Furthermore, the Tawd Valley Park runs through the centre of the town, where improvement efforts from the council are currently ongoing.

Until the creation of Skelmersdale Urban District Council at the end of the 19th century, the town was part of the Parish of Ormskirk in the West Derby hundred, an ancient subdivision of Lancashire, covering the southwest of the county.

Today, there is little to remind people that the town was part of the once great Lancashire Coalfield, although a Skelmersdale Heritage Society was re-established in 2019.

With the economic downturn in the late 1970s, large industrial employers left the town en masse, resulting in an increase in crime, drug abuse and poverty.

2006 saw a regeneration drive for the town coordinated through English Partnerships and the Northwest Regional Development Agency and publicly headed by the designer Wayne Hemingway.

[citation needed] Although Skelmersdale faces a looming employment crisis, the regeneration of the town centre is a step towards recovery, and up to 100 extra jobs would be generated during the scheme's construction phase alone.

A new promenade would be fronted by these establishments to overlook the Tawd Valley Park, and a new civic square would also be created between the Concourse Shopping Centre and the town library.

Regeneration specialists St Modwen have been working on the proposals with West Lancashire Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.

[15] In addition to this, the pathway between West Lancashire College and the Concourse Shopping Centre opened in June, however, the high street linking the two sites has not yet been constructed.

In addition to this, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Park was constructed in the area, linking in with the new town centre developments.

[16] There are plans to redevelop the land behind the new Lidl store to build a new health and wellbeing centre, featuring a gym, swimming pool, café, and children's play park.

Plans have also been submitted by EG Group and approved by West Lancashire Borough Council to build a Starbucks café in the car park of the town's Asda store.

For ease of access, there is a subway network allowing pedestrians to move through the town without needing to cross potentially hazardous roads.

However, the subway system was called into question in 2020 by former West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper and others with regard to its safety and sustainability, as they are not regularly maintained by the county council.

In 2009, Network Rail proposed to extend the existing quarter-hourly Liverpool Central to Kirkby service, to terminate at a new station in the centre of Skelmersdale.

[24] In 2009, the Association of Train Operating Companies published a report, Connecting Communities, which also recommended the opening of a new rail link to Skelmersdale.

[28] Plans for the reopening were dealt a blow when the Department for Transport announced in July 2022 that it was rejecting the Strategic Outline Business Case.

Glenburn Sports College closed on 31 August 2016 following an unsuccessful campaign backed by former local MP Rosie Cooper to prevent the closure.

[37] Skelmersdale is also home to a large public library with facilities including free internet access and an extensive local history section.

[41] According to urban planning consultancy Space Syntax, Skelmersdale's fragmented streets have made its centre relatively inaccessible and this has resulted in segregated land use.

[45] Although consisting predominantly of housing estates, Skelmersdale's industry includes the Co-operative Bank which employs 650 people,[46] distribution centres for Asda,[47] P&G,[48] Victorian Plumbing,[49][50] a Walkers snack food factory,[51] Chemist 4 U[52] and many others.

Skelmersdale formerly housed the corporate base and a distribution centre for Matalan, the discount clothing and homewares store, who later relocated to Knowsley Industrial Park.

[55] Skelmersdale's town centre is made up of the Concourse Shopping Centre,[56] (colloquially known as "the Connie") as well as a supermarket, a library, a swimming pool and gym named after former Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan (however there are plans to redevelop these facilities), West Lancashire College's main campus, a multistorey car park, and the Tawd Valley Retail Park.

The town's football team, Skelmersdale United F.C., plays in the West Division of the Northern Premier League and was a FA Vase winner in 1971.

The town is host to an archery club, the Bowmen of Skelmersdale,[61] whose collective members hold 19 county records and 14 world records held by three members of the same family (Melissa-Jane, Harriet and Gary Daniel), six of which were claimed at the National Flight Championships on 19 August 2006 held at RAF Church Fenton.

These units take part in the local community life and are routinely seen attending the Remembrance Sunday parade in the old town.