Over the last few years during times of economic challenges and government austerity the Council has worked hard to continue to deliver to Rossendale residents the excellent Council Services they deserve.

We have strengthened our Management Team over the last year and have recently won the Best Practice Award at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) North West Regional Awards for Planning Excellence 2017.

We have successfully secured funding and are working with partners to support the health and wellbeing of residents and also the regeneration of the Valley to create an attractive place where people choose to live, tourists wish to visit and employers opt to invest. 

Our priorities:

A clean and green Rossendale

A connected and successful Rossendale that welcomes sustainable growth

A proud, healthy and vibrant Rossendale

Rossendale is one of the six Boroughs that make up Pennine Lancashire, sharing borders with Rochdale and Bury in Greater Manchester and Calderdale in West Yorkshire.  Being close to Preston, we are uniquely placed as a gateway to East Lancashire, to maximise and exploit the opportunities and potential of Central Lancashire City Regions. Areas of the Borough are well connected through road transport with excellent access provided by the M66 motorway and frequent bus links.  There is a real opportunity to improve connectivity through planned development on the A56 and M66 through the Council’s work in partnership with Transport for Greater Manchester.

Rossendale’s environment is a strong part of our identity and a key asset for the Borough.  The geography of the Borough and its natural resources have influenced the way that we have developed historically and still play an important role today in terms of land use and future development opportunities.  We are seeking to build around 250 new houses per year and have identified around 40 hectares of employment land to be developed in the new local plan period.

The topography means that development is concentrated in valleys and as a result we have large areas of unspoilt countryside, providing leisure and tourism opportunities.

Rossendale has a strong and proud industrial legacy. This legacy is still evident today with a high concentration of traditional industrial employment stock.  Rossendale still maintains a strong manufacturing base, which is the second highest employer (the highest being wholesale and retail trade). 

There are 69,487 residents in the Borough, this estimated that between 2014 and 2039 the population of Rossendale will increase by 8.2%.  The average house price in Rossendale is £142,858 (Land Registry price paid datasets 2013-2017).