Focus on Littleborough: Littleborough Civic Trust

Holy Trinity Church in Littleborough

In 1971 the Littleborough Civic Trust was set up by a group of people keen to conserve and enhance the environment of Littleborough.

The trust is a voluntary body registered with the national body, Civic Voice.

Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild met with chairman of the Trust Russell Johnson to find out more…

Mr Johnson got involved with the Civic Trust about six years ago through the Littleborough Town Design Statement – this plan includes supplementary planning guidance and has been incorporated into the Rochdale Unitary Development Plan.

He like many others had views and ideas of how Littleborough should be maintained.

“I had always thought the Trust was for people who were invited, I thought of the people who were involved as intellectual and that they wouldn’t want a local lad like me but then I found it wasn’t like that.

“The Trust is open to anybody, and to be honest we are always looking for new members,” said Mr Johnson.

“Our aim is to conserve and preserve Littleborough,” said Mr Johnson.

“The Trust instigated the Coach House renovation along with other groups, and was also instrumental in achieving the Hollingworth Lake country park status.”

The Trust is currently assessing the central conservation area of Littleborough. They want to preserve and extend it as much as possible as so they feel so much has been lost already

A particular thing Mr Johnson and the Trust’s members aren’t fond of is shutters on shop windows.

“We compare with other places such as Hebden Bridge where you can see the display at night time. When you pass through you should be able to see in the shop windows, they shouldn’t have shutters on them, places shouldn’t have big gaudy signs up and other things that don’t blend with Littleborough’s character.

“We have some excellent displays in Littleborough they just need to be seen.

Mr Johnson explained two projects that stand out to him.

The first is the tree planting sessions that used to happen in Littleborough during 1995/6


Mr Johnson said: “The biggest one was Barkers Wood off Starring Way on Bents Farm Estate.

“A piece of land was given to the community by one of our members, Mrs Barker, and the LCT (Littleborough Civic Trust) organised tree planting sessions throughout the year, and asked for volunteers from local people, as I lived on that estate at the time I planted quite a few trees there, and this was followed up some eight years later, once the trees had become established, by the planting of Daffodils and Bluebells.

“Barkers Wood is now thriving and is well used by local people.”

The other thing that sticks out for Mr Johnson is the Flower Meadow on Hare Hill Road. He said: “This used to be the old Gas-works site, and although it was landscaped when the gas board left the site, another of our members, Jill Roberts thought it would benefit the community more if it was developed as a wild flower meadow, and Jill was the driving force within the LCT to bring this about, getting estimates, arranging work to be done through several agencies applying for grants, to get enough money to have planting sessions, and footpaths put in, also motivating other LCT members to attend clean-up mornings.”

Unfortunately Jill Roberts Passed away in December 2008 and so the Wild Flower Meadow remains as a lasting tribute and memorial to Jill.

One of the tasks the Trust is working on at the moment relates to Hare Hill Park, in particular the Carnegie Library and Hare Hill House, alongside the MoorEnd Trust who are spearheading the project

Few people use Hare Hill House since its old occupiers, Littleborough Council, was taken over by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council in the 70s

“We want the Library to stay there,” said Mr Johnson “However, we need to utilise the rest of the building too, otherwise it won’t survive.”

The Civic Trust meets monthly, and has a committee and elected officers.

The Trust has numerous conservation areas to work on around Littleborough when they have finished with the central area.

The group also likes to keep an eye on planning, as they deem it vital to know what is planned and where it is going to be. They don’t want to see any ‘ugly’ buildings cropping up and try to ensure the developers don’t exceed the amount of dwellings per area as laid down by the government. Also, that there are enough provision for car parking for each dwelling.

Within the Civic Trust there is also a footpath group, who help to maintain the footpaths and ensure they are regularly used; a walking group was set up in 1971 to help to make sure that footpaths remain open for anybody to use.

Mr Johnson said: “As a group I think we all think alike to a certain extent.”

The Trust want to bring the community feel back to Littleborough which they think has been lost along the way.

Mr Johnson thinks one way to do this would be to have a high school in the town so families wouldn’t have to go out to Wardle, Milnrow or other parts of the borough.

Mr Johnson would also like to see more industry in Littleborough to keep people there instead of going elsewhere to work.

When asked what he liked best about Littleborough, Mr Johnson said: “I like the feel of the place, the ambience and how we know our way around, nothing feels strange and of course we are so close to the countryside.”