BACUP’s hopes of landing £2m funding to revive the town centre have moved a step closer after Rossendale Council agreed to back a second bid for lottery cash.

The Bacup Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) received an initial grant of £37,500 last July to help it put together a full application for £1.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

And council bosses have confirmed that arrangements are in place to provide £500,000 of match funding, should that bid be successful.

Councillors are set to sign off the bid at a meeting in Futures Park on July 17. If granted, the £2m total will be used to refurbish 51 buildings in the town and provide up to 90 jobs or apprenticeships for youngsters.

David Presto, economic development manager at Rossendale Council, said: “It is great news that councillors have been recommended to approve the next stage of the bid.

“It’s exactly what is needed. Everything is assembled, worked out and in position. When it’s signed off we will submit the bid by August 24."

Of the £500,000 match funding needed, £463,000 has been identified from the following sources:

  • £100,000 will come from a High Street Innovation Fund grant to Rossendale Council
  • £50,000 from Bacup Big Ideas, partially made up of disposal proceeds from the sale of Bacup Leisure Centre
  • £53,000 from a Town Centre Funding grant to Rossendale Council
  • £65,000 from Local Authority Business Growth Incentives reserves
  • £95,000 from section 106 contributions
  • £100,000 from Lancashire County Council

The outcome of the bid will be known in December and, if successful, the scheme will commence from April next year.

Bacup town centre has been a recognised urban conservation area since 1981.

A similar initiative in Darwen, launched in 2006, saw 25 historic buildings renovated, and work is still ongoing, also under the THI programme, to regenerate Burnley’s Weaver’s Triangle district.