Council apologises for failing to stop historical child abuse at Knowl View and Cambridge House

Steve Rumbelow, Chief Executive of Rochdale Borough Council

Rochdale Borough Council has apologised for failing to stop historical child abuse at Knowl View and Cambridge House.

Steve Rumbelow, chief executive of the Council, said: “The events that took place at Cambridge House and Knowl View and other establishments in Rochdale have cast a long shadow over the town for many years and have undoubtedly caused pain to many people.

“The council acknowledges that there were significant failings, both in the way that Knowl View School was managed, and in the council’s response to concerns about sexual abuse within and outside the school.

“That was, frankly, unforgivable. On behalf of Rochdale Borough Council, I would like to apologise sincerely to anyone who was failed by the council during those years.

“We cannot turn the clock back. But as the current chief executive of the council, working with the director of children’s services and partner agencies such as the police, and through the Rochdale Safeguarding Children’s Board, I can make sure that we continue do our level best to safeguard our children and young people now and in the future.

"The council is doing everything it can to support and work with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in its task and I hope that it can help us fully understand what happened in Rochdale all those years ago.”

Cambridge House was a ‘hostel for working boys’ in Castlemere Street, Rochdale. The hostel was set up and run by a voluntary organisation, the Rochdale Hostel for Boys Association, which was chaired by Cyril Smith. It operated between 1960 and 1965.

Knowl View Residential School was a residential special school for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties in Norden Road in Bamford, Rochdale. Knowl View Residential School was set up in 1969 and was initially operated by a management committee representing Bolton, Lancashire, Oldham and Rochdale. Rochdale’s education department took full control of the school in September 1988. It closed on a temporary basis in 1994 and was formally closed in 1996.