Rockliffe Meadows

Site Description

Rockliffe Meadows is located close to Bacup town centre bounded by the three main roads of the A671 (Rochdale Road), the A681 (Newchurch Road) and the A6066 (New Line). The site is made up of 3 distinct areas; the southern part of the site contains land either side of the Trough Syke and covers an area from St Saviour's Church in the west to Lane End Road in the east; the northern area of the site is made up of 2 fields in private ownership adjacent to Lane End Road and the eastern area of the site includes land to the rear of the Sidings Industrial Estate and land at Sheephouse Clough, connecting to Rochdale Road. The site is approximately 5 hectares in size.

Grid Reference: 386900 421940

Size: 5ha

Site Boundary

View the site boundary (size 865kb)

Current Status

The main feature of the western part of the site is the Trough Syke watercourse which flows in an east to west direction. There is higher ground to the south (towards New Line) and to the north where the remains of a former tip can be seen. There are also several informal footpaths and a public footpath that cross this part of the site.

The northern part of the site immediately to the north of St Saviour's School is a relatively flat area in private ownership. It is predominantly a rough grassed area with the remains of several buildings evident.

The eastern part of the site consists of a steeply sloping wooded area to the rear of The Sidings industrial estate leading to the more open Sheephouse Clough green space. Large areas of this part of the site appear neglected with evidence of litter and flytipping and an informal footpath that links Lane End Road with Rochdale Road.

Previous Use

The southern part of the site was previously occupied by a railway line and marshalling yard and some structures associated with the railway are still visible. Land immediately to the north was formerly a landfill site with the face of the tip is still visible.

Proposed Use

The REMADE project at Rockliffe Meadows aims to improve the three areas of neglected land and address any existing contamination issues. The main focus of any scheme is likely to be on improving access through the site and beyond to Bacup town centre, Stubbylee Park and Rochdale Road. Other opportunities such as landscape improvements, enhancing and creating wildlife habitats and providing signage and interpretation facilities will also be explored as part of the design process.

Aerial Photo

View an aerial photo of the site. (size 507kb)

Design

Lancashire County Council's Landscape team have been appointed to undertake the design for the scheme, which commenced in December 2006. It is intended that a stakeholder group responsible for steering the design is established in January 2007 and that a public consultation event where outline design options are presented takes place sometime in Spring 2007.

The current programme is that the design for the scheme is completed by the autumn of 2007 with construction works hopefully starting on site in late 2007/ early 2008.