A year of progress and problems at Kingsway

Kingsway Business Park model

As the Kingsway Business Park approaches its fourth birthday, Rochdale Online reporter Matthew Simms looks at the developments over the past year and offers an insight into the park’s future.

It has been hailed as a year of progress for Kingsway Business Park, the multi-million pound scheme that developers reckon could one day bring hundreds of millions of pounds to the local economy.

It has welcomed its first tenants on the site; Vindon Scientific along with Takeuchi Mfg have both relocated there.

And with the new look M62 junction and the Sir Isaac Newton Way, the road which runs through the spine of the site, both being completed, the business park is beginning to take shape.

But as Kingsway approaches its fourth birthday, the past 12 months have not been without a smattering of controversy, some of it trivial while some more serious.

There were some questions raised to as why the main road was named after Sir Isaac rather than someone with connections to the local area.

But it is believed that Wilson-Bowden, the company developing Kingsway, will name all the roads after famous British scientists and engineers.

As well as that the Kingsway team were then ridiculed by satirical magazine Private Eye after they travelled across town with a ‘hook-a-duck’ game aimed at raising awareness about the business park.

The Private Eye article described the development as little more than a ‘muddy field’.

No-one from Private Eye is likely to have visited the site but people can now judge for themselves whether the site is just a ‘muddy field’ as it is now open for people to drive, walk and cycle through.

But as the project approaches its fourth birthday, and after huge sums of public money have already been invested, there are still only two medium sized businesses on site.

Bosses at Kingsway, Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) and the town’s MP Paul Rowen have batted away the criticism by claiming the project, and subsequent business take-up, is not due to be completed until 2018.

John Hudson, the Chief Executive of RDA, has dismissed the article in Private Eye and other criticism about the apparent lack of business interest, he said: “We have always been honest that Kingsway is at the start of a 15 year journey.”

A lot of the criticism has been levelled at how the park is being managed as several deals to bring companies to Kingsway have fallen through.

Reports suggested Zen Internet was keen on a move to Kingsway but have now located to an alternative site on Sandbrook Park. A four star hotel for the park was also scrapped and RDA refused to let Carcraft move to the business park.

As a consequence the company has threatened to quit the town and take its headquarters, car preparation and show room to other parts of Greater Manchester.

RDA says its hand was forced and could not let Carcraft have a show room on Kingsway due to planning restrictions.

One of those voicing their concerns is Labour’s parliamentary candidate, Simon Danczuk. He has spoken out against the management of the park and criticised the role the RDA has had in the development at Kingsway.

“The RDA has continually refused to allow Carcraft to locate on the Park, which again I think is a mistake and something I raised with the RDA Chief Executive," he said.

“The jobs our town needs are reliant upon the Park being a success and that success is dependent upon the RDA successfully promoting the Park and getting businesses to locate there.

“The De Vere’s, Zen and Carcraft examples suggest something is going wrong with the Park’s development.”

But despite these set backs, the development has already started to make a difference in Rochdale. 800 local residents have been given free training courses by the team at Kingsway, and nearly £300,000 worth of construction contracts have been given out to local companies.

And even though only two businesses are on site, the RDA say they are in ‘advanced talks’ with other business who want to move to the development.

Once finished the RDA and others predict Kingsway will bring nearly 10,000 jobs to Rochdale and they believe that the development could add up to £350m to the local economy every year.

But these are just predictions, we will only see if this potential is achieved many years into the future.