Background

Blackburn with Darwen is a multi-cultural area, with diverse urban neighbourhoods set in countryside. It is a key geographical and cultural gateway to Pennine Lancashire. The Borough covers an area of 13,700 hectares and has a population of 142,000 people in approximately 55,000 households.

The population is growing and is set to increase by 13% to more than 160,000 by 2030. Some of the key challenges in the area include:

• The lowest employment rate in Pennine Lancashire and a significant shortfall  of both entry and higher-level skills
• High density of terraced housing, parts in poor condition
• The Borough is the 17th most deprived in the country – half of all children in the Borough live in areas which are amongst the 10% most deprived in the country
• Culturally diverse population (more than one in five residents come from Asian heritage backgrounds)
• High levels of separation between communities.
 

Objectives

The aim of the game was to assist the corporate team of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to develop ideas for their vision for the area up to 2030.

Winning idea

City of Faith

The winning idea aims to establish Blackburn as a modern-day Alexandria. The concept behind the idea is to provide:

• An international resource
• A unique approach to cohesion
• Local regeneration, educational and community benefits
• A unique cultural offer
• Religious and cultural activities
• Internationally renowned scholarships
• Conflict resolution and peace studies
• Learning, arts and conference facilities

Some of the elements which the winning team felt would be included in the City of Faith were an internationally recognised seat of learning and faith library, hospitality facilities, a focus on conflict resolution, and a refurbished Imperial Mill and Pennine Gateway and ancillary developments, including festivals.
 

Winning ideas from the other teams

Gateway Home

This idea was based around developing homes for the future, which would radically alter the appearance of the town centre, require less energy consumption than current new builds, both during construction and once built. The houses would be shaped like ‘pods’, and utilise biomass boilers, treat grey water, and be highly insulated. It was felt that taking an approach like this would help to solve some of Blackburn’s poor housing, and also address health inequalities by offering people the opportunity to undergo minor operations and recovery at home if required. Social capital was also a key part of the idea, as people would feel more secure and self-contained within their communities, which in turn would lead to improved health and social welfare benefits.

International Gateway

The International Gateway idea was based on existing challenges in Blackburn, such as the traditional manufacturing economy, low-quality housing, a poor tourism offer, low skills, health inequalities, and high levels of unemployment.
The idea was to build on existing links with the Indian subcontinent and provide economic opportunities between the two places.

Eco-City (Eco-Innovation Centre)

The Eco-Innovation Centre or Eco-City idea was based around developing existing networks of terraced housing into a sustainable community. Using an existing site in Blackburn, the idea was to develop an executive eco-village, with self-build plots available. International competitions would be run to develop the plots, with finances to come from public and private investment. The utilisation of renewable energy was a key part of the idea, using road surfaces to capture kinetic energy and wind farms. The idea was also linked to providing local employment through environment-related employment schemes. An existing project, ‘Green 4 Go’ would also be built into the scheme, as would the building of a centre for renewable energy to take into account the city’s recycling needs.