Nelson town centre has seen huge improvements over the past few months as the Council continually strives to make the area more attractive and accessible for residents and visitors. This is the final update of this blog, as the town centre was officially opened on Saturday 20th August.
High Street Improvements
Background
Pendle Council was granted £2.1m funding to reintroduce slow moving traffic to the town centre. Putting the road back through Nelson Town Centre is what traders, residents and the Council have been wanting for years. Existing on-street parking on Manchester Road has remained and more has been introduced on Leeds Road. The new High Street also includes a new pedestrian area, new seating, signs and impressive up-lighting at ground level, which will light up key buildings.
The project has been joint funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which is managed by the NWDA in the Northwest. NWDA have contributed £1.21m and ERDF have contributed £950,043.
Nelson Town Centre is open to traffic!
Nelson officially opened the high street to traffic for the first time in over 20years on Saturday 20th August 2011, The Mayor of Pendle Cllr Nadeem Ahmed was joined by local media celebrity Tony Livesey to officially open the high street and launch the shuttle, which was followed by a colourful Art Car Parade and fun filled celebrations throughout the town, including live music and street entertainment. Click here to see a photo gallery of the day.
The finishing touches on the £2.1mil scheme included:
1) Central Space – the area is now complete with the inclusion of cubed tress and ornamental grasses. The central space is now the ideal place to sit and enjoy a spot of lunch or a chat with friends.
2) Granite Cubes – the remaining cubes are now in place complete with local dialect phrases, so why not take a look and see if you know what they mean!
3) Road surfacing - the final piece of work to be completed was the road surfacing which took place in early August.
We would like to thanks traders and residents for their patience and understanding throughout the construction period and we now have an exciting new town centre that we can all be proud of! We'd like to hear your thoughts on the town centre and the opening day itself - simply click here to send us your comments. ideas and observations.
Should you require any further details please contact Hanna Latty on 01282 661677 (or at Johanna.Latty@pendle.gov.uk)