We are doing everything we can to support Falinge, say Council

Falinge flats

Rochdale Borough Council has said it is doing everything it can to support residents in Falinge, following a report about benefit claimants.

Andy Zuntz, Executive Director for the Council, said that residents are benefiting from a co-ordinated approach to providing a range of support, covering everything from employment to health issues.

He said: “There is a lot of hard work going on to make the quality of life better for people in Central and Falinge and across the borough. The figures do not show the progress which is being made to move people nearer to work, upskilling, increasing their skills and experience from volunteering. The data will take time to improve, but progress is being made.

“There are a lot of reasons why so many people in this particular area are claiming benefits but we remain optimistic that we can, over time, make families less reliant on benefits and we therefore welcome any new assessments that help encourage people back into work.”

Employment Links, the Council’s employment support agency, holds weekly outreach sessions and organises training courses to improve Falinge residents’ chances of getting a job. 77 residents have been supported into employment by Employment Links since May 2008.

Recent reports show that the local job market is improving with the number of vacancies notified to JobCentre Plus increasing steadily. Just recently the Employment Links team helped 40 local residents gain employment at the new town centre store with ten further vacancies now available.

In addition, a further positive sign for the borough is that enquiries from companies looking to invest in Rochdale have also increased this year both in terms of numbers and quality.

The developers Wilson Bowden, who are responsible for a number of major business parks throughout the country, have recently commented on the success of Kingsway in attracting companies compared to their other schemes. Vindon Scientific, British Millerain, CR Laurence and Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd. are already based there and employ around 100 people and the developers are about to conclude a legal contract with a major manufacturer to acquire a new 3500m2 unit on the business park.

Discussions are also underway with Village Hotels who have just submitted an application for planning consent for a new hotel on Kingsway, and a company already based at Kingsway has opened discussions to bring forward an office building of 8500m2 alongside their existing base.

The Kingsway Partnership has also attracted strong interest from two major food companies who wish to establish distribution facilities on the site and from a sustainable energy company looking to construct a new facility. Both will shortly submit planning applications.

In addition, significant progress is being made on several town centre regeneration projects. The Sixth Form College is now open, the Smith Street site is being prepared for construction of the new customer service centre, council offices and public library to begin next year, the site is cleared for the transport interchange and Genr8 is starting work on its Outline Planning Application for the 150,000 sq ft town centre development which is set to feature a new department store, numerous new retail outlets and a hotel. The plans for a new leisure centre on Entwisle Road are progressing and in November Aldi will open its new store, also on Entwisle Street.

Mr Zuntz added: “We are in a very tough economic climate at the moment but if people take a look around they will see just how much is going on in Rochdale. The regeneration of the town centre, less than half a mile away from Falinge, will create a number of new jobs which we hope people living close by will take up and of course Kingsway will be accessible by tram from the town centre and will support more than 7,000 direct jobs phased over the next 10 to 15 years.”

Leader of the Labour Party in Rochdale, Councillor Colin Lambert said: “Falinge is a mess created by policy not an accident.

“The high level of unemployment and claimants [865 /1030] on the Falinge estate has been created by a council policy which firstly has grouped all the people together in hard to let properties and secondly the council has abandoned the unemployed who are difficult to reach.

“The council is creating ghettos, and the price our community will pay is not just bad headlines but social disorder.

“Fancy words used to cover up mistakes are not enough.”