7-year plan for ‘magnificent future’ for Burnley

9:25am Tuesday 9th February 2010

By Tyrone Marshall

AMBITIOUS plans for the future of Burnley in the next seven years have been unveiled.

A 23-page document, called Burnley’s Future, sets out the council’s strategy for turning the borough into “the place to live within the North West”.

It follows in the footsteps of the plans announced yesterday to redevelop Turf Moor and build a ‘football university’ at the ground.

The report details targets that will improve the town in areas such as health, housing, transport, shopping and community cohesion.

It comes from the Burnley Action Partnership (BAP), which includes the county and borough councils, police, health trusts and education specialists.

The report covers plans for Burnley from 2003 to 2017, and the latest drafts come at the halfway point of that period.

It reveals that since the first strategy was released in 2003, the town now has better schools, is cleaner, and its residents are healthier than they were seven years ago.

But the borough has regressed in other areas, with deprivation and unemployment getting worse, train links remain as bad as they were, and sport and leisure facilities have seen no improvements.

Coun Gordon Birtwistle, chairman of the partnership, said: “The BAP is committed to achieving a Burnley of which we can all be proud, that will become a place with a diverse and united community, a modern economy, a healthy, safe and clean environment, and quality services which work together for the good of the public.”

One of the strategy’s key aims is to improve rail links to the town, including slashing the journey time to Manchester from an hour and 10 minutes, to 45 minutes.

The aim is regular connections to Manchester city centre and Manchester Airport, and a range of improvements at local stations.

Improving the health of Burnley residents is also a key target, increasing the life expectancy of people, and reducing teenage pregnancies from 58 per 1,000 people, to 40 per 1,000 people.

Coun Birtwistle said he hoped the “majority” of the targets and aims would be achieved.

“If all the plans come off, it will be great,” he said, “there are a lot of positive things in there.

“If we get all the funding needed, and outside agencies deliver what they promise, then there is no reason we can’t achieve everything.”

Raising people’s satisfaction with life in the borough is also a major aim, as well as making the town centre a better shopping experience, and improving the quality of housing in the town.