Council bosses have voted to push ahead with plans to buy the Valley Centre – and scrapped plans for a £3 million new pool in Haslingden.
The move angered dozens of protesters who attended a meeting calling for the move to be dropped.
Rossendale Council voted to use £2.5m allocated for the pool development to buy and redevelop Rawtenstall’s dilapidated Valley Centre.
It came after a leaked report indicated that Haslingden baths has a lifespan of just five years.
Councillors forced through plans to the dismay of more than 50 protesters who turned out in force to present the council with an 8,122 name petition.
At an impassioned meeting at Futures Park on Wednesday night, councillors voted 18-16 in favour of the Cabinet-backed plan to purchase the Valley Centre from owners Ashcap Properties Ltd.
Conservative leader Brian Essex urged councillors to instead consider completing the pool development and allocating £1.5m to regeneration.
He said the pool redevelopment was "urgent and vital".
Tory councillors also slammed cabinet members for the secrecy surrounding the proposed purchase of the Valley Centre, claiming a clear business plan was not in place.
Coun Jason Gledhill said: "The Valley Centre numbers simply do not stack up.
"How can members vote for the Valley Centre option when we have not been told the basis of these valuations and there n FROM PAGE ONE
"I support a plan for the Valley Centre but not this one."
But Labour council leader Alyson Barnes said councillors needed to "wake up" and realise the authority could not afford both schemes.
She said: "We can’t do both and £1.5m will not buy the Valley Centre. We have a proposal on the table that will do just that. Having watched this unfold for a very long time the single biggest obstacle has been lack of control of that site. If we can control that site we can do more with it."
Portfolio holder for regeneration Coun Andrew MacNae said: "How can a council struggling for cash justify spending £3.2m on a pool with no long term value which is designed to lose £32,000 per year?
"We would be reckless in the extreme and it would put taxpayers money at an unacceptable level of risk."
After a five-hour meeting, during which Mayor Gladys Sandiford was forced to call order on a number of occasions, the Labour party managed to push through its recommendation with the support of Liberal Democrat councillor Tim Nuttall and Worsley ward councillor Ann Kenyon.
Coun Kenyon said: "Speaking as a Rossendale thoroughbred I want to look after all the people we represent, not just a small community.
"I want a facility that accommodates everyone, not just swimmers."
Coun Nuttall said: "Throughout my four years as a councillor the Valley Centre has remained a blight on Rossendale. A development in Rawtenstall will create a ripple effect across the Valley."
After the meeting Save Our Pool campaign leader John Lund said: "I think this is a breakdown of democracy.
"The people of Haslingden have given a firm guidance to the councillors but they have instead chosen to toe the party line."
Haslingden Pool is ‘a risk to the public’ – leaked report
HASLINGDEN pool is set for ‘a significant failure’ within five years, according to a confidential report.
The Spring and Co report, commissioned by Rossendale Council, was leaked to the Free Press ahead of the full council meeting to scrap a new pool.
It finds the pool’s condition has deteriorated since 2008 and parts of the building could already pose a ‘significant risk’ to the public.
Back in 2009, KKP recommended the closure of the pool and found it had ‘concrete cancer’. Council bosses have previously insisted there are no plans to shut the East Bank Avenue baths.
The latest inspection, produced by structural engineers and surveyors, finds:
- Work to the stone cornice to the front elevation of the building is a "significant risk" to the public and should be dealt with immediately. Work to address it has been authorised but not carried out.
- The building is no longer weathertight and daylight can be seen through the walls at roof level.
- The building should be monitored every six months.
Rossendale Council has refused to release structural surveys under the Freedom of Information Act, citing prejudice to public and commercial interests.
Haslingden pool campaigner Mike McGrath claimed council bosses had behaved ‘irresponsibly’.
He said: "They have known this and said the pool is okay, which is directly at odds with what is in the report.
"It isn’t particularly shocking to see it in black and white as we use the pool two or three times a week."
The report states: "We do expect a significant failure within the next five years. Concrete structures of this nature do not usually fail catastrophically and usually in the event of a failure there are indications of further distress before failure, such as cracks widening and leakage. However, this does remain a risk."
Council leader Alyson Barnes, the lead member for leisure, said: "Immediate concern regarding the cornice has already been actioned."
She added that everything else would be looked at in the light of the full council decision.
Liberal Democrat councillor Jim Pilling has claimed keeping the pool open was ‘throwing money down a black hole’.
He said: "We’re in a pretty horrible financial situation here. People in Bacup were promised a pool in the 1990s."
Three years of U-turns over Valley centre and Haslingden Pool
- Early 2008: Ashcap Properties buy Rawtenstall's dilapidated Valley Centre for up to £5m.
- Feb 2008: Council bosses give the go-ahead for a multi-million pound redevelopment of the Valley Centre with 116 apartments, shops, restaurants, a cafe quarter and a 369-space car park to open in 2010.
- Nov 2008: Ashcap announce changes to the redevelopment plans due to the challenging economic climate. They say a two-year wait likely.
- Jan 2009: Council reveals plans for cuts to leisure services including the possible closure of Haslingden baths.
- Feb 2009: Thousands sign petitions to keep Marl Pits and Haslingden pools open.
- Feb 2009: Council agree to keep Rossendale’s pools open for at least two years and £3m is promised to redevelop Haslingden pool.
- June 2009: Ashcap express willingness to sell the Valley Centre.
- Aug 2009: Calls for a £500,000 council grant to be used to pull down the Valley Centre.
- June 2010: Council decides to pursue a Compulsory Purchase Order in a bid to take over the Valley Centre land from Ashcap.
- Nov 2010: Ashcap confirm Valley Centre development will definitely not go ahead.
- Nov 2010: Free Press launches ‘Time For Action’ campaign.
- Nov 2010: Ashcap unveil new council-backed plans for redevelopment including a police centre, retail units and two restaurants.
- Feb 2011: Ashcap given 10 days to commit to a financial offer put forward by council leader Tony Swain.
- Mar 2011: Council begins search for new development partner.
- July 2011: Council bosses put plans for a new £3m regeneration of Haslingden pool on hold. It revealed plans to use the money to buy the Valley Centre.
- Sep 2011: Council leaders vote to buy Valley Centre and scrap pool plans
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I note that the suggestion to allocate £1.5m to regeneration made no mention of the Valley Centre but those councillors in favour of the Valley Centre were so obsessed that they chose to interpret it that way. Once again they showed that they have absolutely no interest in the rest of the Valley!. One day they might recognize that the world doesn't revolve around Rawtenstall & an empty shopping centre but by then it will be too late. That £1.5m could have been spent on genuine regeneration but they are like someone who goes to the January sales & assumes that everything in the sale must be a bargain. They will soon learn their mistake and, once again, we residents will have to pick up the pieces. I dread to think what they will waste money on next!
weres the money coming from to acually do anything with the site once its been cleared .
If as Coun Andrew MacNae says: "How can a council struggling for cash justify spending £3.2m on a pool with no long term value which is designed to lose £32,000 per year?
"We would be reckless in the extreme and it would put taxpayers money at an unacceptable level of risk." then WHY was all the money spent in the first place drawing up plans for the new pool? how many £1000's did that cost? is that not a waste of our money?!!! The council NEVER intended a new pool. They shut Bacup, and if you remember the plan was to shut Haslingden and Marl PIts 4/5 years ago and THEN build a new pool. where would be now? no pools at all! which is what I suspect people knew would happen. but the council are having their way anyway.
Wasnt the money spent on the plans for the new site of the pool exactly the same amount that would have kept the ski slope open! bah :(
Coun Andrew MacNae says: "How can a council struggling for cash justify spending £3.2m on a pool with no long term value which is designed to lose £32,000 per year?
"We would be reckless in the extreme and it would put taxpayers money at an unacceptable level of risk."
What happened to the money that was originally proposed of a '£5.6m project includes a new pool in Haslingden, major improvements to Marl Pits Pool, and a new fitness suite and 5-a-side pitches at Marl Pits.' quoted directly from RBC website? where did all that go?
and the fact Ski Rossendale needed £100K to keep it open? and how much was spent on drawing up the architect plans for the new pool ? wasnt that 100k?
hmmm wasting taxpayers money!? for something they sat on and waited?
A new proposal.
Retail will not work in the valley centre. Retail has died within peripheral locations. Every high street in small towns has many closed shops awaiting (overpriced) rental agreements.
The youth have nowhere to go or nothing to do. There are many articles asking what should we do with all the uneployed 16-25 year olds who are the victims of overbearing advertisments of products the can't afford or even need.
So, I suggest the centre is used for a youth orientated location that will attract people from hours away. Install the valley centre with large scale parkour, skateboarding apparatus. Young adult orientated media centres. Cafes and shops aimed at this market. Youth worker offices with mentors on hand to help anyone who needs them.
I would really like to see Rossendale BC use this opportunity to help our future generations instead of foollowing the same path as the rest of the UK suffering in these economic downtimes.
It would make a splendid example to other towns. I'm sure lottery and central government funding should be made available for such projects.
Coun Nuttall said: "Throughout my four years as a councillor the Valley Centre has remained a blight on Rossendale. A development in Rawtenstall will create a ripple effect across the Valley."
And with the wind turbines coming through the valley for crook hill wind farm
will cause another ripple !!!!
Coun Nuttal thinks this is a ripple, I would like to see his idea of big wave?