River reopening close to becoming a reality

Photo: Margaret Curry

The River Roch uncovered in the Town Centre in 1996

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Plans to reopen the River Roch where it runs underneath Rochdale town centre took a step closer last night as councillors at the Rochdale Township Committee gave the go-ahead to place a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on The Butts. Although the decision to open up the river was finally taken at last week’s Cabinet meeting, purchasing The Butts is a key stage in ensuring that the works can go ahead.

A strange quirk in the process is that ownership of the land cannot be established and it is believed that the original title deed goes back to medieval times. The land covers an area of 1245 square metres and as well as a pedestrian area and highway, currently contains the traffic roundabout at the foot of Newgate which will have to be removed when work commences.

Reopening the river will expose a substantial section of medieval and post medieval masonry with later Georgian extensions to the Roch Bridge at the foot of Yorkshire Street.

As well as reducing flood risk, it is believed that the re-opening and associated structural work will make the town centre a more attractive environment and coupled with other plans to revitalise the town centre will attract shoppers and visitors from out of town.

Of the four options considered for the reopening, the one chosen retains a section of the current bridge by the bottom of Drake Street in order to accommodate the incoming Metrolink and includes a segment that contains services such as sewage, water and other utilities. It also avoids the more costly option of removing the wall on the northern bank and the creation of a grassy, planted-out slope down to the river.

The costs associated with the chosen option are currently believed to be in the order of £3.3m. Various funding options are being explored including grants from Northern Ambition, the Regional Flood Committee, Environment Agency and the Heritage Lottery Fund leaving the council to provide just under £800,000 at current estimates. An offer of £100,000 has already been offered by the Environment Agency towards design costs.

Rochdale Online has conducted the ‘Rochdale Riviera’ campaign which indicated the overwhelming support for the project. Out of 95 people interviewed, 89 were clearly in favour; a fact that was referred to by Peter Rawlinson, Head of Planning at last night’s meeting.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/67940/support-gathers-pace-for-rochdale-riviera