Letter from Parliament - Simon Danczuk MP

Simon Danczuk

Now that conference season is over, it’s good to see political debate return to the House of Commons. I experienced a first this week when a minister answered a completely different question to the one I asked! He had been half asleep at the time and was looking at the wrong question on the order paper. It really is time this Government woke up.

It is now over two years since ministers closed Rochdale magistrates’ court and it still stands empty. It would be much better if this were put to good use instead of simply gathering dust. It’s costing the taxpayer over £200,000 a month for the upkeep of courts that have closed and we really need to start looking at more creative ways of using empty government buildings.

I have been very impressed with the conversion of an empty court in West Yorkshire into a community theatre and arts resource centre, and I think this model should be seriously looked at. The Otley Courthouse has gone from sentencing to salsa nights. It has touring theatre and everything from stand up comedy to literature and science festivals. You’d be hard pushed to find a better example of bringing an empty public building back into the heart of a community.

Ventures like this can be a great catalyst for wider regeneration because they build community spirit, which is often lacking in soulless regeneration plans.

Capturing the public’s imagination and encouraging civic pride should be the main driver behind plans to transform Rochdale town centre.

From the ‘cake and debate’ sessions that I’ve been running at my constituency office I know that local people have plenty to say on this subject – and lots of good ideas for the town. We need more debate around how best to regenerate Rochdale, not less. That’s why it’s not helpful seeing the Middleton Councillor Peter Williams continually trying to shut down debate.

His clumsy efforts to re-write history suggest he thinks local people have the memory of a goldfish. It wasn’t long ago that his colleague, Councillor Farooq Ahmed, stated that big household names had signed up to move into Rochdale. We now know that is not true.

Regeneration succeeds when leaders work with the community and listen to local people. We need openness, transparency and more debate. Simply pretending the council has all the answers, when everyone knows they don’t, is not the way forward.