Oldham’s year in review – what didn’t happen in 2025?

While Oldham has seen its fair share of major changes in 2025, the borough’s last year was in many ways marked just as much by what didn’t happen.

The Oldham Coliseum didn’t open in time for the 2025 Panto. Tommyfield traders didn’t move to their new venue in the Spindles shopping centre.

Eton Star Academy didn’t break ground on a brand new school in the town centre. And a new local inquiry into historic child sexual exploitation was cancelled after a government U-turn.

That’s not to say the town hasn’t seen progress. Several projects have been started this year – a new park in the town centre; a ‘SportsTown’ at Boundary Park; and several major housing developments geared at fighting the housing crisis.

Councillors also moved into a new town hall as the renovated Old Library on Union Street – now named the JR Clynes Building – reopened to the public for the first time in eight years.

But the delays and changes in direction, affecting some of the biggest cultural regeneration projects and political preoccupations of the borough, have sparked anxiety among the public about the delivery of these projects.

“There is definitely a feeling that Oldham has a history of broken promises when it comes to regeneration projects,” a senior council source told the LDRS. “If you look at the history of projects like M&S promising to come to Mumps (in 2016) and then falling through. And even some of the amazing regeneration projects that have been completed often took longer than expected to deliver.”

Luckily, works are already ongoing at most of the projects that have seen delays – with much hope they will be completed next year.

Council leader Cll Arooj Shah said: “The scale of regeneration taking place in Oldham is huge, and as Leader I fully understand both the excitement people feel and the frustration that can come when projects take longer than expected.

“Regeneration on this scale is challenging, and timelines can be affected by a range of wider factors, including funding arrangements and national economic pressures. What matters most is that we take the time to get things right. Our focus is on delivering regeneration that is thoughtful, sustainable and built to last, rather than rushing projects that do not serve Oldham well in the long term.”

Here’s a summary of all the things that should’ve happened in Oldham in 2025 – and where they’re up to now.

Tommyfield traders didn’t move to their new venue in the Spindles shopping centre

Tommyfield traders were supposed to move into their new venue, at the site of the former TJ Hughes, in September 2025. But that never happened.
At the end of September, market stall holders were still at the old venue. And facing a new problem: people didn’t know they were still there.

Problems with installations at the new market – which will also contain an events space and food hall – had caused unexpected delays. Many traders only found out when their leases were renewed at the end of September, and the council gave them a choice: wait an extra few months and risk moving into the new market over the busiest time of year at Christmas – or kick the move into the new year.

Ray Aslam, Chair of the Tommyfield Traders’ Association, said of the decision to move in the new year: “We wanted to make sure no one was left behind so waiting until the new year means we can all move together and make a real fresh start.”
The last-minute change of plan left many traders frustrated.

“They didn’t give us any notice about anything,” said Elaine Rothwell at the time. The 66-year-old manages the Best Wishes card shop in the Tommyfield market. “We were all set to put our Christmas stuff up in the new place.”

But most of the traders are still excited to move into their new venue this year, though a new move date has not yet been announced by the council.
The Oldham Coliseum didn’t open in time for the 2025 Panto

The borough rejoiced when Oldham Council announced they would be ‘rescuing the Coliseum’ with a £10m cash injection in the summer of 2024. Posters went up on the theatre announcing its return ‘for Panto 2025’.

The renowned venue on Fairbottom Street closed down in 2023 after financial issues, compounded by expensive outstanding repairs to the outdated building, caused Arts Council England to withdraw its grant funding. Plans were then drawn up to build a new replacement theatre that ‘no one wanted’.

The plans were scrapped only after a sustained campaign spearheaded by Mr Bates vs The Post Office star Julie Hesmondhalgh, and the council launched a restoration mission for the original building.

Yet by June 2025, it became clear that the Coliseum would not be ready in time for the Panto season. Large amounts of asbestos were discovered in the walls, which had been left during a previous attempt to strip the building of the now banned material, which can cause deadly lung problems.
And other structural problems with the roof also emerged.

Works are currently taking place. New roofing is being attached, asbestos is being stripped from the walls, and walls are being bulldozed to change the internal layout. There are also plans to turn a former pub at the corner of Yorkshire St into a ‘welcoming’ new entrance to the venue.

A spokesperson for Oldham Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “As with any major heritage project, this takes time, but it’s important we get it right. Some changes are also being made to the layout so the building works better for audiences and performers when it reopens.”

Eton Star Academy didn’t break ground on a brand new school in the town centre
Before 2025, plans to bring a ‘transformative’ and unique school to Oldham had been rapidly progressing. Eton College and the Star Academies trust planned to build a new sixth form in Oldham town centre aimed at getting ‘bright but disadvantaged’ kids from the surrounding area into top universities.

The Tommyfield Outdoor Market was controversially selected as the school’s new home. But only a month later, the project was brought to a standstill when the Department for Education pulled the new school in for a ‘value for money’ review as part of an education shake-up.

Instead of submitting planning applications and breaking ground in the town centre, the project was held in limbo for more than a year – only to be quietly greenlit as part of a major funding announcement for SEND schools across the UK at the end of 2025.

The council, Eton, and Star Academies welcomed the decision, with Sir Hamid Patel, Chief Executive of Star Academies, stating: “Now the programme of delivery must begin as we turn our vision into reality.

“Eton College and Star Academies recognise the enormous amount of work that still needs to be undertaken if the new colleges are to have the transformative impact we believe they can.”