[Margaret Pilkington]

Had more people been aware and consulted maybe we would have had something which would serve the community better.

Neil, a lot of your points about the change in shopping habits are true, but there are still a lot of folk who cannot for one reason or another do their shopping online, do not have transport to go to the huge supermarkets(which tend to be away from the centre of town anyway)and they are not usually well served by public transport...and if they were who wants to be laoded like a pack horse and trying to get home on the bus?

Other towns even small ones(think Ramsbottom, Hebden Bridge) seem to have a good footfall of shoppers.

Our council representatives over decades(so not just the current crew) have allowed the town centre to decline. I may be wrong,(and I am sure someone will enlighten me) but there seems to have been no appetite to make Accrington into somewhere worth coming, for a very long time.
Look at the money spent resurfacing Broadway. Have you seen it lately? It is an eyesore with bald patches all over the place.
If the council spent the public money as they would their own(with and eye to quality and value) then maybe things would be better.

It seems to me all this 'improvement' is 'top show', when what is actually required is an overhaul of the whole place.
Accrington is a dismal place to come to and I never thought I would be saying that.
This new project will not alter that in any meaningful way.(and will deprive the community of two mature trees)