Rochdale Development Agency turns 30

To celebrate the RDA’s 30th birthday, the agency has produced a video celebrating local businesses and the potential of Rochdale, Middleton, Heywood and the Pennine district.

Watch the video above or follow this link

Rochdale Development Agency is dedicated to promoting Rochdale as an investment location and actively supporting existing investors.

The agency has strong links with the council and the commercial sector and has helped businesses relocate to the area, including Dachser, JD Sports, Asda and Takeuchi.

The RDA formed in 1993, born out of the idea of a local prominent manufacturer, Barrier Bernstein. Lacking support from the council at the time, Bernstein had been forced to move his kitchen manufacturing business employing more than 1,300 people from Middleton to Bolton.

As a Rochdalian, he was never happy with this and decided that an agency to support businesses moving to Rochdale would greatly benefit the area.

Together with John Hudson, head of planning at Bolton Council at the time, who had worked with Barrie Bernstein on his relocation, they began discussing the idea with Rochdale Council. After lengthy negotiations, the agency was established with Bernstein as chair and Hudson as chief executive. Bernstein would go on to chair the RDA for 13 years.

Three decades later and the borough continues to move forward, with schemes like Atom Valley, the Advanced Machinery & Productivity Innovation Centre, and the high-quality housing development Upperbanks, to name a few, progressing this year.