Wigan and Leigh Community Charity (WLCC) is celebrating 25 years of contributing to the education, employment and enterprise provision in the area.
The journey began in 1999 when a small group secured a pot of lottery funding to transform a disused block of flats on Ribble Road into a vital community resource: the Platt Bridge Youth Zone.
The vision was to create a space that would serve as a youth zone but also house business start units, a nursery, a café, and a dedicated space for local residents.
By 2001, the project – Platt Bridge Community Zone – had gained enough momentum to come under the ownership of Wigan Council but in 2012, it announced plans to close the facility.
It was saved by a successful application to Wigan Council’s Community Investment Fund in 2013, whereby Abram Ward Community Cooperative was first established.
In 2017, the organisation relaunched Platt Bridge Community Zone as a community business hub.
In the same year, it introduced the “Made in Wigan” brand, a bold initiative aimed at reducing inequality through the growth of community businesses. But today, now known as Wigan and Leigh Community Charity, the team is committed to serving the area with ambitious plans on the horizon..
Founder, David Baxter (pictured front), said: “Looking ahead, we don’t want to lose the grassroots of where we started, such as developing a neighbourhood plan in Abram Ward which is due to go to referendum.
“We want to continue to grow the local Social Enterprise Network and ultimately start to see more places and hubs pop up in other neighbourhoods that might not be as fully engaged yet in this sector, so we’d like to support those.
“We want to do more community organising, get more people into work, increase our school offer working with young people. We led Wigan borough into being registered as a Social Enterprise Town, but there’s still a lot of work to do in the sector.
“Wigan borough just has that entrepreneurial spirit! There’s something special about us, we have passion for our neighbourhoods. We saw that really come out during the pandemic and it continues to grow every year.”
Eunice Smethurst, councillor of Abram Ward, said: “I have been part of the Platt Bridge community building since its conception. Over the years I have seen the building change, many groups, offering different opportunities to the community have been part of the building. I am so proud of being part of the Platt Bridge Community Zone.”
