PODCAST | The great Rochdale comeback
Like many places, Rochdale was hard hit by the financial crash of 2008. This podcast delves into how the council and private sector reinvented the town and how Rochdale plans to supercharge its growth going forward.
In the latest episode of the Place North West podcast, senior reporter Dan Whelan chatted to Neil Eccles, head of innovation at Rochdale Development Agency, and Steve Rumbelow, chief executive of Rochdale Council, about how Rochdale fought back.
Following the financial crash, McDonalds closed its Rochdale town centre restaurant. This was seen by many as a symptom of the wider decline the town was suffering through.
A decade on and things are very different. The arrival of the Metrolink, and completion of Rochdale Riverside, a new retail and leisure development, have transformed the town centre.
Meanwhile, housing-led strategies around the borough’s seven railway stations are being drawn up in a bid to make the most of connections into Manchester.
As for the future, Rochdale’s prosperity could be driven by the Advanced Machinery and Productivity Institute, a project that aims to bolster the machinery manufacturing industry in the UK by encouraging invention, innovation and the incorporation of advanced technology into the sector.
Podcast by David Booth | david@placenorthwest.co.uk
