Item 13 - East Accrington Masterplan - Hyndburn Borough Council

A Masterplan for East AccringtonThe regeneration of East Accrington is a key priority forHyndburn Council as part of the Housing Market Renewalprogramme. East Accrington is an area directly adjacentto Accrington Town Centre and comprises two distinctneighbourhoods of Woodnook and Burnley Road. Themasterplan provides the vision and coordination todeliver transformational change for East Accrington.An East Accrington Masterplan and Delivery Strategyhas been prepared following detailed area analysis,stakeholder and public consultation and in depth optionsgeneration and testing. This has involved substantialwork for over twelve months, by Hyndburn Council andtheir consultants. The final masterplan provides a clearframework for regeneration and investment activity andadvice on how to go about delivering change.The masterplan is supported by a suite of planningdocuments which are part of Hyndburn Council’s LocalDevelopment Framework. The key planning document isthe East Accrington Supplementary Planning Document,which has been drafted alongside the masterplan. Thisis available separately from the Council and providesthe planning principles and parameters to guidedevelopment.A snapshot of the issues….• East Accrington needs to become once again aplace where people will choose to live withinAccrington. The masterplan addresses the limitedhousing offer, poor environmental quality andsocio-economic stress.• Woodnook is suffering most from problemsassociated with housing market decline and socialand economic stress. Without substantial publicintervention it is will not be possible to achieveregeneration. The scale of the challenge inWoodnook is recognised in the plan.• Burnley Road is faring better, but there are keyareas where targeted action is required. It is vitalto halt potential future decline in Burnley Roadby addressing key problem areas now and set theneighbourhood in the right direction for futuresuccess.• Delivery of the plan required to turn EastAccrington around will be challenging. Securinginvestment from the public purse and privateinvestment will be critical and the complexities ofdelivering this ambitious plan in difficult economictimes requires a flexible approach.The Strategic FrameworkAt a strategic level, the plan for regeneration activityin East Accrington has been coordinated carefully andinvolves the following:• Designation of several priority intervention areasfor housing market renewal. These will be thefocal points for public investment and there aretwo such areas in each neighbourhood. Theseareas are characterised by existing terracedhousing stock, which are the areas in greatest needof regeneration. A combination of demolition andredevelopment, refurbishment, remodelling andface-lifting is proposed in these areas.• Identification of different regeneration sites ineast Accrington which provide opportunities fordevelopers to deliver new housing in Woodnookand Burnley Road. These sites will provide anopportunity to transform the image of eastAccrington and to lever in private investment toincrease housing choice and quality.• Provision for substantial investment inenvironmental quality and place making acrossEast Accrington to include new and improvedgreen spaces, improved and more pedestrianfriendly residential streets and fresh new gateways,arrival points and boulevards. All of this will bevital to improve the image of East Accringtonand to create a more welcoming and attractiveresidential setting.Masterplan ContentDetailed plans and projects are set out for bothneighbourhoods, focusing principally on physicalintervention. The masterplan recommends thedemolition of some terraces, but this is part of acomprehensive plan, which recognises that demolitionforms part of a toolkit of measures which the Councilwill have to employ to secure lasting impact. Themasterplans for Woodnook and Burnley Road illustratehow the strategic framework might be implemented andbased on this the content of the programme has beenconsidered. Overall this is seen to be a ten year plusprogramme with a cost of delivery in the order of £40m.Outcomes of this work would be multi-faceted, includingsubstantial numbers of new larger houses, an improvedterraced stock, with a greater proportion of larger housesand significant levels of refurbishment and externalimprovements. All of this would be in the context of amuch improved environment, with enhanced streets andnew open spaces.2