Council leader responds to claims and counter claims regarding town centre grants

Councillor Richard Farnell

The leader of Rochdale Council, Councillor Richard Farnell has responded to claims and counter claims regarding grants available for the improvement of Rochdale town centre and in particular grants related to the proposal to re-open the River Roch.

Councillor Farnell said: “The grant currently being considered with the National Lottery Heritage Fund is to part fund a partial re-opening of the river on The Butts. It’s an expensive scheme costing £5million, of which we hope to cover half of that amount in grants. The other half will have to be paid by the local council taxpayer. The proposal is to borrow this sum, which will cost Rochdale council taxpayers around £200,000 a year for the next 40 years. That money would keep open a library, fund 30 school crossing patrols or help us support around 40-50 elderly persons to live independently at home. These are the difficult choices we have to make.”

“The decision to re-open the river has yet to be made, as it involves a substantial contribution from the local council taxpayer of £2.5million. All spending is under review by the council as we grapple with £52 million of spending cuts imposed on Rochdale by the coalition government.

"I have instructed council staff to examine all council spending, line by line. We have to justify every single penny of expenditure, including the river re-opening. If we can afford it, we will do it. But some people have to realise with millions of pounds of cuts, we can’t do everything. We have to think long and hard about what are the priorities."

There has also been confusion about grants for town centre buildings.

The vice-chairman of the High Street Foundation, Greg Couzens, has posted on social media that: "Once the river is opened we will receive a building grant of 90%!" And also: "The 90% building grant will be for ALL the buildings overlooking the river!"

Councillor Farnell said: “As I explained to the High Street Foundation, grants of between 60 and 90 percent could be available to improve properties in the town centre, but these are not connected in any way with the re-opening of the river, and are financed from an entirely different funding pot.

"Grants are available to properties in conservation areas, and applications to improve the properties on South Parade have yet to be made. It is wrong to claim that improvements to these properties are at risk should a decision be made not to proceed with the river re-opening."