‘Oldham was a place always on its knees – that’s changed.’

In ten years time, Oldham could be completely unrecognizable.

A dizzying number of regeneration projects are taking shape across the town centre: 2,000 new homes; a new market; a new secondary school backed by elite college Eton; the creation of the SportsTown, a £70m multi-sports, health, and education facility; an urban farm; and a huge new green space running through the middle of the town centre. 

Buildings that have been hallmarks of Oldham’s skyline, like the Queen Elizabeth Hall, are tipped for demolition. Others have already vanished forever – from Oldham’s Grand Theatre, rumoured to have once hosted The Beatles, to the Snipe Inn pub on Henshaw Street. 

Around £430m has already been spent on kickstarting the town’s transformation from ugly duckling to Greater Manchester’s swan in the north-east. 
“Oldham was a place that always felt like it was on its knees,” townhall boss Arooj Shah said. “We always looked at someone else to help us. Even within Greater Manchester it felt like we were the poorer relative. But things have changed.” 

The leader of Oldham Council addressed the comment to a room full of business people earlier this week at the renovated Old Library – now the new town hall. Most of them were potential developers or building contractors, organisations the council is hoping to court into partnerships to deliver some of the huge schemes. 

Because while the town hall boss has publicly assured people that not even defeats at the next local election could derail her ambitious plans for the town – someone needs to foot the bill, and carry out the works. 

The atmosphere in the room was one of excited curiosity. But beyond the townhall walls, people are more sceptical that all these schemes will come to fruition. 

“There have been undelivered promises,” said Shelley Kipling, Odham’s CEO, told the LDRS candidly. “We’ve delivered bits of projects but not the longer term vision. Previously, I don’t think we were ready [to deliver a longer-term plan] yet. There had to be visible signs of progress.” 

In the past, several promised regeneration projects have faltered. The most-cited example is Prince’s Gate at Oldham Mumps, which was abandoned not once, but twice, after first M&S and then Lidl backed away from signed deals. 

Now the ‘underused car park’ is being developed into housing as part of a partnership with urban developer Muse, thanks to a £31.5m kickstarter investment by Andy Burnham’s Good Growth fund. 

Kipling said: “Towns like Oldham, you’re asking for more when you ask people to come and invest here over an easier town. That’s why us investing our money, the GMCA’s money, and leveraging those partnerships with government to get that public sector money. We’re at that point where we can demonstrate that.” 

Things are starting to shift. Several big projects have been completed in Oldham in recent years: the historic townhall has been turned into a cinema, restaurants, and foodhall; the Spindles shopping centre is now partly council offices; and the old library is the new townhall. 

While not everyone agrees with the nature of the projects, it’s apparently starting to reassure big spenders and planners – at least according to townhall bosses. 

And local businesses who’ve been involved in projects are reaping the benefits. Anthony Ashley of civil engineering company Rowan Ashworth said getting involved with some of the council’s schemes has been a gamechanger for the Shaw-based business. 

“Five to six years ago, we were a small company with 10 to 12 people. We’re now 40 employed staff, making a turnover of around seven to £8m a year,” he said. “And 80 per cent of our staff are from Oldham. We want that to continue.” 

Other businesses are taking notice too. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham recently visited a brand new warehouse created by Mansell Building Solutions, who have relocated to Oldham’s Broadway business park. 

Burnham said he saw moves like this as part of a wider scheme to improve prospects in the area. “It’s exciting,” he said. “There’s big projects coming to Oldham like SportsTown. Wouldn’t it be great for companies like this to bring their technology into the local community, train up kids from the local area to build the next generation of houses – and hopefully turn this area into a leading region for green construction?” So things appear, finally, to be on the up for Greater Manchester’s ‘poorer relative’. 

“I do believe Oldham is Greater Manchester’s best-kept secret,” Kipling told the room full of industry figures. And added later to the LDRS: “Now we really need to get out there and start sharing this twenty-year vision that we have, and attract the right partners.”