Historic Places Panel’s Recommendations For Barrow Welcomed
Team Barrow – Westmorland and Furness Council, the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, and BAE Systems – has welcomed recommendations to guide the £200 million transformation of Barrow.
The Historic Places Panel, facilitated by Historic England, tabled comprehensive recommendations to guide Barrow-in-Furness' 10-year £200 million transformation programme. The panel’s proposals are designed to maximise opportunities for people living in Barrow, making Barrow an attractive and sustainable place to live, work and invest.
The Panel's recommendations, following their November 2024 visit, outline 3 core priorities:
Heritage-Led Regeneration
Key recommendations from the Panel include transforming the Town Hall, Forum, and Market into an integrated cultural hub at the heart of the town.
Additionally, they recommend connecting and developing public spaces in the town centre, improving accessibility, connectivity, and the environment.
Sustainable Transport and Housing
The Panel makes the case for a comprehensive transformation of Barrow's transport infrastructure, calling for an integrated framework that encompasses road, rail, water, and air connections to improve the town's accessibility and resilience.
Central to their recommendations is reducing car dominance in the town centre through traffic calming measures and the introduction of park-and-ride schemes.
The Panel emphasises the importance of creating new waterside routes to better connect key locations, while developing sustainable housing solutions that carefully conserve the town's rich architectural heritage, ensuring future development enhances rather than diminishes Barrow's distinctive character.
What struck us most powerfully during our visit was the tremendous pride Barrow's people have in their town. There is a real opportunity here to harness the town's rich industrial heritage and significant government investment to create a truly sustainable future. The combination of BAE Systems' expansion, the new Barrow Transformation Fund, and the community's passion provides a unique moment to reshape Barrow's destiny.
We welcome the recommendations and thank the Historic Places Panel and Historic England for their time and sharing their expertise, knowledge and insight, which will help inform our joint work with the Team Barrow partnership.
It was interesting to note the panel highlighting how combining our industrial strength with community-focused development and Barrow's rich heritage can be a positive driver of transformation and be used as a catalyst to change perceptions and build a positive identity for the town.
There is much in the report which backs up our emerging plans, aims and ambitions, especially around making Barrow a better-connected place and improving the town centre, and much to give us food for thought as we move forward.
The Panel's vision aligns with our ambition to create a thriving, sustainable future for Barrow while celebrating our unique identity and history.
I would like to thank the panel for the work they have done in producing these recommendations, which will feed into the plans for the transformation of our town.
We have an opportunity with the Barrow Transformation Fund to do something game-changing which strengthens our local economy, makes the town an even better place to live and work, and sets the area up for a very bright future. It is important that as these plans take shape that they build on our proud local heritage and history.
This is about more than just high street regeneration. This work will deliver improvements in housing and our local health, education, and transport services, so that we transform living standards and opportunities for local people.
We are still at early stages, and we will make sure that local people are involved and their views are heard as these plans are developed.
The recommendations build on existing investments, including £17.5 million Levelling Up funding and £25 million of Towns Fund support, alongside BAE Systems' expanding presence in the town. The Barrow High Street Heritage Action Zone programme, established in 2020 with £1.1 million of government funding from Historic England, complemented by over £500,000 in council match funding, successfully transformed the Duke Street area before concluding last year.
