Rumours that new £50 million town centre apartment block will house refugees quashed

The council has quashed rumours that a new apartment complex currently under construction in the town centre will be used to house asylum seekers. 

The Upperbanks development is currently in its second phase that has already brought the Rochdale Riverside retail and leisure complex to the town centre. According to one small business owner, rumours are rife within the town that the 242 new apartments currently being built will become homes for refugees and the town will become ‘overrun’.

Austin Hopley, who owns Vinesteins on The Walk, believes that people trying to talk down the £50 million town centre regeneration are making it impossible to run a small business.

 

 

“The word around the town is that the apartment blocks will be filled with refugees,” the 25-year-old said. “I feel that people need to be told the truth.

“People are living up to the bad name with these reminders. So many businesses are popping up and we are trying to make a living, which is almost impossible when people are saying all this negative stuff.

“Even if this is for social housing or to house refugees, what is bad about it? People saying all this are going against what the council and the developers are trying to do here.”

The scheme, which the council expected to be completed by August or September, has attracted more than £20m of external funding – including £17m coming from the government’s Future High Streets Fund. The shopping centre opened in spring 2020 and boasts a number of major retail names including M&S, H&M, Next and Deichmann.

“You hear by word of mouth and on Facebook that they are going to be bringing all these refugees which is said in a negative way,” Austin continued. “I fully believe that people need to be kept up to date with it. 

“This is a really good opportunity to build up the town centre and we have some nice stuff coming up. We need to embrace it as positive.”

It is the hope of Rochdale Council that this development would bring more people into the town centre to live and work. The council did not want to comment on the rumours going around but did state there was no truth in them.

Last year Councillor John Blundell, former portfolio holder for economy and regeneration, hailed the ‘great progress’ being made towards creating new homes.

He said: “Upperbanks forms part of a major investment into regeneration of the town and this project has seen local, sustainable jobs, including apprenticeships, being created that are of lasting benefit for our residents and the economy of the borough.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporting Service