Levelling up: Rochdale Council to bid for £40m to fund borough projects

The council hopes the funding will help finance a redevelopment of the area near Rochdale's railway station

Rochdale Council has approved plans to bid for £40m of levelling up money to help finance development projects across the borough.

The council will ask for two £20m payments to go towards work near the town's railway station and in Heywood and Middleton.

A council meeting heard the Rochdale project would aim to "maintain the momentum" of regeneration in the town.

It was also told the plans would "drive footfall" in Heywood and Middleton.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the plans to bid for funds for the three towns were signed off at the council cabinet meeting on 30 June.

Councillors were told the proposals include the development of 200 new homes near Rochdale's railway station and the building of a new public square in the area to create an "improved gateway" into the town centre.

The council also hopes to improve the road layout in Heywood and improve the town's civic centre, while in Middleton, the focus will be on the town's arena, which will see its theatre section refurbished to allow it to be used as a cinema.

The plans include improvements to Heywood Civic Centre and Middleton Arena

Councillor John Blundell, the cabinet member for regeneration said the council was "excited" to be bidding for the funding, which would advance a "major milestone" in Rochdale's rail corridor strategy and help to showcase Heywood and Middleton.

He said the two towns had "a proud history and a very different culture to parts of Rochdale", adding: "Having investment in those two buildings will showcase what these towns have to offer."

All bids for the latest round of levelling up funding must be submitted to the government by noon on Wednesday.

A government paper detailing the funding said it would "continue to invest directly in communities across all parts of the UK".

"Levelling up is at the heart of the government's agenda to build back better after the pandemic and to deliver for citizens in every part of the UK," it added.

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