Almost 30 new businesses opened in Burnley town centre last year, but the existing smaller independent shops are beginning to feel the pinch, and the shopping centre still needed more development – set to come with the new Oval Centre which is in the final planning stages.
Town centre manager Mrs Lisa Durkin said while investment was still being poured into the town centre, it needed a large department store and 20 or so new shops and stores to help it compete with larger towns, particularly with fashion shops. "People are going out of town for high fashion, but if we can get someone like Debenhams signed up to come to Burnley it will greatly improve the retail mix on offer, along with the improved parking and public transport that we need," she said.
The large multiples with stores in Burnley had seen year on year growth in the last two weeks up to Christmas, but the independent areas are declining, said Mrs Durkin, who said they need to look at new uses for the town centre.
"Retailing and leisure is very fragile now with some major names going into administration. It is a very difficult time for the high street retailers so how difficult is it for the small independent businesses?
"Burnley's future is about getting the balance right with a good mix of high street and specialist services, retail, leisure and commercial, a vibrant market, adequate parking, good access and public transport.
"We need a 10-year challenge to ask ourselves how we would like our town centre to look in 10 years time," she told members of the Burnley Town Centre Partnership - outlining some of the £120m. of investment in the past seven years since she had been in post including the Curzon Square development around T.J. Hughes, the new Tesco, the Millennium car park and £12m. poured into the evening economy around the nightclubs in Hammerton Street.
And in the past year the town centre has seen Burnley College opening an adult learning facility for over 18s in Calder House, near to Boots, with 250 people on site.
More residential properties were coming into the town centre. The new St Peter's Centre was opening this weekend and by late summer when both the health and leisure sides were completed 300 staff would be based there.
The new Jobcentre Plus was due for completion later this year manned by more than 220 staff from the current centre in Kingsway and staff from the Darwen and Accrington offices.
Plans were moving on for the new Oval development on the old Pioneer site.
The town centre Masterplanning exercise was well advanced looking at the whole area from Westgate up to Asda and right around the fringes of the centre to the football club on the other side of town. The public has been involved in a consultation exercise through a questionnaire which went out to more than 500 town centre businesses and the public through the Burnley Express.
Key themes and issues have been identified and eventually will result in an action plan for the town centre, to become a basis for future planning policy.
Burnley FC plays a major role in the vibrancy of the town and has its own plans for developing its facilities - but still faces the issue of resiting the cricket ground, an idea it mooted some years ago.
Smaller projects had included providing 25 new litter bins and painting street furniture such as litter bins and lampposts along St James's Street, a new air cooling system and new toilets in the market, new signage in Charter Walk, a new exit onto Hall Street from the car park, where there is new white lining and layout and improved Christmas lights.