Not in Wayne's World

Things seem to be hotting up with the Skelmersdale Vision plan, which aims to revitalise the town's town centre.

It's not just local residents who are not happy with some of the plans. Wayne Hemmingway, brought in to help form the Vision back in 2005 was asked by the Skelmersdale Advertiser what he thought of the plans which have recently been out for consultation. Click here for the whole interview

He is on the side of the residents, particularly those who live on Firbeck, an area earmarked for redevelopment.

SA: What do you think about the proposals on Firbeck?

WH: If the Firbeck people don’t want their houses demolished then the estate shouldn’t be demolished. If they feel it’s good enough to live there then it is – they are the ones living there.

Comments

[Steve Hanlon]

Hemmingway is absolutely right on this. The redevelopment of the town centre must be done with the community at the heart of the plans.
If people in Firbeck want to stay, then they should. The trouble with the Firbeck issue is that everyone in the town is being consulted, and that could be what determines the future of the estate - not simply the views of the people who live there. That is plainly wrong.
There are other interesting points raised in the Hemmingway interview, and one gets the impression that he isn't 100% happy with the way the process has developed since he was involved in the initial vision.

[Hazel Sculy]

Hi.I have only tday found this page and I thank both Steve and Wayne Hemingway for their consideration for the people of Firbeck.I am Hazel Scully,chair of Firbeck and Findon Campaign Group.There was no consultation with the residents of Firbeck and Findon before the entire town was asked to select options on our future.A petition of 4000+ signatures from townspeople rejecting demolition of our homes was ignored by W.L.D.C and,for the first year of opposition to these dreadful plans, we appealed to deaf ears on Cabinet.Three years on we have no information from Council(the ruling Tory faction)but we still fight on for our right to individual choice -choice to live wherever we wish and the choice to choose our own futures.Our problem is not the Town Centre persay--we are fighting the loss of our homes to make way for new build for private buyers-not new build for our tenants!We are fighting against the destruction of private homes on Firbeck -no decent offers from St.Modwen for these homeowners.How many of our homeowners would resort to backtracking to rented accomodation after working all their lives to pay a mortgage?