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Rawtenstall Loses Out in Bid to be a Portas Pilot Town

Rawtenstall's Town Team learned on Saturday that their bid to be a Portas Pilot Town had not been successful.

Brighter days ahead: The site of the Valley Centre,
which will soon be home to Rawtenstall's Town Square

The twelve successful towns, who will each take a share of £12m to revitalise their town centres, was announced on Saturday and, whilst Rawtenstall didn't make it to the final twelve, the team is still upbeat and determined to take action on the elements listed in the bid.

Whilst Rawtenstall wasn't successful on this occasion, with over 370 applications received, a second round of Portas Pilot teams will be announced at the end of July.  Rawtenstall has until the end of June to do more work on their bid should the team wish to, but will automatically be re-entered into the second round anyway.

Speaking about the news, David Gould, President of the Rawtenstall Chamber of Commerce, said: "It's obviously disappointing not to have been chosen as one of the twelve Portas Pilot Towns. However I suggested at the first meeting that we should be trying to follow the guidelines in the Portas Review anyway, many of which we already had in place, regardless of whether we were successful in our bid. I don't think there is any reason why that should change following the announcement that Rawtenstall hasn't been successful on this occasion.

"There is a second round and we may still have a chance of success in that. There is an opportunity for us to review our submission, which the Town Team can do at the next meeting."

The twelve towns chosen as successful Portas Pilot Towns were:

• Nelson, Lancashire
• Stockport, Greater Manchester
• Croydon, Greater London
• Bedford, Bristol
• Dartford, Kent
• Bedminster, Bristol
• Liskeard, Cornwall
• Margate, Kent
• Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
• Newbiggin by the Sea, Northumberland
• Stockton on Tees, Teesside
• Wolverhampton, West Midlands

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