Wigan plans to become arts and culture hub

A plan to transform a town into an arts hub is about "breaking new barriers and change", an artist has said.

Wigan Council's five-year plan has seen part of the town's shopping centre The Galleries into a performance venue and will see further investment elsewhere.

It follows the borough being named among the worst places in the UK in terms of cultural engagement.

Artist Al Taylor, who is exhibiting in the new venue, said the town was at "the beginning of a process".

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the plan, named The Fire Within in reference to the area's coal mining heritage, was "a new beginning, about breaking new barriers and about change".

"I do speak to a lot of people who say they don't go into town anymore, because there isn't anything like this," he said.

"I feel like this is going to make a change.

"We're not saying we've got this perfect town, it's the beginning of a process now."

Council chief executive Alison McKenzie-Folan said investing in arts and culture was a "no-brainer... from a people and place perspective".

"We know that culture helps in terms of social isolation as it connects people with their friends."

She added that artists were being "squeezed out of city centres" and the aim was to show them they were welcome in Wigan.

"We know they're already are looking at us. We're only two hours from London," she said.

"And do you know what? If you live in London, you'll have done the Manchester weekend, you'll have done Liverpool at the weekend, come to Wigan."

The council has made a bid for about £2m of funding from the Arts Council to aid its plans.