The new £600k entrance to Oldham that will make the town centre ‘more welcoming’

More funding has been secured for a ‘fantastic new entrance’ to Oldham aimed at enticing residents and visitors into the town centre.

A £600k grant will pay for finishing touches on Snipe Garden, a ‘vibrant’ community space connecting Oldham’s central bus stop with Henshaw Street. 

The money from water company United Utilities’ ‘green recovery fund’ will finance drainage works and planting on the site of the now demolished Snipe Inn pub. 

The new entrance way is supposed to make the town centre more ‘welcoming and accessible’ in a bid to increase footfall in the town’s high streets.

The town was previously identified as one of the areas most at risk of ‘dying out’ as a result of changing consumer habits and the cost of living crisis.

Accepting the funds at a cabinet meeting on Monday evening (March 3), council leader Arooj Shah said: “The money is going to be used to increase the sustainable drainage systems at Snipe Gardens, which is our fantastic new entrance to the town centre from the bus station, as well as public realm improvements and planting to make sure that space is a pleasant one, one that residents and visitors can use and enter through and is easy on their eye aesthetically as well. 

“This will build on similar work we’ve done on Rock Street, West Street, Market Street and Curzon Street using previous grant funding from United Utilities and it actually fits with our plans to make our town centre into a place where residents will choose to spend their time.” 

The new public space includes benches and hardy plants as well as a wide path to gain access to the town.

It’s a big change from the ‘dingy alleyway’ at the side of the 130-year-old pub that once served as the main entrance from the bus interchange. 

The new park is part of a wider effort to ‘beautify’ and invest in Oldham to attract shoppers.

Other schemes include refurbishing old buildings such as the Old Library and Old Townhall, and building a brand new venue for the Tommyfield Market traders, who are due to move into a new wing of the Spindles Shopping Centre later this year.