Member Article

Regeneration and entrepreneurship in Warrington

Warrington is in the early stages of a considerable regeneration project of both the town centre, and the enormous out-of-town development, Omega. The scheme is supported by urban regeneration partnership Warrington & Co, who are the guiding the borough council. Bringing together public and private funding, the partnership hopes to rejuvenate the town and enhance its role in the region.

Bdaily spoke to Steve Park, managing director of Warrington & Co, about Warrington’s future and how he hopes it will be positioned in the North West:

“Warrington has always had this upwards trajectory, whether we’ve been in a time of boom or bust, and that’s because we’ve had the space to grow. That space has gone now, so Warrington’s really got to get into regeneration.

“The town centre, with the exception of the Golden Square shopping mall, has really struggled because it’s strategically been a place where you come to shop and socialise.

“We’ve got to change that because we want people to live and work in the town centre as well as using it for shopping and going out.”

Re-development of the Omega site is a major project that has been in the pipeline for several years. With the first occupier, catering company Brakes, awaiting the completion of its Northern operation centre on the site, Warrington & Co expect to have a string of big names soon located just outside the town.

Steve explained why such a big development is easy in comparison to the altering of an existing, built-up town centre.

“Omega’s had outline planning for donkey’s year and luckily that site has now been unlocked. It’s easy to put logistic and distribution centres up there. But it’s much more difficult to transform your town centre, because it’s already here and built.

“So we need to reshape and change the purpose of the town centre, and to do that you need to bring stakeholders along with you.”

He went on to talk about a changing attitude that he’s seen across the North West, which will enable Warrington to place itself as a centre for entrepreneurship:

“There’s an attitude that’s emerged from the recession. A real “can-do” attitude. I think the competitive walls that existed between local authorities are breaking down rapidly.

“I’m seeing more and more evidence of collaboration as the weeks go by. There’s also a healthy competition culture in the North West between public bodies, and I think it’s a good thing.

“Warrington is principally a business town. It has a public to private footprint that is the best in the North, and I think third best in the country.

“[As a result] of that it’s quite an entrepreneurial town. If there’s something that’s going to make Warrington successful in the future, it’s got to be a culture of entrepreneurship.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .