Littleborough Local becomes a franchise of Rochdale Online

Simon France of Littleborough Local

Simon France of Littleborough Local has acquired a franchise from Rochdale Online.

Mr France will continue to run the Littleborough Local website he founded and has built up over the past five years.

Over the five years, Littleborough Local has flourished and grown and regularly receives more than 11,000 visits per month.

Keeping the site running for Mr France is a part-time job which he does alongside his full-time job. However, as the site's popularity has increased it has become difficult for him to keep on top of all the events and news stories and he has been unable to spend time on developing the site. Nearly half of the site's visitors are using mobiles and tablets and he has not been able to find the time to optimise it for those platforms.

Help has arrived courtesy of Rochdale Online. By becoming a Rochdale Online franchisee it means the Littleborough Local website now benefits from Rochdale Online's technical expertise and has become a version of the Rochdale site specifically for Littleborough.

The site is still called Littleborough Local and it is still run by Mr France. What is different is that it is hosted by Rochdale Online and uses the responsive framework so it looks great on mobiles, tablets and desktops.

Rochdale Online is also helping Mr France with the content. Any Littleborough news items will automatically appear on Littleborough Local as will Littleborough events.

Commenting Mr France said: "I'm really excited about the change and I really think it is the best way for the site to develop.

"Littleborough Local continues to grow and the additional content from Rochdale Online, plus the improvement for mobile users, will only help to increase this."

Rochdale Online Managing Director Pauline Journeaux said: "My husband Malcolm started the Rochdale Online site as a community resource in 1998 and my daughter and I turned it into a business in 2001 but with the intent that we would continue with the community ethos.

"We have watched Simon follow a similar path with Littleborough Local and are delighted that Littleborough Local has become a franchise of Rochdale Online.

"The residents and businesses of Littleborough will now enjoy the best of both worlds, the Littleborough Local site will retain its community ethos but now has the backing of Rochdale Online and our technical expertise."

View: littleboroughlocal.co.uk