High Street Foundation pushes for a decision on the River Roch

In a meeting of the High Street Foundation on Wednesday (6 August) it was announced that a decision regarding the re-opening of the River Roch would be made this month.

During the meeting, the Leader of the Council, Richard Farnell took part in a question and answer session with members of the foundation and answered questions regarding the River Roch.

Frances Fielding from Rochdale Council said: “The majority of the meeting was dominated by the discussion of the river re-opening and Councillor Farnell was very happy to sit and listen to everyone’s views about the issue. It was unanimous in the room that businesses want the river re-opening in terms of things like the heritage and the draw to bring people in to the town.”

The High Street Foundation is supportive of the river re-opening and hope to see the plans go ahead after an extensive campaign to keep the plans moving forward.

During the meeting Councillor Farnell said: “We need to save £52 million over the next two years so all areas of expenditure have to be reviewed by Cabinet.”

Councillor Farnell also stressed that the “Council is faced with constraints and making difficult decisions whilst also trying to drive the town forward but the council is supportive of the idea and will do what it can to keep the river opening going ahead.”

Frances Fielding added: “I think it was important for the High Street Foundation to be able to express their views to the Leader because I think they thought that a decision would be made without their views being heard. We have now been told a decision will be made this month so I think it was important for the views of the businesses to be heard.”

As well as discussing the river re-opening, the meeting discussed tackling youth unemployment.

David Broom from Rochdale Council discussed this with the group and talked about the Creative Employment Project which is helping young people access jobs in the Rochdale Creative Industries. It was announced that 22 jobs have already been filled with the project hoping to create a further 60 jobs this year.

Jobs with Training is another initiative which will create 25 jobs in any sector for young unemployed people. Funding is available for both the Creative Employment Project and Jobs with Training.

During the open forum it was announced that Small Business Saturday, an initiative to celebrate small businesses, will be held on Saturday 6 December following the success of the event last year.

Debbie Hernon will start her new role as the Wheatsheaf Centre manager from Monday (11 August) with an announcement regarding the new Town Centre Manger due to be made on Friday (15 August).

The next High Street Foundation meeting is planned for Wednesday 17 September.