Work is set to begin this month on a project to transform the overgrown grounds of a historic Bacup landmark into a welcoming community garden. Rossendale Digital CIC has secured a funding package worth more than £30,000 to launch the next stage in the redevelopment of Christ Church on Beech Street. The project is supported by a grant from the Lancashire Environmental Fund, with match funding provided by Rossendale Digital CIC.
Improving access to the historic site
The initiative will significantly improve access to the historic site, building on its recent transformation after opening as Rossendale’s first dedicated digital hub in 2025. Work is expected to begin during August and will include the creation of an accessible route from Keswick Road to the church’s main entrance. Overgrown areas will be cleared, a new entrance will be formed, and an access ramp will be constructed. The main route into the building will also be resurfaced.
Paths around the church will be improved, creating better links between the building, the offices within the grounds, and the existing Beech Street entrance. The improvements are intended to make the site safer, more welcoming, and easier to access for local residents, businesses, learners, community groups, and other visitors.
Community use remains central
Christ Church now forms the centrepiece of Rossendale Digital’s Bacup Campus and is being developed in stages as a digital and technology hub serving the wider Rossendale area. Although the building will provide space for digital businesses, training, and enterprise, Rossendale Digital CIC says community use remains central to its plans. The approved plans for the building include communal facilities and the creation of an outdoor community space within the church grounds.
Hannah Weinhold of Rossendale Digital CIC said: “Christ Church has always been a community building and we want it to remain somewhere local people feel able to visit and use. Whilst Christ Church is the home of Rossendale’s first digital and technology hub, that does not mean closing its doors to the wider community. Our long-term vision brings together businesses, digital skills, education and community activity within one historic building. This funding allows us to improve access, begin work on the grounds and take another visible step towards that vision.”
Construction and landscaping plans
Construction company Helmrig is developing the programme of work using its groundworks and arboricultural teams. The initial phase will concentrate on the access ramp, the route from Keswick Road, and improvements to the paths surrounding the church. Seating, planting, and other landscaping features will also be introduced as part of the scheme. Further improvements to the grounds are expected to follow progressively as the wider redevelopment of the Bacup Campus continues.
Dave Gallagher of Helmrig said: “The priority is the main construction work needed to provide good access to the building. The scheme allows us to create the access ramp, tarmac the main route from Keswick Road and improve the remaining paths. Further landscaping elements will also be included to create the external community space a building, operation and the community around it deserves.”
Future respite garden and funding support
Rossendale Digital CIC ultimately hopes to create a welcoming respite garden where people working in or visiting the campus can meet, take a break, or spend time outdoors. The garden will be available to businesses and organisations based at the campus as well as members of the wider community using the building. It will complement the offices, meeting rooms, learning spaces, and community facilities being developed inside Christ Church.
Lancashire Environmental Fund agreed to support the project following approval from Entrust, the regulator responsible for overseeing the Landfill Communities Fund. Elizabeth Morgan, fund manager at Lancashire Environmental Fund, said: “I’m delighted that, following Entrust approval, Lancashire Environmental Fund has been able to support the community garden project at Christ Church in Bacup. The project will improve access to this important local building and help create an outdoor community space as Christ Church’s role as Rossendale’s first digital and technology hub is further solidified.”
History and phased redevelopment
Christ Church was built during the 1850s and served generations of Bacup residents before its final service was held in 2012. Plans to create a centre for digital and technology businesses in Rossendale had been discussed for several years before an offer was accepted for Christ Church in 2019. The proposal was to preserve the church by bringing it back into productive use as offices for digitally orientated businesses while retaining spaces that could benefit the local community. The plans received support from the Rt Revd Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, who said the redevelopment would “not only provide new employment opportunities but will also make available some communal areas for community purposes”. He described the plans as a proposal “worthy of the Church Commissioners’ support”.
That combination of employment, enterprise, heritage, and community use continues to underpin the redevelopment. Rather than keeping the entire building closed until a single large restoration project can be completed, Rossendale Digital CIC is bringing Christ Church and its grounds back into use through a series of manageable phases. This allows individual areas to become operational while work continues towards the longer-term restoration of the church.
Parts of the Bacup Campus are already being used by businesses and organisations, with further office, coworking, meeting, educational, and creative facilities planned as the project develops. The organisation’s wider ambition is for the Bacup site to act as an anchor for a network of digital businesses, spaces, training, and employment opportunities across Rossendale. The work beginning this month represents the next visible stage of the project, improving access to one of Bacup’s historic buildings while creating grounds that can once again be used and enjoyed by the local community.
