Council Leader Richard Farnell: Regeneration report

The annual report I deliver to the Full Council on my regeneration portfolio is always full of good news as you would expect, but this year's was the best yet.

I genuinely believe that, bearing in mind we have faced horrendous cuts for close to 10 year now, Rochdale Borough Council is still delivering the services our residents want and need.

Below is the full speech I delivered to the meeting

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Regeneration, Communications, Strategic Projects and Greater Manchester Relationships Portfolio.

Along with the other members of the Cabinet I have embarked on a fresh round of savings as the council continues to explore ways of bridging the funding gap left by an ever decreasing central government grant.

It is crucial that we keep a tight control over our budgets, because despite facing millions of pounds more of cutbacks, our number one priority is to protect frontline services – health, social care, education, the environment and community services.

Even though we face this funding shortfall, we have not allowed to stop our continued push to turn our borough info a destination of choice for people to live, work and socialise.

Rochdale town centre
Rochdale Riverside (Genr8)

We continue to make progress with our planned new Rochdale Riverside retail and leisure development.

Following the planning application being approved earlier this year, the council's development partner is now undertaking extensive site investigations across the site to test the ground conditions prior to starting construction of the scheme later this year.

The flagship development will bring around 24 shops, including Next and M&S, as well as restaurants, a six-screen cinema, 340 parking spaces and will create 1,000 new jobs and boost the local economy annually by £17 million.

We are in detailed and well-progressed negotiations with a number of other tenants to occupy the scheme and hope to announce these within the next few months.

Planning permission was also secured for the three listed buildings on Baillie Street, which will be redeveloped as part of the project, bringing opportunities for further retailers to set up in these important heritage buildings.

Rochdale Town Hall

Although the revised Stage One Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid for our fantastic town hall was unfortunately rejected due to the lack of available funds, we remain committed to safeguarding this stunning architectural gem for future generations.

With only £40 million available for bids totalling £224 million it was inevitable that most applicants would be left disappointed.

We are now in the process of exploring other funding options to restore this Grade One listed building and will continue to engage with the HLF.

We also have plans in the pipeline to improve the Town Hall Square, including the lighting of key heritage buildings and the renovation of the Memorial Garden lamps which will get under way later this year.

Baillie Street and lower Yorkshire Street public realm improvements

The transformation of Baillie Street and lower Yorkshire Street is now complete, with brand new natural stone paving and the installation of attractive planters and new benches.

The rising bollards have now been commissioned and will soon be operational, meaning access to this area for service vehicles will be restricted to 6pm - 10am to make the street safer and more attractive to shoppers and visitors.

Market

As part of the site investigation works for Rochdale Riverside the interim market has been moved to Baillie Street, Yorkshire Street and Lord Square, which has also recently been resurfaced in natural stone. This temporary home will remain in place until the new market on The Butts is ready for occupation.

The site of the new permanent market is in the heart of the historic town centre, next to the recently completed re-opened River Roch, with the capacity to accommodate around 25 to 30 stalls.

The planning application for this new outdoor market, and the conversion of the former Santander building to create a small indoor market, was approved in early September 2017.

The Santander building is owned by the council and the second phase of work to adapt and renovate the property commenced in September.

The new market, to be run by market specialists Quarterbridge, is set to open at Easter 2018.

Town centre Business Rates and Independent Retail Business Support Scheme

The combination of our innovative Business Rates discount scheme and property renovation grants for independent town centre businesses have made a huge impact to our town centres.

Since the launch of the business rates support scheme in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton town centres last year, there has been a flow of new private sector investments into our towns.

A total of nine new businesses have been awarded business rates grants and are now established across all three town centres.

We are also continuing to provide extra support to new independent retailers by providing a grant of up to £5,000 for fit-out or shop front improvements for eligible retailers at 50% of the total costs of works.

Applications are being encouraged from businesses and individuals wishing to establish in our town centres and we have already received interest from a number of property owners and businesses about the new scheme.

To date four grants have been approved, including two hairdressers, a cafe and the refurbishment of the former Wellington Hotel on Drake Street.

In total we have seen 21 new cafes, restaurants and shops all opening on Rochdale's high street recently.

This has all contributed towards a significant drop in vacancy levels in the area covered by the schemes, and is a sign of confidence in the town centre with the imminent start of the Rochdale Riverside scheme.

Drake Street

We are working with a number of property owners to increase the supply of good quality residential property within the town centre, with an initial focus on the Drake Street area.

This will increase town centre footfall and local spend as well as assisting in meeting new housing targets using previously developed sites.

The Wellington Hotel, one of the town's landmark buildings, has re-opened as a public house, with support from the council.

Rochdale Railway Station

The council, working with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Northern Rail have commissioned a study to develop some designs and options for improved passenger facilities at Rochdale Railway Station.

These will include a scheme for the enhancement of the main Maclure Road entrance to Rochdale Railway Station.

We are expecting to receive a report and initial scheme costs by the end of this year.

East Lancashire Railway

We have recently received a structural report of the railway bridge at Castleton to assess the feasibility of reopening the arch to bring the heritage railway into Castleton Station.

