What’s in a name? row over town ‘rebrand’ bid
FEARS over plans to rebrand Ormskirk as a “university market town” have been raised by political group Our West Lancashire (OWL).
Consultants employed by the borough council to look into how to market Ormskirk have come up with the idea of a university market town.
OWL is arguing that more residents of the town should be formally consulted, before any steps are taken.
But West Lancachire Borough Council leader Ian Moran says that people have nothing to fear.
Jane Thompson, who lives in Station Road and stood as an OWL candidate in the local elections, said: “I recently attended a presentation on the work of consultants employed by the council to look at Ormskirk’s image and how we promote business in the town centre.
“At the end of the presentation the consultants said their big idea was to rebrand Ormskirk as a ‘university market town’.
“I’ve spoken to a fair number of people about this and received very mixed views. I think the council need to ask us as local residents what we think before making any change.”
Cllr Adrian Owens said: “The council has spent thousands of pounds on consultants and so far only presented the findings to a select group of people.
“Now it’s time to ask residents what they think of the rebranding idea in a formal consultation.
“Are we a ‘historic market town’ or a ‘university market town’?
“A town’s branding goes right to the heart of people’s sense of place and identity.
“We need to agree a marketing message that carries the widest public support, so a formal consultation seems to be in order.
“The consultants identified some important points and we undoubtedly need to maximise the many benefits of the university to the town while minimising the negatives.”
But Cllr Moran insisted: “This is not about renaming Ormskirk, it’s about where Ormskirk is now and how do we make it even better.
“Most of what was reported by the consultants we already knew, we need to try and improve the shopping quality and type, we need to work with Edge Hill better and they need to work with Ormskirk better too and we need to make market days more attractive to bring more people into Ormskirk.
“We are already taking note of the report and the recent purchase of Wheatsheaf Walk will help us move Ormskirk to the town we all want for residents, visitors and students.”
The borough council’s cabinet will consider the Ormskirk town centre report on June 14.