PLANS to undertake a massive shake-up of Radcliffe town centre have been revealed for the first time in a bid to revive its flagging fortunes.

Out will go the St Thomas Estate, the bus station and the market hall.

In will come an outdoor market to replace the market hall, an eight-storey apartment block and the re-opening of Blackburn Street to traffic.

These are the most significant ideas contained in a masterplan drafted by consultancy firm URBED, which director David Rudlin unveiled at Radcliffe Area Board on Monday.

He explained: "The town centre is really struggling. Because the world has changed, this decline will not easily be reversed as it has in larger centres like Bury. If Radcliffe town centre is to have a future it must rethink its role. It must reinvent itself."

Consultation has been taking place for the past 18 months with the public and traders, and will continue.

The report recommends a number of measures to help attract investment into Inner Radcliffe, to widen the town centre's role to include housing and employment, and make the town desirable to live in.

Although he stressed that it is still very early days and no decisions have been made on URBED's ideas, area board chairman Barry Briggs warned: "Standing still is not an option."

Pilkington Way has long been blamed for discouraging custom in the town centre and a suggestion to re-open Blackburn Street to traffic was greeted enthusiastically by those attending Monday's meeting. It would involve redesigning the junctions at either end of Pilkington Way.

Mr Rudlin said: "This would have a major impact on the accessibility of the town centre, overcoming its current isolation." He added that since the bus station was now a collection of bus stops rather than a station, the site could be used for housing or shops, and a number of high quality bus stops could be distributed throughout the town centre instead. This would include a bus connection to the forecourt of the Metrolink Station and the provision of a service on the re-opened section of Blackburn Street.

The masterplan also recommends ways of making the town centre more accessible to the rest of the town. Suggested ways of achieving this are creating a new pedestrian link to the Metrolink station through Festival Gardens, a bridge connecting Church Street and Milltown Street, improved pedestrian crossings around the Water Street/Spring Lane junction and better pedestrian crossings over Pilkington Way.

Cyclists too would be catered for with suggestions to create a linked network of cycle routes and cycle parking facilities at the Metrolink station.

Although URBED supports the existing plans for a market museum, it has put forward a "back-up" suggestion in case the necessary funding cannot be found.

It suggests refurbishing the market building to house a gallery and museum and creating a new outdoor market on the site of the old Post Office sorting centre.

The masterplan states that Radcliffe has many unattractive buildings and few architectural assets. But this could work to its advantage as a lack of protected or noteworthy buildings makes it easier to replace them with contemporary structures.

This could include demolishing the "unwelcoming" St Thomas Estate and replacing it with a mix of private and social housing on the old street layout. Existing tenants would be rehoused in the new houses so that the community would not be broken up.

To give Radcliffe a landmark, Mr Rudlin also suggested building an eight-storey apartment block in the town centre.

To help employment in the town the report suggests retaining and improving existing employment areas behind Asda and along Milltown Street and taking full advantage of the Radcliffe Paper Mill and Pioneer Mill sites. In addition, Kwik Save could be removed or redeveloped to become apartments and a riverside park.

The report also called for: improving the environment of the town centre and reconnecting it to the surrounding and expanding residential areas; increasing the range of activities in the centre, including speciality and convenience shopping, leisure, and evening economy uses as well as cultural activities.

Mr Rudlin added:"Radcliffe is not going to turn back into the village that it was 200 years ago. It cannot recapture its heyday as a thriving independent town because times have moved on and it is no longer possible for small towns like Radcliffe to compete against their larger neighbours."

URBED will shortly present the completed draft of the masterplan to Bury Council and it will then go out to public consultation.

Coun Briggs stressed that the report was an independent study and he welcomed the outline of the plan.

One member of the public said: "I think as a concept it is very exciting and it brings Radcliffe out of the past and into the present."

However, Councillor Tony Isherwood was more cautious.

"They are exciting proposals, but we have been here before. We need the funding otherwise it is all pie in the sky. We have to be realistic," he said.

It would take at least ten years to carry out all the masterplan's recommendations. The vast majority of its funding would be dependent on the private sector.