The Situation Westmorland and Furness Council is currently the lead delivery body for the Heart of Barrow project. The Cabinet has approved spending £35.361 million pounds from the Barrow Transformation Fund and other sources to demolish the Forum and Market Hall and buy up private land.

However, the Council has admitted they cannot guarantee a replacement theatre or market because the funding is not in the gift of the Council. They are clearing the site for potentially 600 high-density houses without any secured money to build the cultural facilities our town needs.

Our Message to the Council and the Government 

Barrow is a Strategic National Asset. The national mission to build submarines depends entirely on the people who live and work here . A town cannot thrive as a national security asset if it is turned into a high-density dormitory for transient workers with no cultural heart or civic soul .

The Council must stop acting as a junior partner and start leading. We demand that the Council uses its position as the Lead Delivery Body to refuse to start demolition until the Government and Team Barrow provide a legally binding funding agreement for the replacement facilities.

Our Demands

• A written guarantee from Team Barrow/Government for the full funding of a 1,000-seat theatre and a permanent Market Hall before Phase 1 demolition begins.
• An immediate end to the policy where the Council can simply dispose of this land if a private developer is not found.
• A seat at the table for Barrow residents in the Team Barrow decision-making process. 3 local residents selected randomly from the electoral register.  This will ensure proper transparency.

Without the people of Barrow, the national mission fails. We demand a town centre that is built for us, not just for the shipyard.