What should Oldham be like in 20 years from now? Where will people work and how will they live? What image will people – both locals and outsiders – have of Oldham in the future?

The most successful towns and cities around the world are always looking ahead. They have a dream of where they want to be and a practical plan for getting there. This is why the Local Strategic Partnership has commissioned a team of consultants to develop a new vision for Oldham Borough.

An unusually creative and open process with citizens embarked on a ‘journey of discovery’ to overcome social, economic, physical and political differences to create new opportunities for many different and diverse groups across the borough to seek a new ‘Oldham Beyond’. The process focused on how to re-imagine Oldham by improving wealth creation, livability, and governance.

The Spatial Framework utilises Oldham’s topography, celebrating culturally diverse neighbourhoods, and exploiting existing physical and economic assets through a borough-wide network of catalytic ‘Nodes’ (redundant Mills, Football Club, Chronicle Newspaper, etc.).

The ‘Nodes’ provide locations of ‘common ground’ throughout the borough, and work as engines of transformation, opportunity, creativity, education and wealth creation which are networked together. A series of places are established where local community groups, schools, businesses, organisations, or even an individual like Billy Elliot could discover ‘how to learn to dance’.