Play your part in preserving Rochdale’s past

The Carnegie Library building in Castleton

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Do you have a passion for Prickshaw and Broadley Fold? Or is caring for the character of Castleton more up your street?

If you have an interest in either of these areas, Rochdale Borough Council wants you to join our conservation conversation.

As part of its responsibility for identifying and preserving sites of historical or architectural interest in the borough, the council’s Planning team wants your views on the future of these special communities which have both been designated conservation areas.

Draft appraisal reports summarising the unique characteristics of these communities are now available for members of the public to view.

Councillor Terry Linden, Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services and Housing, said: “We’re blessed with some wonderful heritage sites in our borough and we have a duty to look after them for current and future generations.

“These appraisals set out what we believe are the key features of both of these areas but the people who really know what they are like are those that live locally and love them – and it’s these people we really want to hear from.”

The historic Pennines hamlet of Prickshaw and Broadley Fold, in the north-west of Rochdale, was designated a conservation area in 1987 in recognition of its unique character as an 18th century textile community.

Castleton South’s conservation area status was awarded in 2007 for the development associated with the industrial and population boom which resulted from the arrival of the Manchester and Leeds railway in 1839.

The full draft appraisals are available:

• Prickshaw and Broadley Fold Conservation Area Appraisal 
• Castleton (South) Conservation Area Appraisal

Or at Rochdale’s Central Library in the Wheatsheaf Centre, Castleton Library in Castleton Community Centre and at the Planning and Regulation Office in Telegraph House on Baillie Street.

The closing date for comments is the 27 July 2012. Comments can also be sent to Christina Sinclair, Floor 1, Telegraph House, Baillie Street, Rochdale, OL16 1JH or Christina.sinclair@rochdale.gov.uk by Friday 27 July.

Views will be reported to Rochdale Township Committee where a final decision on the conservation areas will be taken.