Blueprint for a brighter future

£2.8m plan to transform Oldham and Rochdale

A £2.8million eight-year blueprint for the future of Oldham and Rochdale tackles challenges and grabs opportunities, according to the think tank behind it.

Focussing on jobs, homes and communities, it describes the current position as fragile - thanks to the credit crunch - and sets out a programme for transformation.

It predicts Oldham - now the fourth most deprived borough in Greater Manchester - will be thriving by 2020.

Currently having the second highest level of unemployment in the region, the prediction is it will become a “great place to live” and play a “new and dynamic role” in the region.

And it says Oldhamers will earn more, have quality local facilities, and an “excellent” quality of life, in both urban and rural areas.

Produced by the Oldham and Rochdale Economic and Skills Alliance, and supported by Partners in Action, the document investigates how the two boroughs can play their part in an emerging strategy for the Manchester City region.

And it predicts an extra 16,000 new jobs for the region with more than 500,000 square metres of new office, manufacturing and retail space, 10,000 new homes, 2,800 of which it describes as “affordable,” and opportunities for £1.5 billion of private investment.

It does, however, warn the process will not be easy, with the recession hitting jobs hard, placing undoubted strain on the community cohesion which many bodies have worked hard to foster.

The move is part of a vision which makes Oldham and Rochdale places were people want to live and work, and the masterplan pays tribute to the outstanding achievements of young people at local schools and colleges, and the expanding Oldham University Campus.

The document sets out a programme of investment from both the public and private sector.

Economic projects in Oldham town centre, linked to the new Metrolink station at Mumps, at the flagship business park in Hollinwood, and in Chadderton through land at Foxdenton earmarked for a new employment site, are on the cards over the next eight years.

And so is local housing renewal and growth, with Werneth and Derker in line for early work, and projects at Alt, Sholver, Hathershaw and Fitton Hill to follow.

Oldham Council leader Councillor Howard Sykes and his counterpart in Rochdale, Councillor Irene Davidson, believe the two boroughs can not only contribute to growth in the city region, but also benefit from it.

And they say the two areas already have a history of successful partnership working.