Great to be in the JR Clynes building last week to meet with stakeholders from across Oldham as the Oldham Town Board met to discuss work to oversee the delivery of Towns Fund projects and other activity in Oldham town centre as part of our ongoing regeneration plan.
To have a strong future, our strength and confidence comes from our past. Our heritage across our town centre should therefore be protected, regenerated, and brought into the modern day for community use and civic life. While others shy away from these due to financial struggles, Oldham council shows its commitment to place and to creating a future local people can be proud of.
The four Towns Fund projects benefitting from the ยฃ24.4 million Town Deal are the Northern Roots urban farm and eco-park, a new flexible workspace, a new performance space, and the relocation of Tommyfield Market into Spindles.
Fruits of this hard work is becoming clear with funding translating into meaningful investment, that builds on the work our Labour-led Council has been doing for Many years to regenerate Oldham Town Centre:
The soon to be opened ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐น & ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ completes the transformation at Spindles after the opening of the new council offices and ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ as Oldhamโs engine for business growth with co-working space, meeting rooms and events space.
Completed the Old Town Hall jigsaw with the opening of the magnificent ๐๐ด๐๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ผ๐บ, bringing together Parliament Square with the Odeon Cinema and adjacent food retailers.
Saving ๐ข๐น๐ฑ๐ต๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐๐บ at its historic home on Fairbottom Street and refurbishing it ready for 2026 panto season.
๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ to create a space more people want to come to for their shopping, including organising events and improving appearance & safety by painting vacant shops, deep cleaning bins, increasing police presence, and installing CCTV cameras along the street.
Continuing to transform Union Street with the opening of the ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ข๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ as the cultural & civic home of our borough, finding a solution to pavement parking concerns, and taking on the ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด to stop it deteriorating into further ruin.
Brining more people to the town centre through the building of thousands of homes as part of the ๐ข๐น๐ฑ๐ต๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ผ๐๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ.
Regeneration is not just about the centre of Oldham, but town centres and high streets all across our borough.
Itโs not just Oldham Town Centre that is benefiting from government regeneration funding managed by members from local institutions and stakeholders. As part of the plan for neighbourhoods, the Chadderton Town Board continues to meet to implement the 10-year neighbourhood plan after it was awarded ยฃ20m over ten years for the regeneration of Chadderton and the surrounding area, beginning in March 2025, replacing the Long-Term Plan for Towns programme.
At the time of attending the first Chadderton Town Board last year where we met to discuss the investment plan, I wrote to the then Conservative government to ask that Royton was also included but it didnโt transpire in the final list of towns which followed.
Royton deserves this attention too and we have been working locally to do what we can to regenerate the area with the recently refurbished Royton Town Hall & Library, along with ongoing work to end the service charges dispute at Royton precinct.
Investing in heritage and civic places for the long term gives a sense of local pride to residents but we know regeneration of our great town centre should not be being done to people but with people in partnership so that communities have control in getting the town centre they want.
It was great to see so many from a wide range of industries, sectors and institutions at the meeting, showing the passion so many have to deliver the better future local people want.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 