£3.3m budget earmarked for Rochdale ‘riviera’
ROCHDALE Council is planning a radical strategy to reopen the town’s largely-hidden River Roch in a bid to attract more occupiers from the leisure sector.
A feasibility study has already been undertaken which identifies four separate options for uncovering stretches of the river that range in cost from just over £1m to almost £4m. The council’s favoured option would cost £3.3m, and involve reopening a 70-metre stretch of river from
land by Barclays Bank facing the Town Hall across The Butts and up to the new transport interchange with the Metrolink station by Wellington Bridge.
However, the council anticipates that its own contribution to this could be around £781,000, with the remainder made up from a variety of pots including the Heritage Lottery Fund. A “worst case” scenario would see the council needing to stump up £1.7m, but there is currently £2.4m in its budget set aside for public realm improvements.
The report points to a recent Greater Manchester Town Centres Study
which identified Rochdale’s heritage assets at its USP, and a reopening of the river could bring bridges built in the 13th Century back into use. It would also make the town more attractive for leisure occupiers.
Rochdale currently has the lowest amount of leisure floorspace of all of Greater Manchester’s towns, with a “very narrow and increasingly unviable” night-time economy dependent on late night pubs and nightclubs.
Meanwhile, the borough’s development agency (RDA) has also unveiled its business plan for the next three years, which puts the delivery of Rochdale town centre’s regeneration as its top priority.
A £150m foodstore-led scheme on the site of the council’s former administrative HQ by Genr8 Developments began consultation last year but no planning application has yet been submitted.
Rochdale Council had entered into talks with the owner of the nearby Wheatsheaf Centre with a view to buying the centre and linking the two schemes. However, it has emerged that talks with the centre’s owner, Bank of Ireland, have since stalled.
Rochdale Development Agency chief executive John Hudson said: “The council have always recognised the importance of integrating the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre with the wider regeneration plans for the town centre.
“We continue to take an interest in the Bank of Ireland’s future intentions for the Wheatsheaf, but the focus of current discussions is how we manage the demolition of the old bus station, multi-storey car park and the removal of the overhead walkways. An important consideration will be maintaining pedestrian access into the Wheatsheaf and this is likely to require the creation of new access from Baillie Street. We are working constructively with the Wheatsheaf owners to finalise the best and most cost-effective solution.”
THE RDA’s new business plan shows the organisation has an increased budget of £1.25m for 2012/13, allowing it to take on two extra members of staff.
In its report to cabinet, the council said the RDA’s activities directly generated private investment of £18.5m and associated public investment of £28.66m last year.
