Burnley Council in talks over old college

UNUSED The former Burnley College building UNUSED The former Burnley College building

A MAJOR Burnley town centre building could be brought back into use by Charter Walk shopping centre.

Calder House, in St James’s Street, has been unused for nearly 12 months after previously being utilised by Burnley College.

It was known as the Centre for Higher Education and Professional Studies when occupied by the college, but is no longer used after they moved to the Burnley Campus, in Princess Way.

The building is connected to Charter Walk, and Burnley Council chief executive Steve Rumbelow has confirmed the authority is in talks with bosses at the centre to find a use for it.

Mr Rumbelow said: “We are working quite closely with Addington Capital (owners of Charter Walk) on a number of issues with regards to the shopping centre at the moment and this building is one of them.

“There is no specific proposal on the table yet but we are hopeful we can get some use for it.”

The lease to Burnley College is due to expire “imminently” according to Mr Rumbelow and he said a deal between the council and Addington Capital to lease it to Charter Walk was in the interests of both parties.

He said: “There are ongoing discussions but we want to see the building occupied and I’m sure Charter Walk will be keen to use it in some way.

“It is in our interests as the council and there interests as the shopping centre to see it used.”

The building is connected to the Charter Walk shopping centre and is currently set up for office-style use.

Nobody was available for comment at Charter Walk or Addington Capital yesterday.

Comments(6)

Kevin, Colne says...
10:19am Fri 31 Aug 12

There is gross over-supply of office accomodation in the centre of the town. This is very noticeable from just walking around the commerce district where 'For sale' and 'To Let' boards dominate the landscape.

The exodus of these service jobs is one of the contributing factors to the town's decline, although this is rarely commented upon.

I suspect that much the same can be said for many other towns in the East Lancashire sub-region.

I wish there was an easy answer and one must congratulate the Council for recognizing the problem and attempting to facilitate progress.

Kevin, Colne says...
10:20am Fri 31 Aug 12

There is gross over-supply of office accomodation in the centre of the town. This is very noticeable from just walking around the commerce district where 'For sale' and 'To Let' boards dominate the landscape.

The exodus of these service jobs is one of the contributing factors to the town's decline, although this is rarely commented upon.

I suspect that much the same can be said for many other towns in the East Lancashire sub-region.

I wish there was an easy answer and one must congratulate the Council for recognizing the problem and attempting to facilitate progress.

disgusted tunbridge wells says...
9:03am Sat 1 Sep 12

It doesn't help the situation when the LCC spend millions of pounds of our money to build empty offices at Rising Bridge (on a field) you couldn't make it up

internet101 says...
1:51pm Sat 1 Sep 12

Its an ugly building, like the hotel near-by 60's is like half a decade ago...pull them down.

DaveBurnley says...
8:20am Sun 2 Sep 12

internet101 wrote:
Its an ugly building, like the hotel near-by 60's is like half a decade ago...pull them down.
A decade is 10 years, I think you mean a century.

lollyloo says...
10:01pm Sun 2 Sep 12

Turn it into a multi storey £1 shop we are a little short of cheap shops these days!!!

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