Early success for area forums

Councillors Angela Coric and William Hobhouse promoting the new area forum at Bamford Chapel.

Rochdale Township's three new area forums have made a popular start with residents with more than 100 people attending to raise local issues or problems.

The first Healey area forum was held earlier this week and follows on from the forums in Bamford and Norden, which also started up earlier this month.

Township staff, local councillors and police attended each meeting to address concerns raised by residents, with more than 40 issues raised across the three meetings.

Each meeting starts with an Open Forum, where residents can raise any local issue or problem. These issues, if not dealt with on the night, are recorded, actioned by Township staff and reported back to the next meeting.

Rochdale Township receives £1million of funding, with each ward's Area Forum receiving £6,000 to spend directly on small local projects. Area Forums can decide which larger schemes are prioritised within the Township Capital Budget of £177,000, or the Highways Capital Budget of approximately £450,000 for local road and footpath repairs, and improving safety for pedestrians and drivers.

Rochdale Township chairman Councillor William Hobhouse said: "The Township is working closely with the Rochdale Police to make sure the police priorities are worked out in partnership with each community.

"There is now a complete network of local Area Forums across the town. All nine wards now have either one or two Area Forums. Every resident in Rochdale now has a meeting to go to to get things done.

"A top Rochdale Township priority is to make local democracy work. These 3 new Area Forums demonstrate that the people of Rochdale are keen to get involved, to make improvements to their areas, and to be part of the local decision-making process.

"I am delighted that the new Area Forums have started well and, as Township Chair, I will spend much of my time making sure this success continues."

Angela Coric, the Vice-Chairman of the Township added: "The Townships were set up in the mid nineties and in the past couple of years, Townships have grown in importance and have received more money – particularly the local Highways Capital Budget. I thank all the residents who have attended their Forum, and I hope they have found it useful."