A riverside rendezvous…coming to Rochdale town centre
As plans for
Rochdale’s new Transport Interchange take shape, the
River Roch will play more of a starring role in plans to transform the area.
The
river has long been hidden away in the town centre, blocked off to the public
by foliage and buildings.
But all that is changing as the site is developed
to make way for the Interchange on the right bank and new civic offices to
be built on the opposite side with a new restaurant and café area
planned for the left bank.
A new river wall has been installed and dense foliage
has been cut back as the first steps in opening the riverside area up. In
the future there will be landscaping and seating and the public will be encouraged
to use the area as a rendezvous point.
Work finished this week on clearing
the site to pave the way for construction and the important milestone was
celebrated with a tour of the site by elected members and key partners.
Councillor
Irene Davidson, Deputy Leader of Rochdale Council, said: “Fantastic
progress has been made on clearing the Interchange site and you can now really
see how big an asset the River Roch is to the town centre and why we must
make sure we bring it back to life. It’s been a hidden gem for too
long, but in a few year’s time that area will be a lively restaurant
location and a picturesque amenity spot for everyone to use.”
The Department for Transport recently committed £10million
funding to the Rochdale Interchange project.
Councillor Zulfiqar Ali, Rochdale
spokesperson for Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, commented: “It’s fantastic news that funding
is now in place for the new interchange, which will be a major boost for
public transport users and the regeneration of the town centre. There’s
a lot of work to carry out behind the scenes now that we have the funding
in place but we hope to see construction work start on site next autumn.
I look forward to seeing the new designs for the interchange later this year
and seeing this project becoming a reality.”
John Hudson, Chief Executive of Rochdale Development Agency said: “This
is a major milestone in the redevelopment of the town centre and signals
the start of plans to transform the area. We are confident that the new Interchange,
along with the proposed river-side civic centre, will be the catalyst that
will kick-start the revitalisation of the East of the Town Centre.” |
