Rossendale Borough Council Rawtenstall Town Centre Masterplan Invitation to Tender for Retail Agent

Rossendale is a local government district with borough status. It is made up of a number of small former mill towns in Lancashire, England centred around the valley of the River Irwell in the industrial North West. With a population of around 67,000 the district combines urban with rural aspects, and is close to the more populated areas of Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Manchester and Rochdale. The Spinning Point project involves the partial redevelopment of the former Valley Centre site in the town centre of Rawtenstall. Up until 2011 the site had been derelict for over 15 years due to a lack of investment and ineffectual owners. In order to stimulate regeneration Rossendale Borough Council (RBC) purchased the freehold of the site. Subsequently the Valley Centre shopping arcade was demolished and a temporary public realm was put in place. A significant amount of work has been undertaken by RBC and the RTB partnership (Rossendale Borough Council, Barnfield Investment Properties Limited and Together Housing joint venture partnership) on the site to date including obtaining planning approval for phase 1 of the development and securing a £3.5m capital receipt from Lancashire County Council (LCC) for the new bus station which forms the focus of the plans. Partners involved include Lancashire County Council (in addition to RBC), Lancashire LEP and the Together Housing Group who are to take a lease upon completion the refurbishments to the Old Town Hall which forms part of Phase 1.

Rossendale Borough Council on behalf of itself and Rossendale, Together and Barnfield Joint Venture Partnership want to appoint a single agent to work across both phases of the Spinning Point development to ensure complementarity, synergy and opportunity for the town centre as a whole.

This invitation to tender is for the procurement of a retail agent to;

• Work in partnership with both RBC and RTB Partners to deliver the vision for the town centre, as set out in the Rawtenstall Town Centre vision document (as attached) support consultation events and attend briefings and making presentations working groups • Make their own assessment of end user demand and accommodation requirements for each of the phases within agreed timescales. • Project rental and yield levels. • Assess legal, planning and funding consideration. • Secure end users for both Phase 1 units in the bus station (led by Rossendale Borough Council), in advance of estimated project completion on 11TH November 2018 and 45,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space in phase 2 (led by Rossendale, Together and Barnfield Joint Venture) in advance of estimated completion in summer 2020.