HERE are just some of the major changes you can expect to see across this borough in 2008 ...

OUTLINE planning permission has been granted for a family leisure and retail development on the historic Old Town Hall/Clegg Street site, as well as the adjoining car park and bus station

Developers Wilson Bowden plan a scheme uniting modernity and antiquity to transform the listed building and adjacent land after a decade of inertia.

The hall’s original features will be restored to their former glory and the building will host a mix of retail outlets to the front with bar/restaurants to the rear. The upper floor will house up to 20, three-bedroom apartments, most overlooking Greaves Street.

The current Clegg Street car park will house a three-storey building with 56,700 sq ft of retail space, up to 45,000 sq ft of leisure space – including a six screen cinema – plus around 12,000 sq ft of restaurants and bars.

Bus stops currently on Clegg Street will relocate to High Street and Greaves Street. A glazed arcade will provide a covered route between the two buildings with access for 18 hours-a-day. The scheme also creates two new public squares at High Street/Yorkshire Street and one to the rear of the Town Hall on Firth Street.

Detailed proposals seeking full planning permission – and specific proposals for the Old Town Hall building – will appear in 2008.

  • Full planning permission has been granted for a new Gateway Office Building at the former Apple Car Clinic site, which is located at the southern end of King Street and adjacent to the roundabout junction with Oldham Way. Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund plans to construct a five/six-storey office block at the site.

  • Shoppers are set to benefit from a new entrance to the Spindles, as well as the opening of a new clothing store in Easter.

    Work is well underway to create a two-storey, 18,000 sq ft unit for H&M at the rotunda entrance to Spindles on West Street.

    The space has been empty for five years, but H&M has now taken on a 15-year lease.

    The scheme uses two-thirds of the ground floor and creates a new first floor which involves the removal of the bridge and clock tower and the installation of a lift.

  • Work has been underway for several months on a £20m Integrated Care Centre on the Civic Centre car park.

    This will be one of the biggest community health projects ever undertaken in the region.

    The ten-storey building, off St Mary’s Way, will bring several key services under one roof in an easily accessible location, including GPs, dentists, podiatrists, therapy services, health promotion, self care facilities and more.

    It will also provide the town’s first ‘urgent care hub’ incorporating a walk-in centre, pharmacy, GP out-of-hours and emergency dental services, plus links to social care and mental health services.

    The centre is the flagship development in Oldham’s £100m LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) scheme and is set to open in summer 2009.

    As part of LIFT new centres have already been provided at Moorside, Glodwick with others in the pipeline at Werneth, Royton, Crompton and Springhead.

  • Age Concern will create its own Resource Centre in the former Independent Methodist Chapel, which is a Grade II star listed building on George Street.

    The project will restore the building for use by older people, schools and youth groups, local interest groups and the general public.

    A resource centre for local heritage will be on the lower ground floor. Based partly on reminiscences of older people, local history will be collected, illustrated, recorded and passed on. Work between older and younger people will enable structured contributions to the school curriculum.

    The ground and first floors will be converted into a restaurant.

    n CONSTRUCTION work has already started on the expansion of University Centre Oldham.
    A four-storey specialist education centre will be located on the former site of WH Smith, between Hobson Street and Longley Street.
    The £5m project will provide new space – including a performance area – and offer students a custom-built environment for studies across a range of disciplines.
    The facilities will accommodate an extra 400 students – taking the total number to 1,200 – and will be used in conjunction with the adjacent Oldham Business Centre to form an expanded campus.
    Completion of the centre is expected by late summer.

    n THE plot once occupied by the Pennine Way Hotel was originally the preferred location for the expansion of University Centre Oldham.
    However, that institution has since opted to develop around its current site and this area is now under consideration as a prime location for a totally new regeneration scheme.
    Envisaged are a mix of offices, town centre living and leisure to complement the proposals at neighbouring Oldham College and Oldham Sixth Form College, plus the relocation of the Coliseum.
    No date has yet been set.

  • OLDHAM College’s campus is set for a major revamp to transform the 26,000-square-metre site into a contemporary, spacious and welcoming environment.

    In a scheme costing an estimated £35m, the existing Bellis building will remain but the current tower block will be demolished and replaced with environmentally friendly and sustainable low-rise buildings to make the campus more attractive and visible from Rochdale Road and Oldham Way. Work is expected to start this year.

  • PROPOSALS for a new Oldham Coliseum Theatre received a major boost courtest of a £150,000 grant from the borough council to enable planners to produce a design to attract potential backers and funding sources.

    The proposed home in a new ‘West End’ in Oldham town centre would see the theatre relocated near the existing Mecca Bingo hall. The plan is for the new facility to offer improved facilities that will help enhance the theatre’s educational role.

    Planners have already been liaising with London architects Levitt Bernstein – specialists in regeneration, neighbourhood renewal, housing and building for the arts – on preliminary work.

    The North West Regional Development Agency has also given the council a £1.5m grant – which has to be spent before March – to purchase land in the target area centred around Middleton Road, Rochdale Road and King Street junction to make the West End a leisure and learning gateway.

    • SEE this week's Advertiser for a six-page special at what the town can look forward to in 2008 ...