Rochdale High Street Foundation second anniversary meeting

Rochdale Council Executive Director Mark Widdup giving his presentation at the High Street Foundation

A well attended Rochdale High Street Foundation second anniversary meeting heard presentations from a number of speakers.

Chairman Paul Clark spoke about the future of the borough's town centres.

Vice chairman Greg Couzens highlighted the achievements of the Foundation over the past year, and also asked the Council to provide information on car parking.

Business & Place Marketing consultant  Lisa Durkin provided an update on the future town centre 2020 report. Ms Durkin said nationally the High Street is seeing more closures. There will be further challenges and closures to come and digital technology will be the key to survival on the High Street.

Town Centre Management (TCM) Chairman Martin Ballard confirmed the Feel Good Festival will return on the last weekend of August. He also said the key priority for TCM will be marketing Rochdale as a destination, and communication. TCM has a new website, sponsored by Rochdale Online:

www.rochdaletowncentre.co.uk

Middleton Town Team's presentation focused on their review and forward plan. Twenty ambassadors have been trained and a pop up shop was opened in December. Middleton will also launch a Teenage Market on 19 April and the Middleton Arena will open a pop up cinema in the Arena.

Rochdale Council's Frances Fielding spoke about the work Heywood Town Team has been doing. The Heywood team has only been in operation four months but already has a "great" action plan.

Claire Costigan asked the council what their future vision is for Heywood. The reply was the council is working on a single visionary document for Heywood.

John Carney asked about funding for Heywood Memorial Gardens and Council Executive Director Mark Widdup agreed to look into it.

Next up was Rochdale Council Executive Director Mark Widdup. Mr Widdup talked about the council's priorities for Rochdale town centre.

He confirmed car parking tariifs will be frozen on council car parks throughout 2014.

The experimental town centre shuttle bus will be made permanent if successful. Members of the meeting felt the bus should also travel up Drake Street to the train station.

The shuttle bus time table can be downloaded here:

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/uploads/f1/news/document/2014131_181032.pdf

Mr Widdup also said the council has appointed an Events Officer to support events throughout the borough.

The council has been seeking residents opinions regarding Rochdale Market and the consultation ends this weekend.

Opening the River Roch in Rochdale town centre will be a key council priority for 2014, said Mr Widdup.

A date for the opening of the town centre Metrolink is still awaited from Transport for Greater Manchester.

Talking about future events, Mr Widdup spoke of the Tour de France coming through Littleborough and also said there would be a Best High Street Retailer category at the 2014 Rochdale Business Awards.

Gary Davies of Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) gave a presentation on the programme for demolition work in Rochdale town centre. He said the 'Black Box' will not be blown up but will be de-constructed layer by layer. It is understood a scaffold will encircle the building and the contractors will work their way down floor by floor. A raffle is being held, in aid of Springhill Hospice, with the prize being the opportunity to start the demolition. Tickets are available in Rochdale town centre shops.

The meeting was hosted by Hopwood Hall College.