Have just read that by 2010 Rochdale Council staff will be moved out of Rochdale Town Hall becasue the new office buildings by the waterside will be built by then.

This shows that the whole town centre consultation is a done deal.

Does that mean that in a few years time someone from the council will try to reduce the Town Hall's maintenance budget and let the building go into a steady decline?

Who knows, in 2050 there might be a headline saying that the old Town Hall clock tower must be demolished?

Stranger things already seem to happen in this town.

   Rochdale Infirmary after "public consultation" will be redesignated. . What are you talking about Mr Carter you clossed two wards down?.

   Have a raw nerve been hit Mr Wilkinson? Don't insuklt the good name of firefighters who put their lives on the line so that bean counters and property managers can engage in some spin about their budgets.

Annual budgets and expenditure isn't as simple as your "no brainer" suggestions make out. Removing conservation area status won't pay for smoke alarms to save lives in Rochdale. To suggest so is disingenuous. If the fire service want to save money then cut out some of the accountants, propert managers and press officers that waste so much money.

Perhaps, Mr Wilkinson, you could calm down in one of those comfy chairs the bean counters imposed on night watch firefighters to save money on beds throughout Greater Manchester?

The message is clear- stop spinning stories about lives being threatened when property managers spit their dummies out.

Stop using the good name of key service workers to manipulate budgets.

We have seen too much of it in Rochdale for any of it to be taken seriously anymore.

Take our hospital provision.

Years ago we were informaed about great news for Rochdale. A new improved, modern, centralised "Royal" infirmary.

All we had to do was get rid of that nasty old Birch Hill.

At about the same time there was talk of a new hospital near the M62 if the controversial Kingsway development was approved. Local objectors were accused of harming the lives of Rochdalians if the outline development weren't passed.

When finaly passed, the Rochdale Development Agency couldn't recall any firm plans for hospital provision on the Kingsway site.

We got a bit of a PFI tart up for the Rochdale Infirmary and more cash went to Oldham Royal.

Birch Hill has been sold to Persimmon for hundreds of "much needed" houses.

Rochdale Infirmary after "public consultation" will be redesignated.

The result. A poorer service for Rochdale yet bean counters, development agencies, and property speculators cash in and secure their bonuses and pensions.

We are sick and tired of being treated like fools in this town.

   if A. Carter had read the article with glasses on he/she would have read this "fire bosses said the service would have to look for a new base if the conservation order was not scrapped" where in the article does it say if the conservation order is lifted we can flog it and put flats up, and build ourselves a funny money new build? the fire service provide free home checks and supply and fit FREE smoke alarms to ANYBODY who wants them. The NO BRAINER is the £150,000 to repair the tower is approximately 30,000 smoke alarms that could be fitted FREE therefore saving lives. So A. Carter can you see the NO BRAINER NOW?

   Whats the betting it will become a mosque?

   Reading the readers comment below, the scales are lifting from my eyes about how things are done in Rochdale.

The quote in the article about the Impact Partnership (Rochdale Council's PFI development company) already being in negotiation with the Fire Service had alarm bells ringing in my head. something didn't ring true about the threat to lives because a conservation order had been made.

All public services prefer to get out of older buildings. Look at all the new Police Stations and hospitals that have been built recently using PFI "funny money". The lack of building maintenance for the first few years makes an easier time for a property manager. The department gets to cash in on selling an asset and then lease back a modern new-build on the never never.

The fact that we will have dozens of cheap bland new tin sheds that will soon look crap and are subject to crippling PFI maintenance contracts will be a problem for a new generation of public property managers.

Look at the Middleton Police station deal. The sale of Heywood police station and Birch Hill Hospital. It looks as though this is just about to happen to Rochdale Fire Station providing the conservation area status can be lifted so that it can be replaced by nice apartments.

It looks as though the Rochdale Observer has fallen hook line and sinker for a shocking headline when what has really happended is a property manager from Stockport has spat his dummy out because he has to do some work preserving a wonderful landmark at one of Rochdale's gateways.

As for Cllr Brett getting in on the act to attack a conservation officer who dares to protect the town's heritage. I expected little else from planning commitee member who also runs a side line in lobbying for planning permissions for developers.

This is the same Cllr Brett who, along with Impact Partnership and the Rochdale Development Agency, allowed the demolition of the Electric House (another civic building of some merit) .

Why the rush to demolish the Electric House? To make way for a transort interchange. Accross the road from the existing bus station. But the demolishion occured BEFORE the town centre public consultation to ask what WE wanted and BEFORE any funding to actually pay for a new interchange has been secured from central government funds.

Together, Cllr Brett and the RDA could flattened more of Rochdale's heritage than the Luftwaffe.

   There is much more to this headline than meets the eye.

Conservation Orders can enrich the cultural heritage of a town but they are the bane of property speculators. A site with a Conservation Order can create a financial liability to maintain. It also reduces its value if sold for development. Millions of pounds of profit can be at stake. The pages of the Rochdale Observer have already seen examples of underhand tactics to counter Conservation Area status. This emotional blackmail by a property manger to threaten firemens’ jobs and our safety is just the latest example.

Cllr Allen Brett has called for the manner in which Conservation Orders are processed. As a self-confessed “no win no fee” planing and leisure consultant he may have experience and an interest in curbing the enthusiasm of pesky planning officers.

The pages of the Rochdale Observer have seen several interesting stories involving controversial planning developments that require the demolition of our heritage for a fast buck. Lets look at the example of just one local, outspoken, property developer- Mr Greaves of Hallmark Developments and Rossendale and Pennine Estates.

Goodbye to the Carlton. Demolished by Mr Greaves for apartments. (subject to planning permission).

Goodbye to the Edwardian gem of Oakenrod school. Nobody objected to a change to residential use. However, keeping architectural features would have increased costs. Demolition saves a mint.

Why was the Oakenrod planning application a joint one between Mr Greave’s company and Rochdale Council? Why was Rochdale Council then recommending refusal of its own planing application? These important questions were not answered. Instead an aggressive Cllr Brett lashed out in his Observer column and took advantage of Cllr William Hobhouse being forced to fall on his sword.

Cllr Brett played a prominent roll in questioning the Conservation Order for Moorgate Avenue. This threatened the profit of a development for Mr Greave’s company Rossendale and Pennine Estates. Cllr Brett helped ensure the planning committee’s decision went to the overview and scrutiny committee. At the same time, in what looked like a classic pincer movement, a letter was published in the Observer questioning the Conservation Order. It was then discovered that one of Mr Greave’s employees had written the letter.

The delay in granting the Conservation Order served its purpose. As reported in the Observer, Mr Greaves demolished his house on Moorgate Avenue the day before Conservation Area Status came into force.

Conservation Orders cost property speculators cash. Is there too close a connection between Rochdale council and development companies? Are planning officers and councillors who question the destruction of our heritage being bullied into submission?

Behind Saturday’s emotive front page headline is a real scandal that needs to be investigated. That is the no-brainer.

   Wouldn't this be poetic justice if the nurses from Rochdale Infirmary had closed it instead of the council? Now you know how they feel.

   I first saw Rochdale fire station in 1961. It is an imressive building but to be honest of little architectural significance. It is ideal for the fire service in terms of its location and the wide Maclure Road outside. Why a conservation order, preventing it's modernisation is in force is a mystery.