Looking back: Bury boss criticises "abysmal" redevelopment progress

THE managing director of a Bury company has criticised the Town Council for the slow progress of town centre redevelopment, urging work to be speeded up.

Mr H. Gordon Hargreaves, of heating and ventilating company Henry Hargreaves and Sons Ltd, has spoken of the firm’s shock at the state of the town’s appearance — particularly around the Mosses area, which has been derelict for almost 30 years and the stagnation of development at Union Square.

Mr Hargreaves said: “The apathy is appalling and the progress is abysmal.

“These wasted assets must, by energy and enterprise, be converted to earning capacity for the town and at the same time improve its image for the townspeople.

“Visits to nearby conurbations clearly indicate that Bury has been left far behind its neighbours in the field of town centre development.”

In recent years communities including Whitefield and town’s including Bolton and Blackburn have all undergone successful redevelopments.Work on the Bury redevelopment is due to restart next month.

Mr Hargreaves said he did not want to apportion blame and urged the council and others to help make Bury a better and more attractive place.

Citing difficult economic circumstances and various difficulties which to have caused delays, he said: “The principal task is to put these reasons behind us and to concentrate on wholeheartedly on a big effort to recover the lost time and make the town centre a living community again.”

BURY FC footballers have taken part in a unique penny pushing challenge to help children with special needs.

The players, who are worth more than £150,000, collected £32 12s in pennies over the last eight months for the event.

Roy Parnell, Jimmy Kerr, Greg Farrell, Alec Lindsay, George Jones and Bury FC trainer Les Hart then travelled to the Thrush Hotel, Bury, on Wednesday.

Lindsay contributed the first penny and placed the last few coppers on top of the tower before it was pushed over on to a blanket.

The cash brings to the total raised for special needs children by the Thrush Hotel to £100.