Middleton reveals the blueprint for Britain's first co-operative Mayoral Development Corporation – and its first result: Warwick Mill

Middleton came together on Monday 7 September at a packed Middleton Arena to hear the results of Our Town, Our Future – the biggest conversation the town has ever had about its own future – and to find out what happens next.

The event was attended by Middleton-born actor and comedian Steve Coogan, Co-operatives UK CEO Rose Marley, Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig, and Rochdale Council leader Cllr Neil Emmott. Steve Coogan and Rose Marley are Co-Chairs of the proposed Middleton Co-operative Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) – a body designed, from the outset, to do regeneration differently.

Over five months, Middleton Co-operating engaged more than 2,000 residents and businesses through a survey and hundreds of face-to-face conversations, reaching people across every part of the town. What the Co-operatives UK member received back was a consistent message: people want regeneration done with Middleton, not to it.

The clearest sign of that came the same day. Rochdale Council confirmed it has struck a deal to acquire Warwick Mill – the town's derelict, Grade II listed former cotton mill — after almost a third of survey respondents named it as one of the changes they most wanted to see. It follows a decade in which private-sector attempts to redevelop the site repeatedly came to nothing.

Councillor Neil Emmott, leader of Rochdale Borough Council, said: "Warwick Mill is an important landmark in Middleton and serves as a striking visual reminder of the area's rich history as a major player in the global cotton trade. It also represents a huge regeneration opportunity and a chance to really revitalise this key part of the town centre.

"The desire to bring Warwick Mill back into use came through very clearly in the engagement exercise and we've responded to this. We're keen to honour Middleton's proud heritage as we continue to forge a new and exciting future for this special place."

It's a small but telling example of what the co-operative model is meant to deliver at scale: not a masterplan handed down and consulted on afterwards, but residents naming a priority and the public bodies with the power to act on it actually doing so.

That's the principle the wider MDC is built to answer. The model gives residents, businesses, the voluntary sector, Rochdale Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) a shared stake in the decisions that shape the town — a say before the plans are drawn, not just a reaction to them once they are.

Rose Marley, co-chair of Middleton Co-operative Mayoral Development Corporation, said: "More than 2,000 people gave their time to Our Town, Our Future – the biggest conversation Middleton has ever had about its own future. What came back was clear: people want to see regeneration done with Middleton, not to Middleton."

Rose added: "The Middleton Co-operative Mayoral Development Corporation will help to carry that mandate forward: into the town's housing, transport, green spaces and public buildings – Warwick Mill among them – and into every decision still to be made. This is co-operation in its truest sense, and it's how Middleton's future should be built."

For Co-operatives UK, Middleton is a live test of something the co-operative movement has argued for decades: that people given a genuine stake in decisions about the place they live will shape better outcomes. Fittingly, it's happening in the borough where the co-operative movement itself began.

The full Our Town, Our Future report, including all of the survey findings and recommendations, will be available at middleton.coop.