One Bury, one future

Hello everyone. To quote an old Ian Dury song, there are many reasons to be cheerful in Bury right now.

It’s often been said – people won’t believe it until they can see it with their own eyes. That’s exactly what I and my cabinet members did last week, by going on a mini-tour round the various regeneration projects in our borough.

Radcliffe in particular is coming on well. As you can see from the accompanying photo, the metal frame of the new civic hub is now going up, which reminds us that new multi-million pound leisure facilities are on the way.

We will also be announcing very soon the detailed plans for the new Radcliffe Enterprise Centre, which will be a base for local small and start-up businesses looking for premises and expert support.

As I’ve said before, regeneration is about more than buildings. It’s about jobs and skills, decent housing and the environment, to create prosperous communities which people are proud to call home.

And leisure plays an important part too. It was a pleasure to attend the official opening of the new football-themed exhibition at Bury Art Museum last week. Not only does it include Lowry’s famous painting Going to the Match, but a treasure trove of football memorabilia, donated by supporters from clubs around the region, not least from Bury FC.

We are proud to have financially backed Bury so they could install a new all-weather pitch at Gigg Lane. We have also worked to bring new 3G pitches to communities in Radcliffe and Ramsbottom, which will play an important role in allowing residents to get fit and simply enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of sport and exercise.

To bring about genuine transformation and long-term results, you need to work on a wide range of fronts. That’s what we’re trying to do here, to build one happy borough and one happy future.