The Bacup 2040 Vision - Revisited
The Bacup 2040 Vision has been shaped by local people who live, work and operate within Bacup town centre — including community organisations, businesses and partners with a long-term stake in the town’s future. It was developed to create shared understanding of the challenges Bacup faces, to build local ownership of change, and to provide a clear direction for how the town centre can adapt and thrive.
There is a recognised need to intervene — not simply to address decline, but to make better use of Bacup’s existing strengths. The Vision builds on the achievements of the Bacup Townscape Heritage Initiative, whilst acknowledging that heritage investment alone is not enough to secure long-term resilience. Bacup 2040 focuses on how historic assets, public spaces, skills, enterprise and community activity can work together to support a sustainable, lived-in town centre.
The Vision has been informed by extensive engagement over time, including online and face-to-face consultation, discussion with traders and residents, and participation in community events. This engagement has helped refine priorities, test ideas and ensure that the Vision reflects local experience rather than abstract aspiration.
We now share the Bacup 2040 Vision as a collective framework — rooted in local insight, shaped by learning and experience, and intended to guide decision-making as Bacup continues to adapt to change and build its future locally.
About Bacup
Bacup is a historic Pennine town with a strong architectural character, shaped by its industrial past, valley setting and position at the eastern edge of Rossendale. Its stone buildings, streets and surrounding landscape continue to define its identity, with the River Irwell playing a central role in the town’s historic development.
Over recent years, Bacup has increasingly become a place where people choose to live, supported by its natural setting, distinctive built environment and relative proximity to larger employment centres such as Manchester and Preston. This shift has brought new residents into the town, whilst also highlighting the challenge of ensuring that Bacup remains a place where people can work, spend time and participate locally, rather than functioning primarily as a commuter settlement.
Bacup’s heritage and historic architecture remain important assets, but the town is no longer defined solely by its past. Alongside traditional industries and independent businesses, Bacup has seen growing interest from creative practitioners, digital workers, small manufacturers and community-led enterprises seeking affordable space, strong local identity and connection to place. This reflects a broader transition from a purely retail-led town centre to one that supports a wider mix of work, learning, making, culture and everyday services.
There are significant opportunities to reuse and adapt Bacup’s historic buildings for modern purposes, allowing heritage to remain active and economically productive rather than preserved as scenery. At the same time, the town centre faces real challenges — including changing shopping habits, competition from out-of-town retail, underused buildings and the risk of becoming disconnected from the daily lives of its residents.
The Bacup 2040 Vision responds to this context. It sets out a long-term approach to strengthening the town centre as a living, working and connected place, building on Bacup’s distinctive character whilst adapting to how people live, work and use towns today. The Vision is not about restoring a past version of Bacup, but about shaping an evolving town centre that can support future generations.
Mission Statement
By 2040, Bacup will be a living, working town centre where people choose to spend their time — to live, work, learn, make and connect. Building on its distinctive heritage and landscape, Bacup will adapt its historic fabric for modern use, supporting local jobs, culture, enterprise and everyday life, whilst remaining open, connected and resilient for future generations.
Enterprise
Known for providing business support for start ups and growing companies. Bacup will develop to become a tourist destination and have a fantastic range of food and drink on offer within the town centre. A fun and educational cultural offer will also provide entertainment and social experiences throughout the day and evening.
Place
A sustainable and attractive town centre, that will have better access for all – clearly signposted parking, with greater disabled parking provision, and the town will become a place where there will be more opportunities for jobs and training, there will be more choices for cultural or leisure activities.
People
A safer place where people can socialise and congregate for events and activities or for evenings out, the town will also develop an attraction for all ages to meet the needs and demands of all generations. This aims to help people either maintain or improve their physical health and mental well being. Opportunities for education, employment voluntary opportunities and health provision will be consistent and readily accessible.
Vibrancy
Where Bacup retains its varied town centre offering and cultural atmosphere of ‘one of the best preserved mill towns in the country’. Maintaining voluntary and working partnerships across the town and wider Rossendale Valley. Bacup will continues to develop its fresh approach to enhancing and promoting its heritage, excellent connections to the countryside and art and nature.
Imagine Bacup...
Imagine Bacup as a town that understands the future early – and chooses to shape it locally.
A place where everyday life happens close to home, and where the town centre is not a relic of the past but a platform for what comes next. Active on a Tuesday afternoon as well as a Saturday, shaped by work, learning, making and meeting – not just by events or footfall spikes.
Imagine a town centre that functions as a connected system, not a collection of projects. Streets, buildings and public spaces stitched together so people move naturally through them. The market, Union Street and Temple Court working together as places to trade, gather, experiment and exchange – anchoring daily life rather than competing for attention.
Imagine heritage that is alive and adaptive. Historic buildings reused as homes, studios, workspaces and training spaces – places where modern tools sit comfortably inside old walls. A town that treats heritage not as scenery, but as infrastructure for the next chapter.
Imagine Bacup as a place where work is visible again. Where co-working spaces, workshops, digital studios and small manufacturing sit alongside cafés and shops. Where people design locally, make locally and sell globally – supported by automation, digital tools and new ways of working that allow small businesses to compete at scale.
Imagine a town that embraces technology without losing its humanity. Where artificial intelligence and automation are used to improve productivity, decision-making and opportunity – not to replace people, but to give them leverage. Where digital skills are taught locally, tested locally and applied to real work, not abstract theory.
Imagine Bacup as a place that stops exporting its future. Where more people who live in the town can also work here, build businesses here and spend their time here. Where money, skills and energy circulate locally, strengthening the town centre instead of draining it.
Imagine culture as something that is made, not staged. Music, art and creative activity woven into everyday life – participatory, experimental and grounded in real experience. A town confident enough to resist becoming a themed backdrop, and instead known for being lived in, worked in and shaped by the people who are there.
Imagine a town centre where more people live, where streets feel safer because they are used, and where the early evening is part of daily life rather than an afterthought. A place designed for comfort, connection and shared use – human-scale, adaptable and welcoming.
Imagine Bacup in 2040 as a town that didn’t try to become something else, but became more fully itself. A place that recognised global change – in work, technology and production – and responded not by chasing trends, but by building local capability, confidence and resilience.
This is the ambition of Bacup 2040:
to create a town that works for everyday life today,
and is ready for the world that’s coming tomorrow.
