£20m Levelling Up grant will aim to boost Oldham's green projects

A total of £20m secured through the Levelling Up fund will aim to boost eco-friendly projects in Oldham; including a learning centre at Northern Roots; a new Green Shoots business centre, and an Oldham Greenway to link areas together by bike or on foot.

The bid, for £20m in funding, one of only three successful bids from across Greater Manchester, was formally accepted by the Council on behalf of Oldham by Cabinet at its meeting on Monday (March 20).

The aim of the funding is to boost opportunities for residents and businesses through better connectivity, sustainability, culture, innovation and job opportunities.

Oldham Council Leader Amanda Chadderton said: “Oldham has so much potential and as a Council we continue to do everything in our power to help our communities and our borough thrive.

“We welcome the £20million we secured for our Greener Oldham projects in the borough and were delighted to formally accept it this week.

"This proves Government has confidence in our regeneration plans and the work we are doing throughout our Creating a Better Place programme – creating a town where people want to live, work and visit.

“Towns like ours have been hit hardest by austerity, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

"But despite this we remain one of the most entrepreneurial towns in the UK.

“We have a clear direction for Oldham and have worked with partners to identify exciting projects as part of our Levelling Up bids, which will help us to build a better borough and future.

"So much work has gone into this successful bid, and it’s great to see that our ambition has been recognised and invested in.”

The successful bid was for the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, and includes three key project areas to help build back greener.

It also backs the Greener Oldham commitment to being carbon neutral as a borough by 2030, as part of Oldham’s Green New Deal.

The three projects are: 

The Green Shoots Centre; a new business centre to support environment technology start-ups, based at Rhodes Bank – which will be net zero, powered by renewable energy including a mine water system

Northern Roots Learning Centre; an education facility based at the landmark Northern Roots project, which is creating the UK’s largest urban farm on land near Alexandra Park.

The learning centre will provide training linked to green and sustainable skills, supporting the Green Shoots Centre.

It will also be used as an educational centre to help strengthen environmental skills through vocational courses.  

The Oldham Greenway; to link the Green Shoots Centre, new town centre Jubilee Park and Northern Roots together, so people can easily travel by bike or on foot to the new venues and across the town centre.

The Levelling Up bids follow Oldham Council's successful applications to secure Towns Fund and Future High Streets Fund grants of £24.4m and £10.75m respectively.

A second bid to the Levelling Up fund for a Creative Improvement District in Oldham West and Royton was unsuccessful.

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