New schools are good news for our town
THE decision as to who our new Prime Minister will be is days away. For me, as I am sure for everyone, it cannot come soon enough to get on with the task of running the country. Let’s hope that Brexit can finally be settled as its repercussions continue to reverberate with well-respected Labour councillors here in Rochdale changing parties, as they feel like so many that our MPs have not honoured the referendum result.
However, despite the uncertainty, it is good news that the Government have supported the building of three new schools recently for our borough – one special school and two secondary schools - which should give children the option to go to the school of their choice in future. It is a very daunting time for any young person to change schools but to have the added worry of attending a school further away and without many of their friends is difficult. I am sorry for those who lost their appeals and wish them well for the future.
Locally too we continue to see the physical re-development in our town centre going ahead at great speed, along with the much needed industrial development creating jobs for the future. New housing developments are important too, but only when essential infrastructure is in place and not in the green belt. Also ensuring that concerns and disturbance caused to existing local residents whilst development goes ahead is dealt with appropriately by the council. Last week I visited a small development site. Sadly work cabins with a generator had been placed immediately behind an existing resident’s home and at 8am on a lovely Saturday morning the noise and fumes, meant that the residents and their families would not be able to enjoy their garden. This kind of behaviour is not acceptable and developers, who behave in this manner in, are not what this borough wants and our residents deserve.
It’s great news that Dippy the Dinosaur will be in Rochdale this coming spring. This is a wonderful achievement for our Borough and will complement the opening of the new town centre, an expected 30k extra people will visit our town during the period – a great opportunity for them to see the new developments alongside our wonderful town hall. Many volunteers will be needed to help with this project.
Rochdale is good at volunteering with a host of events held throughout the borough. If you are free, pop down to Rushbearing in Littleborough this Saturday and Sunday – it’s a great event organised by volunteers and it will be good to see you there.