The final hurdle blocking a multi-million pound deal to redevelop a dilapidated part of the town centre has been cleared.
Rochdale council says it now hopes to put pen to paper on a £100m agreement with developers Genr8 to regenerate the eastern side of the town centre ‘in the next week or so’.
It comes after the council reached an agreement with the owners of the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre to surrender the lease of the old town centre library and build a new entrance to the mall off Baillie Street.
Protracted negotiations to secure that agreement had delayed wider council plans to sign a deal to get the scheme going. Now that hurdle has been overcome, the council say work will ‘quicken’ on the project which will see a new retail and entertainment complex built around the current bus station.
Councillor Peter Williams, the council’s cabinet member for economic development, said: “Progress will now quicken on the next phase of the town centre redevelopments.
“The owners of the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre can also make progress with their own investment plans.”