A riverside rendezvous coming to Rochdale town centre

As plans for Rochdale’s new Transport Interchange take shape, the River Roch will play more of a starring role in plans to transform the area.

The river has long been hidden away in the town centre, blocked off to the public by foliage and buildings.

But all that is changing as the site is developed to make way for the Interchange on the East bank and new civic offices to be built on the opposite side with a new restaurant and café area planned for the West bank.

A new river wall has been constructed and dense foliage has been cut back as the first steps in opening the riverside area up. In the future, on the West bank there will be landscaping and seating and the public will be encouraged to use the area as a rendezvous point.

Work finished this week on clearing and remediating the site to pave the way for construction and the important milestone was celebrated with a tour of the site by elected members and key partners.

Councillor Irene Davidson, Deputy Leader of Rochdale Council, said: “Fantastic progress has been made on clearing the Interchange site and you can now really see how big an asset the River Roch is to the town centre and why we must make sure we bring it back to life. It’s been a hidden gem for too long, but in a few year’s time that area will be a lively café and restaurant location and a picturesque amenity spot for everyone to use.”

The Department for Transport recently committed £10million funding to the Rochdale Interchange project.

Councillor Zulfiqar Ali, Rochdale spokesperson for Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, commented: “It’s fantastic news that funding is now in place for the new interchange, which will be a major boost for public transport users and the regeneration of the town centre. There’s a lot of work to carry out behind the scenes now that we have the funding in place but we hope to see construction work start on site next autumn. I look forward to seeing the new designs for the interchange later this year and seeing this project becoming a reality.”

John Hudson, Chief Executive of Rochdale Development Agency said: “This is a major milestone in the redevelopment of the town centre and signals the start of plans to transform the area. We are confident that the new Interchange, along with the proposed river-side civic centre, will be the catalyst that will kick-start the revitalisation of the East of the Town Centre.”