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For more information please contact Andy Glover at the Forestry Commission
andy.glover@forestry.gov.uk
1. Past
The Belfield project area is made up from an assortment of fragmented sites. They are all along the Roch but only one or two of them are in any form of management.
Belfield has had a range of uses in the past. These include a domestic waste tip, bleach works and a chemical plant.
There are a number of derelict structures on the site left over from its industrial past. Four mill lodges are now abandoned in the middle of a residential area with only one clean enough for local fishing clubs to use.
2. Present
Belfield is not an area where people choose to spend time - it is used primarily as a cut through to somewhere else or as a playground for anti-social activity.
The project is very close to the Belfield and Clover Hall estates within a Housing Market Renewal area.
One of the primary objectives of the project is to form an enhanced backdrop that fits with the improvements to the housing stock of East Central Rochdale, providing an accessible greenspace that connects people to places of work, repose, worship and relaxation.
3. Future
Belfield will be transformed into a network of community woodlands, inter-linked by pathways to create an appealing route in and out of Rochdale town centre.
Creating an attractive space will contribute towards the economic regeneration of the area, by improving setting of the housing in the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder area.
Belfield will also benefit the local communities who can take advantage of an improved outlook and accessible area.
4. 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).