A “gamechanging” £20m cash growth injection for Oldham will see culture, sport, education, housing and businesses benefit across the borough.
The funding will see the creation of a new community regeneration partnership to complement, enhance and accelerate the delivery of key growth initiatives across Oldham.
The money is being allocated as follows:
- £4.5m for Oldham’s districts, to fund projects to spark local growth and distributed via community-based decision-making by local residents, businesses, community groups and other organisations. This is to make sure that the people who know their areas best will make the decisions on how to spend the cash. This cash will go alongside £600,000 of funding agreed through the Long-Term Plan for Towns – which means that there will be £1m available for each of the borough’s five districts.
- £2.5m to create a cultural quarter for Oldham with the Coliseum at its beating heart. The Coliseum is already being refurbished and is to open in time for panto this year. This boost will create a cultural cooperative model in the area around the Fairbottom Street theatre and on Yorkshire Street. It will see vacant retail units being brought back into use with income from rents supporting the Coliseum’s running costs – ensuring a sustainable future for the beloved Oldham landmark.
- £2m to support market traders relocate to their new Spindles home. This grant scheme will enable our market traders to purchase modern, low-carbon, fit-for-purpose kit and help ensure that our new market will rival the best available in the North. Cash will also be assigned to refurbish the handful of vacant units in Spindles to enable some of the larger traders to move into the main mall itself.
- £1m to redevelop George Street as the fantastic new home of our outdoor market and a beautiful new public space. This is on top of £1m that’s already been invested in this reimagined space.
- £5m for the town centre housing delivery partnership. This cash will be used to support the development of a planning strategy and associated pre-development costs for the four key town centre housing sites including Civic, Magistrates Court, Leisure Centre site and Princes Gate to deliver up to 2,000 new homes in the town centre. This will unlock and accelerate the development of these homes – which means Oldham people will be able to see the homes go up quicker. This news comes as diggers are in the ground for the first phase of work – and a public consultation has launched on the planning applications for the first of the sites which you can take part in by visiting https://oldhamtownliving.co.uk/
- £5m investment in sports education and facilities – with details on this exciting development to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
- £100,000 to run an innovative pilot to crack down on rogue landlords. This scheme will seek to withhold or claw back benefits cash from unscrupulous landlords who don’t carry out repairs on their homes. If successful it could be rolled out across the country.
The cash for all these projects has come from the government’s community regeneration fund after Oldham Council successfully made the case to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for investment in our borough.
Leader of Oldham Council, Councillor Arooj Shah, said: “This £20m of investment into Oldham really is a gamechanger.
“It will supercharge the ambitious regeneration plans that we have for the borough in a year that Oldhamers will finally see some of these bold ideas come to life.
“Every part of the borough will reap the rewards from this vital cash boost, and every part of Oldham society from business, culture, charities, community groups and other voluntary organisations. Most importantly of all, every Oldham person will see the benefits. It’s also great to see the actions recommended by the Oldham Economic Review Board being implemented.”
“Oldham’s time is now, and this huge cash investment will help restore pride and hope to our borough.”
Local Growth Minister, Alex Norris said: “Growth is the government’s priority and we want every person and community across the country to be part of this. The regeneration and improvements coming to Oldham and Rochdale will really put Greater Manchester at the forefront of our decade of national renewal.
“With this £40 million package we are tackling issues that really matter to the region, rather than a one-size fits all approach, this tailored package will guarantee long-term, sustainable growth that means more money in people’s pockets as promised in our Plan for Change.”