Network Rail has also completed a further study of the track condition between Heywood and Castleton Stations.

The structural report indicates that the reopening of the arch is feasible with some digging out to lower the track level and stabilisation work to the bridge.

Network Rail is currently assessing the report and the options for the design of the reopened arch.

This is a positive first step and we expect Network Rail will require The East Lancashire Railway (ELR) and the council to commission more detailed work on the bridge structure to obtain various consents, including planning.

Subject to Network Rail approvals, the council is working with the ELR to develop a funding strategy for the project.

A scheme to reopen the Manchester Road access into Heywood Station is also being costed and developed following the completion of the play area to increase the visibility and visitor attraction of Heywood Station.

Middleton town centre
Edgar Wood and Middleton Townscape Heritage Initiative

The restoration of the Edgar Wood Staircase and Exedra in Jubilee Park was completed in the Summer, one of four Edgar Wood properties restored this year.

The £500,000 restoration of Wood's Long Street Methodist School is currently being considered by the Heritage Lottery Fund, a decision is expected shortly.

Improvements to Northern Gateway to Middleton Town Centre

The major paving scheme was completed earlier in the year and other public realm works, including the rebuilding of a Victorian retaining wall, reinstatement of railings and landscaping, have been completed during the summer.

Building on the success of supporting existing and new businesses in the conservation area, a further 10 properties will be supported with shop front improvement grants, with work starting in the Autumn 2017.

Business parks
Kingsway Business Park

Anybody that has recently passed through Kingsway Business Park cannot fail to have noticed the progress being made on the JD Sports Distribution Centre extension, which now has all of its external walls in place.

Construction works are on target to complete in early 2018, and will be followed by an internal fit-out period before becoming operational in Autumn 2018.

I have been invited to view the building works for myself in a couple of weeks' time and I look forward to seeing the works from the inside.

One of the units recently built on Plot K on Kingsway is in the process of being sold to a local manufacturing company who are buying this to add to their existing facility as they are experiencing large growth at the moment. It will mean additional manufacturing jobs on Kingsway, and is great news for the borough.

The Rochdale Half Marathon and 10k races took place last weekend and used some of the Kingsway footpaths. I understand that these were very successful and showcased the business park to visitors from near and far.

Heywood Distribution Park

There is strong interest in the last remaining plot on Heywood Distribution Park (HDP), with a local company close to agreeing a deal to relocate to a new 250,000 sq ft facility, resulting in increased job numbers and further growth.

Currently the business park is close to 90% occupancy, demonstrating the popularity of the location and the need for additional commercial space in this area.

Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) Business and Investment Team continue to work with agents to market available properties on the distribution park.

Stakehill Industrial Estate

As I mentioned in my last report, a significant proportion of the Stakehill Industrial Estate was put up for sale in May 2017. This has now been acquired by UBS Triton Property Fund and will be managed on their behalf by Canmoor, who have previously managed Heywood Distribution Park.

Canmoor had an introductory meeting with Rochdale Development Agency and share our collective desire to make the estate work as well as it can for the benefit of local businesses.

In July 2017, Rochdale Development Agency and Rochdale Borough Council hosted a business breakfast event. This was attended by around 20 of the businesses currently operating from Stakehill. Our forthcoming programme of investment in security and traffic measures was outlined, and very positively received by businesses. Companies had the opportunity to network with each other and a highways working group has been instigated as a direct result of the event.

Other events will be organised in the future to maintain momentum.

On the property front, both of the former Aldi units have now been let, one of which has gone to a company new to the Borough.

This brings 300,000 sq ft of vacant space back into use.

Both of these companies will be operational by Christmas 2017.

Both the former Tesco unit and the former Sainsbury unit are being refurbished and will be back on the market in the near future.

This will bring a further 400,000 sq ft of space up to the standard required by modern users, and will leave very little available space on Stakehill.

Other regeneration activity
M62 J19 South Heywood Area Wide Improvement Programme

Officers of the council, in their role as Local Planning authority, are considering the planning application for the link road between Junction 19 of the M62 and Heywood Distribution Park, plus the associated housing and employment space. As this is still a live planning application, I do not propose to comment any more at the moment.

Communications

The communications team once again played a central role in delivering the council's fantastic Feel Good Festival, which drew record crowds to the town centre in August. As well as booking the headline acts the team also did a sterling job of marketing the event across the north west – ensuring that local businesses as well as our residents benefitted from what has becomes one of the best music festivals in the region.

Communications is also helping with the Literature and Ideas Festival and the Half Marathon, 10k and Fun Run, which I am sure will also be a great success.

I am pleased to be able to report that the council's website has again been classed as one of the top four best borough council websites in the country; and we have once more achieved the maximum four-star rating – one of only 35 council websites in the country to achieve this and the only one in Greater Manchester.

As well as working on recruiting foster carers and staff, tackling financial abuse against the elderly, and other projects linked to the council's priorities, communications has developed a workbook for school children to use as part of the national, year-long linking schools project. The Linking Network were so impressed with the work they have asked the council to produce a template version that can be used up and down the country.

Councillor Richard Farnell
Rochdale Borough Council Leader
Cabinet member for regeneration