Skelmersdale: Is money being spent in the right places?

"I've lived in the town since I was two and we have less now in this town than what we had when I was a teenager, there's nothing for the kids."

That was how 57-year-old small business owner Jackie Ashcroft described Skelmersdale, the West Lancashire new town designed in 1961 to house the overspill population of Liverpool

Her view is shared by others among the 40,000 residents who call it home.

Ahead of the local elections on 7 May, a recurring theme is that Skelmersdale - which has pockets of deprivation ranking in the top 10% in England - has been "forgotten".

Ashcroft is still bristling over a Lancashire County Council decision to close Glenburn Sports College in 2015 – a school where she served as a governor - due to what officials said were "consistently poor results and low pupil numbers".

The land the school was built on was then proposed as the site of a train station, which Skelmersdale has never had.

But in 2022 the then-Conservative government rejected a council business case to build one.

Now 400 houses are being developed on the Glenburn site.

The recent decision to close the children's A&E department in nearby Ormskirk Hospital and relocate it to Southport has deepened some residents' sense of feeling under-served.

Sitting in the town's Concourse Shopping Centre, where Ashcroft co-owns the Shoe Master shoe and leather repair shop with her husband, Ashcroft said she was frustrated with investment decisions in the town.

"The train station was never going to happen," she said.

"They just don't do anything for the town."

But there is a significant quantity of cash earmarked to be spent on Skelmersdale.

In March it was announced the Digmoor estate – among the town's most deprived areas - would benefit from a "once-in-a-generation" investment of £20m, phased over 10 years, from a national government pot of £5bn called 'Pride in Place'.

In November last year, a £164m redevelopment plan was approved by West Lancashire Council, involving eight new retail units in Grimrod Place and 25 social homes in Yewdale.

There is also the £14m Junction 4 development at White Moss Business Park, which the council said would provide 45 new units, a space of over 100,000 square feet, capable of sustaining up to 125 jobs.

There are still hopes for a train station in a town masterplan approved by West Lancashire Council, although nothing has been announced.

Ashcroft was unimpressed with the plans and questioned the decision to build more units for retailers.

"The regeneration of the town centre? They've been bringing this out every so many years, dangling it in front of people," she said.

"We ended up with a Poundstretcher - a company that's going to be going into administration. We've got a B&M, which every time I've been in there is empty, and a Lidl that I think I've used four times.

"We're a town of high unemployment. They're building all new units on White Moss, but there's loads of empty units on [Grimrod Place].

"Why are they building new units, spending more money when there's empty units?"

West Lancashire Council was approached for comment.

Ashcroft added: "The roads are disgraceful. I've lived here all my life. I've never known the roads to be as bad.

"You come off Daffodil Island going towards Aldi and Old Skem - I'm glad I've got my own teeth because I tell you what, if I had false teeth, you'd lose them going down that road.

"There's a pothole that has been there for about six months; they've painted around it ready for it to do it, but it's been there for six months."

Her concerns about road surfaces were repeated several times when the BBC visited the area, including by carer Alisa Klingenhagen, from Upholland.

Asked about what local politicians should prioritise, she said: "They can fix the roads for a start.

"I mean it took them so long to do that one in Upholland, but wherever you drive, I'm constantly having to get new tyres. It's terrible at the moment."

Skelmersdale is in an area covered by a two-tier local authority system, and Lancashire County Council are responsible for roads.

A spokesperson said maintenance teams had been "working hard" to fix all pot-holes that meet "intervention levels", and had been prioritising repairs that posed the "greatest risk to safety".

They said they had a new maintenance contract that made roads stronger, preventing potholes from returning, and was backed by a 12-month warranty.

They added: "Alongside this, £72 million is being invested in Lancashire's roads this year, focusing on the routes people use every day."

For Natalie Attia, 42, who works at The Coffee Pot cafe, littering and fly-tipping are a more pressing concern than new houses or retail units.

"I mean it's down to our own community that basically keep it clean, you know, we have children going round doing litter picking," she told the BBC.

"I live in Ashurst, and people have been fly-tipping literally across the road from me and that's getting investigated."

She added people just seemed to dump rubbish wherever they liked.

Soon to retire bus driver Tony Finnegan believes everyday local concerns such as anti social behaviour, petty crime and cleanliness are being overshadowed by debates around immigration.

"Personally I don't think that immigration is an issue, but there is a lot of feeling around here with that... it seems to be influencing people," the 68-year-old said.

As a bus driver, Finnegan was also sceptical about transport promises.

"We've had a promise of a train station here for 55, 60 years - it's never materialised and I don't think it ever will," he said.

"They try to mask it with a bus service going to Liverpool, to link with the trains, but it didn't take off that much. It was used, but not not overly used."

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