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HLF Project – Update

Touchstones Session – Saturday 3rd February

We have our RMNF session at Touchstones this coming Saturday from 12.30pm.  Janet Byrne (Local Studies Supervisor) is going to collate information on Rooley Moor, Greenbooth and Healey Dell to show us, and is going to guide us through the process of researching our particular areas of interest.

So that we can manage expectations at Touchstones please let us know if you will or will not be there (email: info@rmnf.org.uk).  This is a great opportunity (financed by our HLF grant) to get involved, and we will be able to take copies and make return visits as we need. The agenda is very flexible, we expect the session will last a couple of hours and people will be able to come and go as they wish.

If you are coming, we suggest having a think beforehand about what you would like to get out of the session.  For example, some have said they would like to learn a bit more about people who lived in the area, about the naming of Rooley Moor, the cobbled road, and how the moors have been used over the years.  But the agenda is very open.  Maybe you’d like to know more about the history of your own house and we could recreate the new BBC TV series “A House Through Time”!

Ultimately the outcome from this, and subsequent research, will be the content for the signage and trails we are putting together for the HLF project.  And the more people that are involved the better.

Some of us are going to meet just before 12 in the café at Touchstones for a quick sandwich before the session – join us if you can.

Please do let us know whether you can or cannot join us (email: info@rmnf.org.uk).

Community Consultation Update

What you told us.

A big thank you to everyone who participated in our Community Questionnaire on the Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Plan!

The Neighbourhood Forum has considered all your responses to the questions we asked you. The attached PDF document and the following detail provides a summary of what you told us and what the Plan’s policies and Proposals should seek to achieve.

A full detailed report is being prepared and when it’s ready we will make it available to read or download from our website.

Built Heritage

You told us:

  • Conservation areas, their settings, listed buildings and heritage features should receive strong protection
  • Key heritage features should be protected, promoted and enhanced, e.g. the Cotton Famine Road

Built Development

You told us:

  • New development should be limited to that which is appropriate in the Green Belt
  • New development should satisfy high standards of design to ensure local character and identity are retained
  • Extensions, alterations and conversions should be supported provided that they respect local character and heritage
  • Redundant and disused buildings should be brought back into use

Greenspaces and Environment

You told us:

  • Key open spaces should be identified for protection and improvement
  • Local landscape quality and character should be protected and improved
  • Areas of nature conservation should be strongly protected and new areas established
  • Trees and hedgerows should be protected
  • Renewable or alternative energy should be encouraged provided it is of an appropriate scale and type and does not harm the landscape and heritage features

Countryside management and farming

You told us:

  • Rural occupations should be supported
  • Farm diversification should be supported, especially where it provides recreational opportunities, better land management, re-use of rural buildings etc.

Recreation

You told us:

  • Key routes for walking, cycling and riding .e.g. the Mary Townley Loop, and access to them should be developed, promoted and improved
  • Links between attractions should be improved and promoted (e.g. Healey Dell)
  • Recreational activities which detract from environmental quality or the local landscape should be discouraged
  • Equestrian activities and facilities of an appropriate scale should be supported

Accessibility

You told us:

  • Better visitor facilities, like parking, are required
  • Traffic calming on Rooley Moor Road, and improvements to roads, lanes, and footpaths are needed
  • Footpaths, cycle routes and bridleways need improvement and their use by those with impaired mobility increased
  • Signage and interpretation information needs to be improved
  • Conflicts between cyclists, horseriders, walkers and vehicular traffic should be addressed

Visitors

You told us:

  • Countryside visitor facilities should be improved, e.g. signage, interpretation, parking etc.
  • Low key, small scale overnight accommodation would be appropriate
  • Opportunities to promote interest in local heritage, rural skills, nature appreciation should be taken

We aim to address all these things through the Plan’s policies and proposals and to balance all interests in the area as best we can. The policies will provide extra detail to the Council’s existing planning policies and ensure that we can influence decisions on planning applications and investment decisions to best meet the interests of the Rooley Moor area and community.   When we publish the plan, you will have an opportunity to comment on all the detail of the policies before we finalise it.

Continue reading “Community Consultation Update”

Neighbourhood Plan – Have YOUR say!

A paper copy of our questionnaire is being delivered to all households in our Neighbourhood Area.

Please take the time to read, complete and return the form. RMNF is a registered charity and it has been formed to help protect our area and to provide the opportunity to maintain and improve it. The purpose of the questionnaire is to allow local people the opportunity to say what they like (or dislike) about our area and to make suggestions about how it might be improved working in conjunction with Rochdale Council. Recent works undertaken on our bridleway’s, the new cattle grid, the repairs to Prickshaw Dam and the improvements that have taken place at Catley Lane Head have all been encouraged via the Neighbourhood Forum.

The questionnaire is an important part of ‘the way forward’. The results will be analysed and the wishes, aspirations and concerns of local people will be fed back via a Neighbourhood Plan which should then form part of the Council’s core strategy.

Once you have completed the form please either drop it off at the address on the returns envelope or pop it in the post.

If you would like any assistance completing this questionnaire please contact Alan Rawsterne on 07970715904 or email to: info@RMNF.org.uk

You can download more copies of the questionnaire here or, if you prefer, complete it online.

Please complete your questionnaire by Friday 30th June 2017

Once analysis is complete we will publish the results probably sometime towards the end of August or the beginning of September.

Spring Clean – Update

Catley Lane Head Spring Clean – Saturday 22nd April 2017

Thanks to Nick & Margaret Green for organising a fantastic day and thanks to everyone involved! We couldn’t have done it without you, the help and support of Rochdale Council and those people who loaned the digger and dump truck.

We bagged approximately one and a half tons of rubbish and filled the dump truck three times with soil and leaf mould from the side of the road, each load was about three tons in weight!

Please let us know if you’d like to do something similar in other parts of our area.

Related Images

 

David Olusoga – Honorary President

Honorary President of Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum

David Olusoga, the historian and broadcaster who put the Cotton Famine Road on the map in BBC2’s Black and British: A Forgotten History, has agreed to be the Honorary President of Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum.

I’m sure you will agree this is fantastic news. Having David associated with our forum will help us to build on his good work by protecting and sharing the history and recreational value of our area.

See a related article on Rochdale On Line