City hall bosses accept £20m of funding to transform the city

Town hall chiefs have less than two months to decide how to spend £20m on Heywood.

In September 2023, the city was officially announced as one of 55 areas to benefit from the Government’s Long Term Plan for Cities. £19.510m will be released to Rochdale Council over the next 10 years once a plan has been set – just under £2m a year.

The deadline for the council to submit its long-term vision and three-year investment is August 1, 2024. Only then will the money be released.

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To do this, Heywood Town Council has been formed to draw up the plan which will need to be completed before the money is released by the government’s leveling department. The council will include councillors, the local MP (to be decided on July 4), a representative from the police and health care, as well as a number of business and community people from Heywood.

The Government has offered £50,000 to help them develop their proposal. This would involve several rounds of public engagement to better understand which area of ​​the city is crying out.

While no decision has been made on where the money will go, the areas where the money can be spent are on transportation, safety and education, the June 25 town hall meeting heard. Consultation for this is currently underway.

At the meeting at Number One Riverside, the cabinet also approved £879,390 of National Lottery heritage funding to restore the Broadfield Park slopes. This was matched by their own contribution, bringing the project to a total of £1,680,471.

Work has been ongoing since 2021, with the area’s ancient natural past being discovered through archaeological investigations. The site is between Rochdale Town Hall and St Chad’s Church above.

Council documents state: “In addition to the elements of work funded by the National Heritage Lottery, replanting has taken place on the western slopes (phase 1) and future ground stabilization work will take place on the southern slopes (previously called phase 2 ). ). Both phases are 100% council funded.”