Council’s £200m partnership means 1,300 new jobs

Back row – Councillor Ian Duckworth, Conservative Leader on Rochdale Council; Councillor Alan Taylor, Liberal-Democrat Leader on Rochdale Council; James Measures, Mouchel Parkman Managing Director; Charles Mindenhall, Chief Executive Officer of Agilisys F

Monday 3 April saw the start of a new partnership between Rochdale Council and two private companies, Mouchel Parkman and Agilisys, which will bring at least 1,300 new jobs to the Borough over 15 years.

The deal, which has taken more than two years to arrange, will also bring major investment in improvements to Council services, including a new Customer Contact Centre.

Bringing in jobs and new business will also help regenerate the Borough. One of the first major developments will be a new office building on the old Yelloway coach station site near the River Roch in Rochdale town centre.

Hundreds of Council staff have been seconded to work for a new company called the Impact Partnership, jointly owned by the Council, Mouchel Parkman, a professional support services group, and Agilisys, a technology and business process service provider.

The partnership deal was approved unanimously by councillors (on Weds 22 Feb 2006). Leaders of all three political groups welcomed the deal.

“This partnership will bring massive benefits to the Borough,” said a joint statement from Councillors Allen Brett (Labour), Alan Taylor (Liberal Democrat) and Ian Duckworth (Conservative).

“Council funding of £200 million will be invested in the partnership over 15 years but the value to the Borough will be much greater than that.

“The partnership agreement guarantees that our private sector partners will bring at least 1,300 new jobs to the Borough over the life of the partnership.

“Co-operation with other partners - including schools, Hopwood Hall College and JobCentre Plus - will help us ensure that local people have the right skills for the new jobs. We aim for at least three out of every four of the new jobs to go to local people.

“Council services will also be improved, with highways amp; engineering, property management, information technology and payroll all being run through the partnership.

“There will be more investment in a customer contact centre to improve the service to people telephoning the Council, plus more investment in new technology and in new systems to improve services than the Council could have provided on its own.

“All this will be done without any extra cost to those who pay the Council Tax.”

Richard Cuthbert, chief executive for Mouchel Parkman, said: "We are delighted to be working with the Council to assist in the regeneration of the Borough. The Impact Partnership will, by working alongside the Council and other agencies, help to make a real difference to local communities for years to come.”

Charles Mindenhall, Chief Executive Officer of Agilisys, said: “We are delighted to now be putting plans into action and bringing to bear our extensive experience with successful partnerships in the public sector, such as our strategic partnership with the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, our ICT partnership with Cumbria County Council, and the provision of services for the DTI’s Consumer Direct North West.

“The Impact Partnership will help to transform and regenerate the area, not only by improving the way in which services are delivered to citizens, but also by bringing a significant number of new jobs to the area with our own contact centre business.

“Agilisys Contact Services (ACS) will be providing services to our existing private sector clients from our new premises in Rochdale.”

Gail Shadlock, who will be Managing Director of the partnership, said, “The Impact Partnership is a fabulous new venture for the Council, Mouchel Parkman and Agilisys.

“With the support and enthusiasm of staff who have seconded into the partnership, we believe that we can achieve significant strides forward in service delivery to local people and can play a major part in the regeneration of the whole Borough. We are passionate about making this work.”

Initially, it will be business as usual for everybody – staff in the Partnership will continue to do what they previously did.  Members of the public contacting the Council should continue to use existing phone numbers amp; e-mail addresses.