Planning application to restore Drake Street and South Parade submitted

A planning application to restore 12 properties on Drake Street and South Parade as part of the South Drake Street Heritage Action Zone has been submitted.

The application has been made as part of the £600,000 South Drake Street Heritage Action Zone project, which in 2018 was the only area in the North West to be granted the status by Historic England.

The project is set to bring a number of the street’s buildings back into use as either housing or businesses. The application to carry out repairs and improvements on the dozen buildings includes 7, 8, 9-10, 11, 12, 13 South Parade and 2, 4, 6, 10, 12 and 55 Drake Street.

These properties are currently home to Your Candy Vape (55 Drake Street) and at the lower end of Drake Street Connor Ross-Brown Solicitors (12 Drake Street) to Toronto Fried Chicken (2 Drake Street/13 South Parade). On South Parade the old Age UK building (12 South Parade) to AST Hampson Solicitors (7 South Parade) are also included in the scheme.

 

 

The design and access statement submitted with the application states: “Though once a bustling commercial area of Rochdale, the buildings along Drake Street and South Parade suffer from poor condition, inappropriate mid- to late 20th century and 21st century alterations, transient retail uses and vacancy.

“The buildings along the south-western corner of the intersection of Drake Street and South Parade were constructed as plain 19th century brick buildings with slate roofs and stone lintels, possibly purpose-built as shops with accommodation on the first and second floors or converted from residential houses.

“These buildings have ‘suffered some mutilation’, as a number of the windows have been replaced, altered or infilled, chimneys, flagged roofing and historic shopfronts have been removed, and the front elevations faced with cementitious render or paint.

“This Regency Drake Street Character Area has retained little fabric of the 19th century historic shopfronts but has retained some remnants of later historic shopfronts.”

 

 

Once one of Rochdale’s historic shopping streets, Drake Street is characterised by high vacancy rates and a decreasing footfall, and is now primarily used as a major gateway into the town.

After parking restrictions were introduced on the street in the 1960s, the number of shoppers visiting the street declined, with many shops being converted to offices. Patronage to Drake Street’s remaining shops further declined with the recession of the 1970s and construction of the Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre, before declining again in the 1990s with the construction of the town’s second shopping centre, the Wheatsheaf Centre.

The recession of 2008-2009 further exacerbated the issue of vacant shops, with footfall falling even further with the 2014 construction of the Metrolink along Drake Street.

The Heritage Action Zone will run until 2023 and aims to remove the town centre conservation area from the Heritage at Risk register, create 180 new residential units and establish 10 new businesses.