Plans to revive town move forward

Plans to speed up the revival of Oldham town centre have taken another step forward that could see a £70m sports town created.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is currently asking for people’s views up until July 1 on the creation of a new mayoral development corporation (MDC) for Oldham. The authority said it will ‘play a central role’ in moving plans forward to revive the town.

MDCs are bodies set up by region mayors in England to regenerate areas and have powers to acquire develop, hold, and dispose of land and property.

After being moved forward by the GMCA earlier this year, the new body would, if created, oversee the creation of a new campus within the £70m plan for a new sports town as well as a new science, health, and innovation campus. Other projects include improving Tommyfields Park, ‘a more vibrant town centre and evening economy’, and the Northern Roots urban farm.

Developer Muse also want to deliver 2,000 new homes in the town centre across six sites including the former Oldham Civic Centre, Oldham Mumps, and the former Magistrates Court.

The area covered by the MDC would include Oldham Town Centre, Alexandra Park, Oldham Edge, the Royal Oldham Hospital, Oldham Athletic football club, as well as areas like West Hulme, Long Sight, and Park Bridge.

On a page promoting the consultation and posted by the GMCA, the authority said the plans ‘would amplify the profile of Oldham both regionally and nationally to attract future investment, demand and growth’

The GMCA added: “The proposed area within Oldham presents a remarkable opportunity to create one of Greater Manchester’s most significant investment and regeneration initiatives. This transformative project would dramatically enhance economic performance and quality of life for the local area.”

Back in March, former council leader Coun Arooj Shah said: “This would give us a stronger way to bring investment together, coordinate development, and turbocharge change at the pace and scale our borough needs. But most importantly, it is about what this could mean for everyday lives.

“Using sport, health, wellbeing and education as the driving forces for regeneration means creating real pathways into work, better health outcomes, and stronger communities. It means creating places where young people can build a future, where families can thrive, and where businesses can grow.”

However Labour following losses in the recent local elections have now stepped back from leading the council and no party represents a third of elected members. This has meant the local authority has had to delay choosing a Mayor until June 15 because of a stalemate that could drag on and any leader will be difficult.

This uncertainty could put any future plans at risk. Liberal Democrat Coun Garth Harkness has criticised the MDC as being a way to put ‘all the collapsed Labour administration’s proposed developments in and around Oldham town centre under a single banner’. 

He added: “You can’t just put existing plans in front of people and try and get them pushed through. Development needs to happen with communities, not to them.”

However previously in an interview with the LDRS, Coun Shah said she would be ‘absolutely devastated if anyone tried to unravel the plans for Eton Star [Academy] or the Muse development’ and warned future leaders against taking action ‘for political point scoring over creating opportunities for the people of Oldham’.