WARRINGTON’S bold plan to transform Bank Park into one of the finest town centre parks in the UK is “on course” despite the impact of the recession, council chiefs are insisting.
Over the next month or so, they will be seeking a private sector partner to join them in the multi-million £ project to 
upgrade the park and re-develop the surrounding area to provide the town with a new “gateway” linking Bank Quay and Central stations, giving a boost to Sankey Street and enhancing the setting of the Town Hall.
Coun Bob Barr, (pictured) executive member for planning and regeneration, said no time was being wasted.
Warrington was regarded as a town that would be well-placed to make progress as the economic situation improved and it was important to be ready.
He said the area around Bank Park contained the largest group of Listed Buildings in the town.
Council leader Ian Marks said the scheme had been only slightly delayed by the economic situation.
The plan – known as the Golden Gardens project – was first unveiled by the council a year ago, when councillors were told it was expected to take up to 12 months to find a private sector partner to finance the scheme.
Now, director of environment and regeneration Andy Farrall says the council will be actively seeking an interested private sector partner over the next month or so.
The board approved a supplementary planning document which will now go out for consultation for six weeks with a view to being adopted in July.
New homes, jobs and “hospitality uses” are envisaged in the scheme which takes advantage of the closure of the Garven Place Clinic and the construction of a new town centre health centre on the site of Warrington Baths.
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“scheme which takes advantage of the closure of the Garven Place Clinic and the construction of a new town centre health centre on the site of Warrington Baths” – interesting considering the new health centre has been cancelled due to the NHS short fall?? £13M??…………!!! It is comforting to know that it is costing over £1M to cancel the project – better make that £14M then……………….
The PCT is facing a significant financial challenge and as such is implementing a robust strategic recovery plan which will focus the attention on the whole local NHS system. Work has already commenced on renegotiation of all our contracts and we will be working with providers to affect changes across the local health economy to look at how we can make changes which will provide better value for money, whilst maintaining quality of services.
In terms of new developments, such as the new Garven Place, these will be considered as part of the strategic recovery plan. To date no decision has been made to cancel the project, however, the decision to proceed with the project has been deferred whilst we fully understand how we address the financial challenge we are facing.
As an organisation we will continue to focus our attention on ensuring that we delivery high quality services to the people of Warrington, in addition to ensuring that we are achieving excellent value for money.
So how is – “WARRINGTON’S bold plan to transform Bank Park into one of the finest town centre parks in the UK is “on course”” – when ” the scheme which takes advantage of the closure of the Garven Place Clinic and the construction of a new town centre health centre on the site of Warrington Baths” has been “deferred”………? I can only assume that “whilst we fully understand how we address the financial challenge we are facing ” translates to a very long time/ never….?