Oldham Beyond - Urbed

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Oldham Beyond - A Vision for the Borough of Oldham - April 2004Our vision for Oldham in 15 years’ time...A confident place, at ease with itself and celebrating in its diverse communitiesand landscapes – from the tight-knit terraced communities tothe wild moors and valley villages to the east. A borough that is proudof its industrial past but which has reinvented its economy by makingthe most of the creativity and drive of its young people. The world willsee the borough as a place transformed and people will be attracted tolive and work in the borough by the quality of life that it offers and by itsreputation for tolerance and diversity.A generator of wealth:The borough will be a good place to dobusiness, where bold developments atHollinwood and Mumps have created anattractive alternative to the sterile ‘businessparks’ that characterise many towns,creating dramatic gateways to the borough.Oldham Town Centre will be a hotbed ofcreative and knowledge industries wheretalented people are attracted from elsewherebecause of the convivial environmentand affordable accommodation.The borough’s 138 mills will have beenrefurbished for new business and illuminatedas a potent symbol of the borough’stransformation.Many places not oneThe borough will be attractive as a placeto live and work because of the fusion ofcountryside and community on the doorstepof one of the great European cities. Aplace that people relate to on three levels:Neighbourhood: A constellation ofdiverse neighbourhoods, smaller townsand villages each with its own centrecreating a sense of community andproviding local services. To symbolisethis, the heart of each of thesecommunities will have been ‘marked’with a sculpture or building. Thesecommunities will be proud of theirhistory but welcoming of people fromdifferent backgrounds and there will bea much broader ethnic mix throughoutthe borough. There will, however, beneighbourhoods that remain Asian incharacter. These will become part ofOldham’s appeal because their shopsand restaurants attract people fromacross the borough and further afield.Borough: A reborn industrial boroughfocused on a thriving Oldham towncentre that attracts people from throughoutthe region because of its universitycollege, excellent cultural facilities andbroad range of shopping and leisureuses. They will come to Oldham towncentre, rather than other towns, becauseof its striking new buildings and theconvivial creative atmosphere of thecentre.City: A short Metrolink ride away willbe Manchester City Centre and beyondthe Airport, Salford Quays and theTrafford Centre. Through the new ‘tubemap’ of Greater Manchester people inOldham will feel part of the wider cityand able to access all of its opportunitiesand facilities.A desirable place to liveOldham will become a good place to livewith a range of aspirational and affordablehousing. A Smart Communities strategywill develop and consolidate compactwalkable communities around Metrolinkstops and town centres. Elsewhere in theborough some of the terraces will havebeen redeveloped to reduce densities andcreate more suburban housing. A focus ondesign quality and sustainable developmentwill have marked the borough out forits attractive and innovative housing. Thiswill have strengthened the housing marketand householders will invest in their homesin the confidence that values will rise.An ambitious peopleThe borough’s excellent education facilitieswill have created opportunities for youngpeople to achieve their full potential. The- 4 -
new confidence in the borough and theknowledge that exciting opportunities areavailable will have encouraged more youngpeople to stay on at college and university.The quality of life in the borough will havealso persuaded many more talented youngpeople to stay in Oldham when they graduate,or to return after studying elsewhere.This will transform the low wage/lowskilled culture of Oldham – not just by attractingpeople into the borough (althoughits positive image means this will happen)but because local people will decide tostay. The renaissance of the borough willtherefore happen through a virtuous circle– a more skilled population with better jobs– increased spending power – a resurgenceof the town centre and more moneyin the local economy – more jobs becausethe borough is more attractive to entrepreneursand inward investors – an improvedimage attracting even more talented peopleetc…A sustainable boroughThe borough will have invested insustainability and the benefits will be notjust to the environment but to Oldham’speople and its economy. Housing MarketRenewal will have radically improved theenergy efficiency of the housing stockand reduced heating bills for some of thepoorest households. Companies in theborough will have found new markets inenvironmental industries such as recycling,remanufacturing and renewable energy.New OldhamThe new Oldham will be viewed differentlyby its people – they will be proud to liveand work in the borough and willing tobe active citizens. The council will haveencouraged this by devolving further powerand responsibilities to the local level andencouraging a range of organisations andpartnerships to flourish. These diversegroups will have been working togetherover the last fifteen years to bring aboutthis dramatic transformation with a commonpurpose and a determination to makethings happen. They will be planning tobuild on these successes with a new strategyand challenges for the next 15 years.This vision is within Oldham’s grasp. In thisreport we set out a strategy that will generatethe momentum to start this process. Aswith all major change - starting the processwill be difficult and may be expensive.However, the aim is to create the selffuelling,virtuous circle of regenerationdescribed above.We summarise this strategy onthe following page, which sets out our 10key proposals. The body of the report isthen structured in three sections:Oldham Before: Which reviews thehistory of the borough and the roots ofthe situation today.Oldham Today: Which explores aseries of drivers for change in Oldhamtoday.Oldham Beyond: Which sets out astrategy for Oldham under six themes:Wealth Creation. Liveability, A LearningCommuniy, Common Ground,Sustainability and New Oldham.- 5 -
Page 1 and 2: OldhamA Vision beyondfor theBorough
Page 3: Oldham Beyond has been commissioned
Page 7 and 8: eak down geographical ethnic segreg
Page 9 and 10: However, this working class culture
Page 11 and 12: Oldham therefore has a poor externa
Page 13 and 14: HollinwoodOne of the smaller demons
Page 15 and 16: Featherstall RoadThis demonstrator
Page 17 and 18: ZetexZetex are consolidating their
Page 19 and 20: Robert Fletcher GreenfieldThe demon
Page 21 and 22: Town CentreOne of the two major mas
Page 23 and 24: Werneth/FreeholdWerneth/Freehold is
Page 25 and 26: Royton Town CentreRoyton is doing m
Page 27 and 28: Oldham Athletic Football ClubOldham
Page 29 and 30: Beyond this there is a further seto
Page 31 and 32: community). It was stressed by theA
Page 33 and 34: This is also reflected in the figur
Page 35 and 36: Appendix 3A review of the economy o
Page 37 and 38: Appendix 5WSP have undertaken an ac
Page 39 and 40: containing Greenfield, Uppermill an

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