Letter backed by majority of council members urges RBH's controversial demolition plans be delayed until after pandemic ends

A letter backed by the majority of Rochdale’s councillors has been sent to the chief executives of both Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, urging the controversial demolition plans for the town centre to be put on hold until the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.

Composed by Balderstone and Kirkholt ward councillor Daniel Meredith, the chair of the Council’s Communities Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny, the letter to Gareth Swarbrick, CEO of RBH, and Steve Rumbelow, CEO of Rochdale Council, has been backed by a further 56 councillors.

Councillor Meredith adds that Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd “fully supported the motion and the letter” but was unable to sign due to ill health. 

In the letter, Councillor Meredith says the project needs to be “put on hold until the pandemic has ended” and “no more residents should be moved out of the town centre area”.

He also asks if the amount of money RBH is putting into the project will be affected by the pandemic, and raises the possibility of using empty properties within the flats for emergency accommodation for vulnerable residents.

The letter reads: “The residents of College Bank flats have raised concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The residents have two main concerns which are the continued plan of moving residents during this uncertain time and the plan to build new homes at the College Bank site. Will this pandemic affect the amount of money that RBH will be investing into the project, bearing in mind the ever-changing treasury budget?

“As Chair of the Council’s Communities Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny, I believe that this project needs to be put on hold until the pandemic has ended and further that no more residents should be moved out of the town centre area.

“The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, is currently asking for all homeless or Council Tax ‘Band A’ residents to be moved into emergency accommodation. Instead of the Council paying large amounts of funds to accommodate residents in expensive B&Bs and hotels, would it not be more practicable and viable to move residents into the existing empty properties within the ‘Seven Sisters’ flats, College Bank and at properties in the Lower Falinge area?

“Rochdale Borough’s councillors want to see a systematic and co-operative approach to help these vulnerable residents. Currently, many concerns have been raised by councillors regarding our housing emergency, the democratic input and the continued lack of service to our housing estates.

“Hopefully, after the COVID-19 pandemic, we can start afresh and work together to resolve these important concerns.”

Responding to the COVID-19 queries raised by Councillor Meredith, a spokesman for RBH said: “As part of the local response to the coronavirus pandemic, we have worked closely with the council and with other local partners to provide support to those who are homeless and at risk of homelessness.

“We will continue to work together to ensure that those now in temporary accommodation are able to move into a good quality permanent home, with the right services in place to support them, as soon as possible.

“Despite the current challenges, this month we have progressed the next phase of new homes in Lower Falinge – with 55 new houses and apartments on the way. We will continue to deliver the number, type and quality of homes that local people need, in central Rochdale and across the borough.”

RBH adds that both it and the council agree that high-rise flats are “just not appropriate” for housing families with children.

The spokesman continued: “We have been working very closely with senior council officers since 2016 to develop a positive way forward for College Bank and Lower Falinge. We want to ensure that this town centre neighbourhood provides good quality homes that meet the needs of local people, now and in the future.

“A key part of this work has been reviewing the investment required for the seven high-rise blocks at College Bank, which are now five decades old. The latest technical cost report shows that over £90m is needed to provide the quality of homes that local people deserve. Neither the council nor RBH have access to this level of funding.

“As a mutual owned by our tenants and employees, and in line with our values, we have consistently been open and honest about the challenges faced in central Rochdale. We will not shirk responsibility for meeting these challenges head on and taking difficult but necessary decisions, right for the long term.

“However, if Councillor Meredith and his colleagues have a realistic alternative plan to generate the £90m-plus needed to fund the works to all seven blocks at College Bank, we would be willing to facilitate the council taking on this responsibility.”

The 30-year regeneration ‘masterplan’ – which also includes major demolition in neighbouring Lower Falinge – has long come under sustained attack from across the political spectrum.

Councillors have long voiced concerns that RBH’s figures ‘do not add up’ – fearing there will simply not be enough properties for those evicted from their current homes under the proposals.

Despite RBH’s insistence that all tenants who wish to stay in the ‘town centre area’ will be able to do so, councillors say the proposals lack clarity and detail.

A motion – understood to have cross-party support – had previously been tabled by Councillor Meredith for the full council meeting in March, but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/133229/rbh-facing-council-ultimatum-over-regeneration-plan-for-seven-sisters-and-lower-falinge

However, if concerns cannot be resolved, it is proposed that the creation of a ‘co-operative model where the council and the residents own and manage College Bank and Lower Falinge properties should be investigated’.

RBH insists that the cost of refurbishing four of the Seven Sisters makes that option financially unviable – and its plan will create a ‘better mix and quality’ of homes in the ‘town centre area’, with ultimately no net loss of properties.

The motion also proposed that monies RBH currently has for demolition should be reinvested in ‘creating decent homes that can be lived in’.

RBH hit back over the motion, saying it contains numerous ‘inaccuracies and misunderstandings’.

In an official statement last month, Mr Swarbrick, CEO of RBH, said the landlord has worked with the council on College Bank since 2016 – and if the authority were able to find investment to ‘give the blocks a long-term life, providing safe and secure homes first for the 21st century’ then RBH would ‘happily agree’ to it taking over responsibility for its future.

He added that RBH would continue to share information with the council, such as the latest independent cost estimate which puts the price of refurbishing the seven blocks at £93m (having previously been put at £70m).

In his statement, Mr Swarbrick concluded: “The motion tabled unfortunately contains a number of inaccuracies and misunderstandings. It also seeks to commit RBH to doing things that we are already doing.”

Rochdale Borough Council has been contacted for comment.

Additional reporting: Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporting Service