Rochdale can feel unrelenting. Row after row of red-brick houses punctuated by vertigo-inducing towerblocks criss-crossed with canals. The town, surrounded by beautiful hills and moorland, was once prosperous – spinning and weaving much of Britain’s wealth. Now, it is associated with poverty and disadvantage.
A recent report commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on uneven city growth found Rochdale topped the list of Britain’s struggling towns, with Burnley and Bolton coming a close second and third. The town also found itself at the centre of a grooming case spanning a decade, where a sex trafficking gang targeted young girls. In short, Rochdale has not enjoyed positive press.
But its image is changing. Efforts are being made to boost the town’s fortunes. Last year, the council implemented a £250m plan to reinvigorate the town’s high street and as a result tram links improved and more free parking was introduced.
There’s also growing motivation among residents to reverse Rochdale’s declining fortunes. In the process, social enterprise is taking off in the town – the birthplace of the modern co-operative movement, which started in 1844 on Toad Lane, now the site of the Pioneers Museum.
Jordan Diggle, 21 and a museum assistant at the Pioneers Museum, is one local working to improve the town. Inspired by Soup, a social enterprise initiative originating in the embattled US city of Detroit, he has set up a regular grassroots, micro-granting event in Rochdale. Audience members pay a small fee to come and listen to four-minute pitches from people with ideas to boost the local community. Everyone eats soup afterwards, votes on their favourite and the winner gets all the takings from the door. The first meeting was held on 31 May.
“We think from this we can create a community hub where like-minded people can start conversations about current problems, and new or ongoing projects,” Diggle says. “Our aim is to copy the success of Detroit, which has been going for a number of years now, though this won’t be an easy ride. Since 2010, they have raised well over $100,000 in over 100 ‘soups’. This is a long-term project that we want to be cemented within Rochdale.”
He wants to follow in the footsteps of Soup founder Amy Kaherl. Her initial goal was to create a safe space for people thinking about starting something to help communities in Detroit. “We want Detroiters to feel like they have the opportunity to discuss and engage with one another ways they reimagine the city together,” Diggle says.
In Detroit, nine city services, 37 educational projects and 17 social justice projects have received funding through Soup. Projects include bus benches with reading libraries and horse camps for inner city kids.
Rochdale, like Detroit, is ethnically diverse. Census data from 2011 shows 30 languages are spoken across the town, and it’s this mix of cultures that makes the range of potential projects so varied.
Rochdale Soup is hoping to draw on the success of other social enterprise initiatives in the town too, which are implementing imaginative solutions to Rochdale’s problems. Link4Life supplies cultural, sports and leisure facilities on behalf of the council and is the largest social enterprise in the borough of Rochdale, employing 200 staff. Others include Sunshine Care, a local co-operative that provides home care, and KYP, which provides nursery care, employment, and training support to Kashmiri youth.
As council services are cut across the UK, social enterprises can be part of the solution. However, Nick Temple, deputy CEO of Social Enterprise UK, warns they are not a panacea. “In some cases they can do more for less, but what we are seeing is some councils embracing social value and social enterprise as part of their route to how they transform services others are just cutting services,” he says.
The government says it is investing in Rochdale. In 2015, the communities and local government department provided funding for Rochdale’s Making a Difference poject, which works with social enterprises and charities to help improve the lives of communities and individuals with complex needs. “Rochdale council will receive more than £670m over the next four years, meaning it can deliver the services residents value, while keeping council tax bills and charges for other services down,” says a government spokesperson.
As for Diggle, he has seen a huge response on social media and received donations ahead of the Rochdale Soup launch event. The evening itself raised £215 for a new soft play area for community cafe Kirky Kitchen. Diggle’s main goal, he says, is to reinstate cooperation in the birthplace of the co-operative movement.
