[Margaret Pilkington]

I wasn't 'talking the town down'....but just expressing an honest and factual viewpoint.
I visit the town centre everyday and I am embarrassed by the down at heel feel to it.
Yesterday we went to Bury to the market....a real market....one with a diversity of stalls and stuff to buy at competitive prices......luscious pies, pungent cheeses........a variety of fruit stalls showing off their wares.
It was a sunny day and it was bustling.
Their shopping mall has its fair share of empty shops, but doesn't feel anything like as depressing as Accrington town centre.

If we want a new bus station, then bulldoze the Arndale, put it on that land and...let traffic flow again through the heart of Accrington because it is the blood that will keep the heart beating.
Make the shops and the market diverse....let's have something that people want to come to our town to see.....and spend money.
Sit back and wait for things to turn around, and we are, as a town, dead.