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Fingertip Facts - Belfield
Size: 28ha
NWDA investment: £1.75 million
Partners: NWDA, the Forestry Commission, Rochdale MBC, Groundwork Rochdale, Pennine Edge Forest
Status: development phase complete
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Past
Prior to Newlands, the Belfield project area was made up from an assortment of fragmented, underused sites, sandwiched between the River Roch and Rochdale Canal to the east of Rochdale town centre.
Belfield has had a range of uses in the past. These include a domestic waste tip, bleach works and a chemical plant.
There were a number of derelict structures on the site left over from its industrial past. Four mill lodges were abandoned in the middle of a residential area with only one clean enough for local fishing clubs to use. The site as a whole was very poorly used, and was seen as a cut through to somewhere else or as a playground for anti-social activity.
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Present
The local communities of the Belfield and Clover Hall estates now have a brand new community woodland, thanks to the regeneration of Belfield through Newlands.
The site has been transformed into one cohesive area, which reflects the character of the local area and is an attractive place for people to come and spend time. Features on the site include modern play equipment, a football pitch, regenerated fishing lodge, an outdoor classroom, cycle paths, bridleways and riverside walks.
An important feature of Belfield is connectivity – the idea of linking a number of separate sites together, and with the local communities around them. This has been achieved with carefully planned routeways, which also provide a green link between Kingsway Business Park and Rochdale town centre. Belfield is also now Rochdale’s central hub for cycling with links to National Cycle Routes 92 and 66.
The local communities close to Belfield have embraced opportunities to get involved with the project, and a number of events and activities have been well attended. Local community groups have even made their own film about the project.
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Future
Belfield has now been transformed into a network of community woodlands, inter-linked by pathways to create an appealing route in and out of Rochdale town centre.
Creating this attractive space has already started to contribute towards local economic regeneration by improving setting of the housing in the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder area.
Now being managed over the long term by the Forestry Commission, Belfield will continue to connect the diverse communities across this area of Rochdale, and the aspiration is that Belfield will become an integral part of Rochdale’s wider regeneration.
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Regeneration
How Newlands at Belfield is helping your local economy
Belfield will encourage investment in the Kingsway Business Park and Rochdale Development Agency’s area. Belfield will enhance the East Central Rochdale HMR Pathfinder area and assist an area in the top 10% of the national Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
Belfield's rejuvenation will deliver improvements and community engagement under ERDF funding and provide the green setting for the transport networks and an existing health improvement scheme (BTCV Green Gym).