Far-Reaching Economic Vision for Rochdale

A business breakfast was held on Friday 12 March to launch the Rochdale Borough Economic Development Strategy.

The event, at the Norton Grange Hotel and hosted by the Economic Partnership, attracted over 55 VIP guests from the business community across the borough, as well as partner organisations such as Business Link, North West Development Agency and Rochdale Borough Council.

The plans set out a far-reaching vision of how Rochdale Borough's economy will look in 2013 - with 800 more firms, 7,000 more jobs and up to 10,000 people with better skills. The boost will come from strong partnership working and money for three key areas: people, enterprise and infrastructure.

Key points include additional basic skills provision and new FE courses to encourage students to remain in the borough and attain higher qualifications, as well as massive help for new start-ups, an area highlighted for improvement.

The New Entrepreneur Scholarship scheme developed in conjunction with MMUBS (Manchester Metropolitan University Business School) and run by the Economic Partnership had already seen 60 graduates over the past 18 months and was representative of many similar schemes to boost the economy. Metrolink and Kingsway featured heavily, offering thousands of new jobs and marketing of the borough will be strengthened to maximise its inward investment and tourism potential.

Roger Ellis, Chief Executive at Rochdale Borough Council spoke enthusiastically of direct investment, with a staggering £1 billion being ploughed into the area over 10 years from a variety of sources.

This will be spent on a variety of projects including new Bus Stations/Transport interchanges in Heywood and Rochdale, an innovatively designed Civic and Leisure centre and Tesco superstore in Middleton, new and improved shops, offices and Council accommodation in Rochdale and throughout the borough. Barrie Bernstein, Chair of the RDA and for many years a key employer in Middleton stressed the importance of support from the private sector to help make the challenging vision a reality.

The key note address came from Gary Titley, MEP who received the strategy documents from Cllr Peter Roberts, Chair of the Economic Partnership. Mr Titley, a long-term supporter has helped maximise European funding for much of the work outlined. He was keen to let his colleagues in Strasbourg know of the variety of exciting projects happening in the borough and encourage further support.

Abdul Hamied, General Manager of the Economic Partnership summed up "We are in a position now to substantially transform the social and economic fabric of all the townships. Economic development will be crucial to the long-term sustainable development of the borough. We are looking forward to working with partners in the private and public sectors to achieve our vision for a Rochdale renaissance."