How a £130m retail revamp could transform Wigan town centre and benefit the borough

Wigan council purchased the Galleries, Makinson Arcade and Marketgate Shopping Centre – a quarter of the town centre’s footprint – in 2018 for £8m.

Responding to market trends with more people shopping online and many high street retailers shutting, the local authority wants to repurpose the site.

Retail space would be reduced to make way for a ‘multi-media centre’ with a six-screen cinema, music and E-sports venue, 10-lane bowling alley and mini-golf as well as more food and drink outlets and ‘evening entertainment space’.

A new hotel and 464 homes would also be built within the 440,000 sq ft site.

And a new market hall with a ‘contemporary’ foodhall, co-working space and small offices, would be created alongside a ‘re-animated’ Makinson Arcade.

The multi-phase regeneration project is estimated to cost around £130m, funded from a mix of private sector investment, council funds and grants.

Wigan could also benefit from a £16.6m government grant as one of 57 places which received provisional funding offers from the Future High Streets Fund.

And the local authority has committed to creating construction jobs for local workers, youth apprenticeships and use local suppliers as part of the project.

While the council’s contribution towards the project has not yet been agreed, the town hall has been criticised by some for leaving other areas with ‘scraps’.

Campaigners in proud places like Leigh say they’re treated as ‘satellite’ towns.

But council leader David Molyneaux says the major redevelopment plans and investment in Wigan town centre will benefit people from all over the borough.

He said: “Everybody benefits from development in Wigan town centre both in job opportunities and income that comes into the council to support other district centres. I think that’s how I would look at it.

“I certainly know there is no discrimination against any of our district centres.

“We want them all to prosper. We know district centres have different things to offer in different places and we’re there to support that and we will make sure that everybody benefits from what we achieve in Wigan town centre.”

The Labour councillor highlighted commitments the council made to investing in other towns within the borough of Wigan when it set its budget last year.

After a temporary pause due to the pandemic, Wigan council has started progressing with the next phase of its £5m Believe in Leigh project.

The council is currently exploring proposals to improve Leigh Market hall and hopes to create a new cycling and walking route linking Leigh Sports Village with Pennington Flash in time for the Rugby League World Cup next autumn.

In January 2020, each district’s town centres received a share of £600,000 from a financial package for so-called ‘cleaner, greener’ environmental works.

‘Brighter Borough’ funding – allocated annually to each councillor to fund community projects in their ward – was increased by more than £500 to £6,000.

Coun Molyneaux added: “I’ve said for quite a long time that we need to make sure that all of our district centres benefit from what we want to do as a council and we will make sure that we can do that and deliver that.

“We’re not ignoring other district centres, whether that be Ashton, whether that be Standish, whether that be Atherton, whether it be Hindley.

“We want to make sure that they all prosper. And we committed funding last year within our budget to make sure we can do that.”

But political group Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley Together are not convinced.

Speaking on behalf of the group as its media officer, council candidate James Morley said he and other members oppose the £130m redevelopment plans.

He said: “We firmly believe that this is the absolute wrong time consider anything of this scale.

“Yet again it shows the disparity between Wigan town centre and Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley town centres.

“Yet again Leigh, Atherton and Tyldesley are only given scraps.

“Infrastructure improvements are in dire need in surrounding towns and villages.

“For too long it has felt like we are being given the short end of the stick.”

Mr Morley, who stood as a candidate in the Leigh East ward at the last election, also said the group is ‘extremely concerned’ about one of the firms involved.

Wigan council signed a deal in December with Cityheart and BCEGI which, as a new joint venture named Galleries25, have been chosen to deliver the project.

BCEGI UK, the British branch of the Chinese-state owned Beijing Construction Engineering Group, is one of the companies behind the major redevelopment plans for Crompton Place shopping centre in Bolton approved last year.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Wigan’s council leader whether he considered China’s human rights record before doing the deal.

He said: “I think they have a track record, certainly in the UK and their UK bases and I can see what will happen for local employment out of this.

“I’m confident that what Cityheart and BCEGI will deliver will help local people.

“It will certainly help Wigan as a place and it will certainly help young people’s prospects in terms of gaining employment. I’m confident with that.

“I suppose every time I buy some electrical goods or buy a car, there are some electrical components, or whatever, built in China, so it’s always on our mind.

“I think what we’ve got to understand as a country, is that you want to influence how they deal with human rights issues, I think the only way you can do that is engage with them. And opportunities like this and any opportunities we have – certainly that will be something that we’ll bring up.”

“It’s something we do bear in mind and fully appreciate people’s concerns on.”

The council is hoping planning permission for the redevelopment project will be in place by the end of the year with work expected to start in early 2022.

Last August, the council’s director of economy and skills, Becca Heron, said the redevelopment of the shopping centre would take ‘at least seven years’.

Coun Molyneaux said this is still ‘realistic’, but he would like to speed it up.

He said: “People will start to see things happen with the planning application and everybody will be able to get involved in the consultation on that.

“And we’ll be able to set out a clear plan with a timescale on delivering that.

“Obviously, we’ll probably start to see things happening more in 2022 than 2021, but it will have a big impact on the town and the future of the town.”

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