Vision for Kirkholt - Housing Market Renewal
Ideas for Kirkholt is an exciting, long-term vision to transform Kirkholt. It has been created following consultation with local people. The proposal looks at how we can provide hundreds of modern new homes, deliver safer, cleaner neighbourhoods and parks and develop better community facilities. It responds to ideas and suggestions from the community and is base on what residents have said during consultation events, and through the Kirkholt Steering Group.
The vision currently includes the possible demolition of up to 600 properties over the next 15 years. We want to reassure residents that a number of open and empty sites will allow us to build new homes before demolishing current properties. If the ideas go ahead, anyone affected by demolition would be entitled to a range of compensation and support to move home. The team will be meeting face-to-face with people within the proposed development areas over the coming weeks.
But it is not set in stone. There will be lots more opportunities to get involved, in the future, before any decisions are finally made.
The proposal has been organised by a partnership of Rochdale Council, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing and the Oldham / Rochdale Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder. Delivering the ideas would depend on support from the community, securing a development partner and other funding over the next few years. In the meantime, we want to hear your views. A series of events and area meetings are being planned for the new year.
Look out for details in the post early in the New Year.
The Kirkholt estate was built in the late 1940s and early 1950s and some parts of the estate are very popular within good local neighbourhoods. Unfortunately there are areas that are unpopular which could be improved by providing a choice of new homes for sale and rent.
Parts of the estate suffer from high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour and some areas are among the 1 % most deprived in the UK.
Our research shows that without action many people who can afford to, will over time choose to leave the estate in search of better housing elsewhere. There is real concern that this could create a downward spiral. There is a lot of green space, which is one of the neighbourhood's greatest assets. But some of it is messy and felt to be unsafe at night. Some of the shops are hard-to-let and others are outdated.
The community has said it wants to see action to transform Kirkholt into a place where people want to live, not leave.
Key to numbered areas:
- A greatly improved Balderstone Park with distinctive landscaping and recreational facilities. New homes around the park could provide extra security and the park could be connected to the central open space through the estate, creating a green corridor running through the heart of Kirkholt.
- Creating a new centre at the Strand, set around a square. This could provide better local shops and commercial and Council services that are easily and safely accessible by bus or foot.
- Redevelopment of the former Sandbrook Primary and Hill Top School site areas to provide high quality housing and green spaces.
- Housing developments at key locations such as the Strand, Queens Drive and the edge of Balderstone Park. More residents at these locations would support local shops and public transport.
- Development of some open space for example at Raneley Grove and behind Moorcroft, to provide greater security to existing housing whilst still retaining green spaces.
These ideas are based on the views given at consultation events, in questionnaires and at a series of workshops at the start of the year. The Kirkholt Steering Group was set up in February and has met every month until August, when it started meeting twice a month.
The Group is made up of 35 volunteers including residents, residents' representatives, community groups, a local retail representative and officers. The Group has endorsed the Ideas for Change vision and it is now important to get views from the rest of the community.
