
The proposals include introducing a lively new Market Village, a flexible temporary venue and a coordinated programme of cultural activity during the pre construction and construction phases of Heart of Barrow.
Together, these will create new places for people to meet, shop, and take part in events, helping to strengthen the town centre, bring communities together, and offer accessible cultural and social experiences for all ages.
The proposed meanwhile use programme would build on some early ‘meanwhile’ improvements already under way in the town centre.
The council has worked alongside other Team Barrow partners on activities including ‘deep cleaning’ across key streets, community litter-picks and community planting schemes, to “reinforce a sense of renewal and encourage greater local ownership of shared spaces’’.
At the same time, new and improved signage is being developed in partnership with businesses to ensure the town centre feels welcoming and better connected and new CCTV cameras are intended to be installed by the end of March.
The Cabinet report also outlines the Phase 1 ambition to assemble the land for a Heart of Barrow site for the transformational redevelopment that would form Phase 2.
This could include the site of the Forum and indoor market hall, if a decision is taken by Cabinet at the same meeting to demolish these buildings.
The council has previously said it understands and recognises the importance of the Forum and indoor market. Not only as an entertainment venue and a retail facility, but as much-loved and valued community spaces. It has received representations from user groups, and it understands and is listening to all concerns and suggestions.
However, the Cabinet report on the Forum and market buildings details the state of the buildings and concerns over their continuing degradation, meaning that a decision regarding their future needs to be taken now.
The buildings have had their condition, compliance, viability, and future operational risk assessed. The report says that continued operation, or retention in a vacant state, is not viable due to a combination of these factors.
The need for demolition is borne from clear indicators of physical, functional and economic obsolescence.
The report to Cabinet concludes that demolition is an operationally necessary step, required to eliminate material and foreseeable risk, rather than a discretionary or aesthetic choice.
Phase 2 of the Heart of Barrow programme would be subject to a separate OBC and funding approval from Team Barrow, with a commitment that the Phase 2 long-term vision would continue to be developed with and alongside local groups and the community.
- Westmorland and Furness Council’s Cabinet will meet at Barrow Town Hall next Tuesday, 17 March. Read the full reports in the Cabinet agenda