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Rochdale: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council: Metropolitan district (unitary), England, North West; part of the GMCA combined authority. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E08000005.

Council website

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Rochdale for 2026–27: £2,161.58 of a £2,600.83 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

The council’s climate-emergency motion, in its own words:

“This Council resolves to: • declare a climate emergency; • work towards ensuring that the borough is carbon neutral by 2050, in line with the Mayor and the Government’s targets.”

The council's document gives no date for the motion: it shows what the council resolved then, not what it does now. Agenda item - Notices of Motion (Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council), found through mySociety and Climate Emergency UK, Local authority climate emergency declarations (CC BY 4.0); the sentence was checked word for word on 26 October 2026.

Beyond that document, we haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 4 opened (2 new provision, 2 academy converter), 3 closed (2 academy converter, 1 closure)

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Rochdale reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Rochdale: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
ServiceBudget
Education services£233.2 million
Highways and transport services£14.0 million
Children's social care£88.2 million
Adult social care£120.1 million
Public health£18.3 million
Housing services (general fund only)£9.1 million
Cultural and related services£11.2 million
Environmental and regulatory services£15.5 million
Planning and development services£6.6 million
Police servicesnone budgeted
Fire and rescue servicesnone budgeted
Central services£18.0 million
Other services£1.9 million
Total service expenditure£536.2 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Life in Rochdale: the official facts

Facts about the people who live here: their pay, homes, health and more, from official statistics. They describe the place, not you, and every council gets the same list. Each shows when it was measured.

Show the figures for:

Showing: Rochdale.

People living here
237,641 people 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsAn official estimate of everyone who lives in the area, in the middle of the year.
Typical age
38 years 30 June 2025 · Office for National StatisticsHalf the people who live here are younger than this and half are older.
Money to live on, per person, per year
£19,053 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage household income per person after taxes, with benefits added: what people have to spend or save.
Typical weekly pay, before tax
£601 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsFor employees who live here: half earn more than this each week, half earn less.
Children growing up in poverty
36.9% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsThe share of children under 16 in families on low incomes once housing costs are paid.
People claiming unemployment-related benefits
6.0% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsThe share of people aged 16 to 64 claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit while looking for work.
Average price of a home
£211,022 August 2026 · HM Land RegistryThe average price of a home here in the month shown.
How many years of pay a home costs
5.9 times yearly pay 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsA typical home's price divided by the typical yearly pay of people who live here.
Years in good health: women
54.2 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsHow many years a girl born here can expect to live in good health, at current rates.
Years in good health: men
53.8 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsHow many years a boy born here can expect to live in good health, at current rates.
Greenhouse gases, per person
3.6 tonnes per person 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroEmissions from the area in a year, shared out per resident, in tonnes of carbon dioxide or its equivalent.
Homes and businesses that can get the fastest broadband
92.0% 1 January 2026 · OfcomThe share of addresses that can get gigabit broadband (1,000 Mbps).
Public chargers for electric cars
71.7 per 100,000 people 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublic charging points at all speeds, for every 100,000 people.
Businesses trading here
7,750 businesses 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with sales or staff in the year.

More figures for Rochdale from the ONS

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

This council’s area is covered by Greater Manchester combined authority, with its elected mayor.

60 seats in 2026. Run by: Labour, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Labour Party 31, Reform UK 15, Conservative and Unionist 7, Workers Party of Britain 4, Liberal Democrats 3.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 60 councillors, by ward
  • Ashley-Louise Gilbert (Reform UK) — Balderstone & Kirkholt
  • Daniel Meredith (Labour Party) — Balderstone & Kirkholt
  • Jordan Tarrant-Short (Reform UK) — Balderstone & Kirkholt
  • Angela Smith (Conservative and Unionist) — Bamford
  • Philip Beal (Conservative and Unionist) — Bamford
  • Stephen Anstee (Conservative and Unionist) — Bamford
  • Aasim Rashid (Labour Party) — Castleton
  • Aisling-Blaise Gallagher (Labour Party) — Castleton
  • Dave Jones (Reform UK) — Castleton
  • Farooq Ahmed (Workers Party of Britain) — Central Rochdale
  • Sameena Zaheer (Labour Party) — Central Rochdale
  • Waqar Khan (Workers Party of Britain) — Central Rochdale
  • Dylan Williams (Labour Party) — East Middleton
  • Georgina Jacques (Labour Party) — East Middleton
  • Terry Smith (Labour Party) — East Middleton
  • Mark Stephens (Reform UK) — Healey
  • Shah Wazir (Labour Party) — Healey
  • Tricia Ayrton (Labour Party) — Healey
  • Carol Wardle (Labour Party) — Hopwood Hall
  • Peter Hodgkinson (Labour Party) — Hopwood Hall
  • Steve Potter (Reform UK) — Hopwood Hall
  • Daalat Ali (Labour Party) — Kingsway
  • Rachel Massey (Labour Party) — Kingsway
  • Shakil Ahmed (Labour Party) — Kingsway
  • Richard Jackson (Labour Party) — Littleborough Lakeside
  • Tom Besford (Labour Party) — Littleborough Lakeside
  • Victoria Howard (Reform UK) — Littleborough Lakeside
  • Aiza Rashid (Labour Party) — Milkstone & Deeplish
  • Minaam Ellahi (Workers Party of Britain) — Milkstone & Deeplish
  • Mohammed Shafiq (Workers Party of Britain) — Milkstone & Deeplish
  • Andy Kelly (Liberal Democrats) — Milnrow & Newhey
  • Anthony Gilbert (Reform UK) — Milnrow & Newhey
  • David Bamford (Liberal Democrats) — Milnrow & Newhey
  • Michael Holly (Conservative and Unionist) — Norden
  • Paul Ellison (Conservative and Unionist) — Norden
  • Peter Winkler (Conservative and Unionist) — Norden
  • Bev Place (Labour Party) — North Heywood
  • Michael Howard (Reform UK) — North Heywood
  • Paul O'Neill (Labour Party) — North Heywood
  • Elizabeth Atewologun (Labour Party) — North Middleton
  • Kathryn Bromfield (Labour Party) — North Middleton
  • Lee Wolf (Reform UK) — North Middleton
  • Amna Mir (Labour Party) — Smallbridge & Firgrove
  • John Blundell (Labour Party) — Smallbridge & Firgrove
  • Mohammed Khizer (Liberal Democrats) — Smallbridge & Firgrove
  • June West (Labour Party) — South Middleton
  • Matthew Pilkington (Reform UK) — South Middleton
  • Patricia Dale (Labour Party) — South Middleton
  • Amber Nisa (Labour Party) — Spotland & Falinge
  • Carl Faulkner (Reform UK) — Spotland & Falinge
  • Faisal Rana (Labour Party) — Spotland & Falinge
  • Adam Branton (Conservative and Unionist) — Wardle, Shore & West Littleborough
  • John Taylor (Reform UK) — Wardle, Shore & West Littleborough
  • Philip Barrett (Reform UK) — Wardle, Shore & West Littleborough
  • Linda Robinson (Labour Party) — West Heywood
  • Peter Joinson (Labour Party) — West Heywood
  • Stuart Crawford (Reform UK) — West Heywood
  • Neil Emmott (Labour Party) — West Middleton
  • Susan Smith (Labour Party) — West Middleton
  • Trevor Taylor (Reform UK) — West Middleton

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.