Campaigners feeling ‘fobbed off’ seek ways to have more say on Wigan town centre development

A group in Wigan who are keen to see the town centre development involve residents have come up with a new way of getting a consensus everyone is happy with. The Friends of Wigan Town Centre group feel like the people have been fobbed off by Wigan Council as plans for the redevelopment of the Galleries was put through.

The Galleries shopping centre and Wigan Market will be demolished to make way for apartments, food and drink outlets and entertainment venues. A hotel, 464 homes and a multimedia centre with a cinema, ten-lane bowling alley and indoor mini golf are planned as part of the Galleries 25 project – a joint venture partnership between developers Cityheart and BCEGI UK.

A new market hall with stalls, shops and offices has also been proposed. Planning permission for the major redevelopment was approved back in November 2021 after a vote by councillors on the planning committee.

Read more: Residents' joy as huge, multi-million pound development is REJECTED

Angela Fell, from Friends of Wigan Town Centre, believes a new polling system the group has been using - Crowd Wisdom Project - can help find a better consensus. It could be used to get ideas not just for the town centre development but for all future contentious matters.

“The plans for development need to be opened up to the public so people can feel involved,” she said. “People just feel fobbed off.”

According to Friends of Wigan Town Centre, since March 30, 2022, 148 voters in Wigan voted cumulatively 6,178 times using the anonymous online conversational tool, hosted by the Crowd Wisdom Project, concerning the issue of whether the people of Wigan should have more of a say in the development of Wigan Town Centre. So far, the voters have devised 91 statements