Wigan Council hit back at rumours £130 million Galleries project could 'be left as wasteland'

A multi-million pound redevelopment in Wigan is in no danger of slowing down after the council rebuked claims the site could be left as rubble. Work on the Galleries project, which would see a hotel, 464 homes and a multimedia centre with a cinema, ten-lane bowling alley and indoor mini golf as well as new market hall with stalls, shops and offices, is now underway.

The site where the old Galleries shopping centre used to be is currently being demolished as part of the project's first phase. But concerned residents submitted a Freedom of Information request to the council after being unable to find out where the new sources of funding were coming from for the actual creation of the new central hub.

In a response from the council, they heard that ‘until prices are agreed and contracts awarded, the amount of the various funding sources cannot be quantified’. The Friends of Wigan Town Centre group said they were worried that this meant the redevelopment, post-demolition, would not go ahead.

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Wigan Council has said the site wouldn't be left as 'wasteland' - as one rumour had suggested - and confirmed that a pot of money has been set aside for the £130 million project and that contractual agreements not being officially awarded yet is ‘not unusual’.

However, a spokeswoman for The Friends of Wigan Town Centre feared that due to spiralling costs the town centre could still be 'heading towards a position like Stoke with a demolition wasteland in the centre of town'.

“Officers and members have misled citizens by showing them unfunded plans, leading them to believe that is what they are going to get, when really the plan is to turn the town