Police are appealing for witnesses to a horror crash in Rochdale to come forward, after a man has been left fighting for his life.
The two vehicles collided in Milnrow on Sunday evening, on Wildhouse Lane.
It’s thought that a Nissan Micra travelling northbound collided with a BMW One Series that was heading in the opposite direction.
The BMW driver and passenger sustained minor injuries in the head-on crash, but the driver of the Nissan remains in a life-threatening condition in hospital.
Police are now investigating the horror smash and looking for dashcam footage and eye witnesses.
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Anyone who saw anything from the incident at around 7.45pm on Sunday 3 March, or anything from the moments leading up to the collision, should contact GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU).
If anyone has footage, like dashcam, CCTV or mobile phone footage, police would also like to speak to them.
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You can contact police on 0161 856 4741, quoting log number 2757 of 03/03/2024, or using the ‘tell us about’ tool or LiveChat function on GMP’s website.
Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity – Crimestoppers – anonymously on 0800 555 111.
MIF to venture ‘further out than ever before’ into Wigan and Rochdale as 2025’s lineup is announced
Emily Sergeant
All the excitement of MIF will be heading out to the boroughs this year, as the full 2025 lineup has been announced.
Factory International has been working with partners across the city and the world to ‘build on the MIF legacy’, and has now unveiled an expansive multi-artform programme of events and groundbreaking world premieres to inspire fresh perspectives, challenge conventional thoughts, and invite audiences to ‘dream differently’.
Organisers say the 2025 lineup of the ever-popular Manchester International Festival (MIF) presents some of the most exciting creative minds of our generation.
MIF is all about showcasing Manchester as a global hub of creative innovation.
With works being presented throughout the city and even in the surrounding areas this year, MIF25 is set to be a celebration of homegrown artists returning to the region, with many of the names on the lineup originally coming from, or having important ties to, Greater Manchester and the North West.
Eric Cantona, Juan Mata, The Royal Ballet, Blackhaine, Shilpa Gupta, Richard Russell, Edgar Davids, and Ella Toone are just a handful of the well-known names contributing to this extraordinary bi-annual celebration of creativity this summer.
As well as taking over lots of venues across Manchester, including Aviva Studios, HOME, and the Royal Exchage, as mentioned, the festival is ‘venturing further out than ever before’ this year – with new work being presented in Rochdale and Wigan.
MIF has announced its long-awaited lineup for 2025 / Credit: Ant Strack | Juliet EllisThe festival is venturing further out than ever before this year / Credit: Rick Guest
On the opening weekend of the festival from 3-5 July, hundreds of participants will join puppeteers for a large-scale public artwork called THE HERDS, and will be parading ‘stampeding’ animals made in Manchester through the city streets and beyond.
Nearly 500 schoolchildren from across all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs will work alongside artists to create The Inheritance – a collection of knowledge, advice, jokes, memories, and objects.
For the first time ever, the festival will be partnering with The Royal Ballet this year to present a stage version of Christopher Isherwood’s acclaimed novel A Single Man at Aviva Studios, with former Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson performing the central role.
There’s also three weekends of free community activations and events lined up / Credit: Venture Arts
One of the other most-notable events on the lineup is Football City, Art United created by an ambitious group of artists and footballers, led by former Manchester United star Juan Mata, which aims to expand the worlds of art and football, and the cultural contributions they both make, through sculptures, sound installations, and animations.
There will also be three weekends of community activations, such as cabaret, performance, and comedy, curated and hosted by MIF’s Neighbourhood Organisers to look forward to.
And of course, Festival Square returns with a free programme of live music and performances outside Aviva Studios this year.
You can also expect a talks programme to be announced in due course.
MIF25 kicks off on Thursday 3 July and will run its packed programme of events right through until Sunday 20 July 2025, and you can see the full lineup here.
Featured Image – MIF (via Supplied)
Rochdale
First look at major new multi-million pound Rochdale housing scheme with 200+ homes
Emily Sergeant
First look images showing a major new multi-million pound housing scheme in Rochdale have been released.
The long-awaited redevelopment of a vacant brownfield site close to Rochdale town centre has moved a step closer this week, following a £15 million funding award from the Government’s community regeneration partnership.
The scheme, which is known as Station Gardens, will feature more than 200 homes – including both apartments and houses – and a park for the use of the wider community, as well as a retail unit on the site of former central retail park close to the borough’s main train station, which has stood vacant for more than a decade.
Rochdale Council says the Government’s funding has given the scheme a ‘much needed jumpstart’ and contractors are expected to ‘start build out of the site this year’.
The first look images of a major new multi-million pound Rochdale housing scheme / Credit: Rochdale Council
As well as the housing scheme, the funding will also support a project aiming to ‘breathe new life’ into empty town centre units by creating local craft workspaces, retail outlets, and a youth arts centre to help community engagement.
It will also support the rebuild of one of the buildings on Hopwood Hall College’s Rochdale campus to create an additional floor for Higher Education and Access Students.
33 new build-to-rent apartments will be created on the corner of Maclure Road and Station Road, just across the road from the train station too, using funding from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority‘s (GMCA) brownfield land fund, and contractors are expected to start delivering this scheme in late spring.
200+ properties will make up part of the development close to the town centre / Credit: Rochdale Council
The Station Gardens scheme is also part of the borough’s wider rail strategy, seeking to redevelop brownfield sites around the borough’s five railway stations.
Up to 7,000 new homes and new employment sites should be delivered by the end of it.
“This scheme will transform an empty brownfield site into much needed new homes, including affordable homes, and a high-quality public park and will bring huge benefits to the wider area,” commented Councillor Danny Meredith, who is the cabinet member for housing and regeneration at Rochdale Borough Council.
“Situated just minutes from our newly regenerated Rochdale town centre and the train station, which gives easy access to Manchester, Leeds and the rest of the borough, this is a fantastic site for new homes.”
Daisy Jackson -
4th March 2024 
