Crewe: Recapturing industrial past and railway heritage
Simon Yates is the Vice Chair of the Town Deal Board for Crewe. Simon tells us the story of Crewe and what the Towns Fund will mean for his local community.
Imagine you are walking through your Town five years from now. What might you see and hear? How might it feel to live, work or relax here?
How fantastic to see people living, working, socialising and being entertained in the Town Centre!
People can walk safely and freely through public spaces between the retail, civic, cultural and leisure quarters. Our residents and visitors can stop off at the Market Hall, which is restored to its historic 1855 original design, but with a massive modern twist. We have opened up the building’s large Victorian archways as entrances to welcome Crewe’s creative community to take advantage of the new event space constructed within it.
Render of the completed Market Hall © weareallcrewe.co.uk
People living in the surrounding suburbs are coming into our Town to take advantage of everything Crewe can provide. They come to Crewe to take in our rich cultural and historical heritage and notice the positive impact that new start-up businesses have had in making Crewe more vibrant.
You decide to write a blog to share with your network about the changes underway. In it you highlight some of the ways the Towns Fund programme helped to unlock this new future for your Town. Start a post...
Do you remember the first shoots of Crewe’s green recovery?
It started when our Market Hall was able to open its doors again and support eco-friendly independent businesses after the long wait for the Covid-19 restrictions to be lifted. The Towns Fund is helping Crewe build upon this transformation. This is through projects like the reimagining of Lyceum Square, a new high quality outdoor events and performance space. We’re also continuing our green recovery through the Crewe Pocket Parks and Public Open Spaces Improvement Programme, which will encourage our community to come together outdoors.
In early 2020, the recently formed Crewe Town Board had submitted a plan to Government for a massive injection of capital to bring the Town Centre back together again and back to life. We were determined to recapture what is special about our Town and use our history to shape our future.
The iconic Bentley Motors is now expanding. HS2 is just around the corner, making a huge difference by improving the transport connections between Crewe and the whole of the UK. Turning Crewe into the destination point we deserve to be. We have got an opportunity to open Crewe up and celebrate our industrial past with modern transport links bringing us into the future.
Our work to support our Town has all been carried out by people passionate about Crewe stepping up to the plate. We are getting behind the thousands of people in Crewe providing charity and community support to create a better future.
How will you use your role within the community of your Town to ensure you collectively reach this future?
One of our greatest challenges has been to raise the expectations of the people of Crewe and the surrounding settlements of how our Town can improve. This can, and has, been done by engaging with community groups across the Town so that local people feel part of the process and that the days of being forgotten and left behind are gone.
Our community and youth groups representing people across Crewe are key in helping us work with local people to look forwards and plan for the years to come, together.
We want to support the people who live in Crewe and create a legacy for our Town that attracts people from across Cheshire and further afield. This is an opportunity to raise our profile, generate investment to support our economic development, and secure a more prosperous future.
This open call story was submitted by Simon Yates, Vice Chair of the Town Deal Board for Crewe.
Crewe is one of 101 places invited by the Government to develop Town Deal proposals to deliver long-term economic recovery, clean growth, jobs and prosperity as part of the £3.6 billion Towns Fund. Crewe has submitted their Town Investment Plan and has secured a Town Deal of up to 22.9 million. Crewe is currently developing business cases to take forward their Town Deal proposals.