How to ruin a street!

[Acrylic-bob]

So the plans to redesign Broadway have been announced.

For those of you who have been almost wetting yourselves in anticipation of this long awaited event, the results are to be seen on page 18 of this week’s Accrington Observer.
Instead of a thoroughfare to match the needs of the twenty-first century, that will be an asset to the town and attract traders, tourists and shoppers from all over the place, and will encourage the private sector to dig deep into their pockets to help to raise the profile of the town. What we will get is half an acre of brick sets, a couple of benches and some mobile flower beds.
It will do nothing to dispel the “Pound Store/Charity Shop image of Accrington. It will attract no-one and will repel many. It will be an open wasteland in the centre of town that will provide yet another location for our yobbish young to congregate in and creatively trash!

In the summer, ‘Smarmy’ Rix and ‘Barking’ Britcliffe were puffing themselves up and patting themselves, smugly, on the back as they announced that there was to be a RIBA competition to redesign the most important shopping street in the town – what happened – did the funding for the feasibility study mysteriously run out, YET AGAIN?

That RIBA (The Royal Institute of British Architects), are supposed to have come up with this. I, for one, find patently UNBELIEVABLE!

Michael Moule, Regeneration Manager for Hyndburn First said “ We want to keep it fairly open so we can use the street for a range of events, such as pot fairs.”
I saw the one they held last week. What a marvellous advert for the town that was. Half a dozen stalls selling the most dismal tat imaginable. That will really bring the tourists flocking in. Oh yes, you can hear them talking in the car-parks of the Trafford Centre, can’t you? “ Oh dear this place is so passé! Let’s go to Hyndburn darling, I hear they’re having a Pot Fair.” Yeah, right.

It was only two weeks ago that Britcliffe was telling readers of The Observer that the scheme was going to cost £350,000. Today we discover that it will only cost £250,000.
“Barking” Britcliffe, who is a recognised expert in all matters pertaining to the aesthetics of the built environment, as well as fiscal responsibility, said,” We have looked at what is aesthetically pleasing and affordable. We are not promoting this as something out of this world, it is the kind of surface and street furniture that is being used in town centres these days.”

Excuse me, “these days.”? “THESE DAYS” ?

For crying out loud man! We are not talking about paving the patio here! You can’t just go swanning off to B&Q and order a couple of benches and a few flower pots, thinking that will have to do! “Cheap and cheerful” is not an acceptable solution in town planning. This is part of the redesign of the town centre you are playing about with. People’s livelihoods and businesses depend on you getting it right, after thirty frustrating years of getting it consistently WRONG!
And while we are at it, where is it written that Accrington must be indistinguishable from anywhere else? What happened to ideosyncracy and vernacular? Come to think of it, what happened to plain old fashioned IMAGINATION and fitting the solution to the problem? WELL?

So there you have it! Because HBC tried “thinking outside the box” and found it far too difficult and stressful, and because Smarmy Rix and his pals need all the outside funding to pay for consultancy fees and feasibility studies etc.etc., Accrington is going to get a redesigned Broadway that; A. nobody likes, B. looks like something from a sixties nightmare and C. something that will ensure that the traders of this town will find it even harder to keep their heads above water.



You voted them in. You can vote them out!

[WillowTheWhisp]

Have they dropped the idea of an open air cafe now?

I couldn't see how that could possibly have any appeal in Accrington. I mean, for goodness sakes. IT RAINS! This isn't Paris.

[K.S.H]

might be a good idea to hold jumble sales on broadway, the poundshops will then close and we will have no shops!! there will be plenty of room then for the new bus station that no-one will be using so there will be no accidents, problems solved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Poodle]

BULLDOZE it all and make a giant car park so all the boy racers can sit around with their burberry caps on.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Wait a minute. I'm beginning to catch the vision of your idea KSH - car boot sales!

[Acrylic-bob]

To add to this forgotten subject, has anyone seen the front page of the Telegraph?

It is annnounced that Blackburn town centre is to be revamped at a cost of £150 Million. They will be uncovering the river, redesigning the shopping centre, building flats and offices and the list goes on and on.

You can say what you like about Blackburn with Darwen, but at least they have got a bit of imagination and ambition. It puts the half acre of brick setts and mobile flower pots that Britcliffe has decided on for the revamp of Broadway into perspective.

[JohnW]

Oh come on A-B. Look on the bright side. You'll be able to name it 'Britcliffe's Folly'.
Not every town has one of those you know! Also, at least you'll be safe from any terrorist attacks, because they will think it isn't worth destroying.

[pendy]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Have they dropped the idea of an open air cafe now?

I couldn't see how that could possibly have any appeal in Accrington. I mean, for goodness sakes. IT RAINS! This isn't Paris.

It rains in Paris too, quite a lot, but they do have nice awnings.

Take a trip to London, walk up Regent Street, and all will be revealed. The RIBA building is one of the ugliest around! It does seem that too many architects are interested in concepts, not in people. Le Corbusier said that a house is a machine for living in. Who wants to live in a machine? Great concept, but not people-shaped (or people-sized).

Why should the plans for Broadway be any different? Cynical, but sadly true.

[Acrylic-bob]

Yeah, The thing is Pendy, a design by Le Corbusier would be a welcome improvement, impractical and old hat as they might be. At least the structure and the intent would be clean, clear and straight forward, unlike the current mish-mash.

[WillowTheWhisp]

If Blackburn can unearth its river to make a feature of it in the town (and Blackburn town centre is looking quite good now anyway) why on earth can't someone with a bit of imagination make the most of what we have in Acccrington too. I know the river is my pet thing but it could be made very attractive, it no longer stinks and even if we weren't the only town with a river at least every river is different so we would be unique.

Hyndburn is so keen about the name Hyndburn - let's have the eponymous river as our main feature.

[Acrylic-bob]

Hear Hear! Considering that quite a lot of the industry that made the town what it is was founded upon this river and its tributaries, I think it is a crying shame that it has been hidden away like some old and embarassing relative. It deserves a greater prominence.

[Tealeaf]

While few of us would know the course of the River Blakewater under Blackburn, most of us have a pretty good idea of the course of the Stink through Accy and Church. For most of that course the river runs through culverts and bears little resemblance to it's original, meandering way. I really do not see what good the idea of unearthing it now would be or even if it would be possible without tearing down half the town centre.


Lets get real on this, shall we? Even if it could be done,surely there are far more important things to spend money on.

[WillowTheWhisp]

You're missing my point. We wouldn't need to unearth ours. We've got a potential site waiting for sympathetic development.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Lets get real on this, shall we? Even if it could be done,surely there are far more important things to spend money on.

Such as a few cobblestones, park benches and plant pots on Broadway?

[Acrylic-bob]

There was an interesting suggestion in this week's Observer letters page regarding a solution to the Broadway redevelopment. Craig Buck suggested putting a glass roof on the whole street. Which I think is an interesting idea but probably impractical given the varying height of the buildings lining it.