Birch

9°CPatchy rain nearby

• Today: 12° / 8° · 21% rain
• Tomorrow: 11° / 8° · Partly Cloudy

Source: WeatherAPI

Sunrise 07:14Sunset 16:30

9h 17m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

31US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: fine particles (PM2.5)

Source: WAQI · Manchester Piccadilly, United Kingdom

• 7.1 µg/m³ average fine-particle (PM2.5) concentration
• 5.3% of adult (30+) deaths estimated attributable to fine-particle pollution

Lower is better for both figures.

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2024

219 reported road collisions (2025)

67 killed or seriously injured · 276 casualties · 9.8 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

414 food businesses within 2 miles

• 294 rated 4–5 ★ (239 top)
• 35 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

• Nearest station: Heywood (2.7 km)
• 12 bus stops within ~½ mile

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

£211,022 average▲ 3.3% YoY

Across Rochdale · to 2026-08

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

£855 average monthly rent▲ 8.5% YoY

• 1 bed £622
• 2 bed £799
• 3 bed £960

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-08

6.1× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 6.1 times median annual pay (5.8× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

2,448 property sales in the last 12 months

12 months to May 2026

A busier or quieter market is not by itself good or bad. Monthly counts are small and volatile, so only the annual total is shown.

Source: HM Land Registry UK HPI, 12 months to 2026-05

• Cheapest petrol: 154.9p · Esso (6.1 km)
• Cheapest diesel: 186.9p · Esso (6.1 km)

27 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

83 charging locations within ~8 km

• 20 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
• Fastest nearby: 350 kW
• Nearest: MOTO Birch Westbound Services (0.3 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

• Sports centres1
• Swimming pools2
• Sports pitches22
• Golf courses1
• Playgrounds7

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

• Gold rush at North West in Bloom Awards· 3 Nov 2026
• Lest We Forget: borough comes together to reflect and remember· 27 Oct 2026
• Rochdale foster carers honoured for 465 years of dedicated service· 26 Oct 2026
• Wheels fall off for drivers who failed to stop for Heywood school crossing patrol· 23 Oct 2026
• Rochdale crowned Britain in Bloom champion after striking gold· 22 Oct 2026

Source: Rochdale Council

223,773 residents in Rochdale · 1,416/km²

• Under 16: 22%
• 16–64: 62%
• 65+: 16%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

• Moves in from elsewhere in the UK11,487
• Moves out to elsewhere in the UK10,792
• Net moves+695

Residential moves between local authorities (counts of moves, not people) · ONS Internal migration, YE Jun 2025

Among the most deprived areas in England

Ranked 19 of 296 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

31% of neighbourhoods are in England’s most deprived 10%

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025

£2,601 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band A (53% of 98,090)

Source: VOA council-tax stock · MHCLG band levels 2026-27

105 schools · 38,119 pupils

69 primary · 13 secondary · 23 other

Ofsted: 31 of 41 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (76%)

90 inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · Rochdale

224 CQC-registered services

• Care homes62
• GP practices46
• Dentists38
• Homecare agencies57
• Hospitals & hospices6

CQC ratings: 88% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 4 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Rochdale

• In a conservation area (Birch Village Conservation Area)
• Within the Green Belt
• 5 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (England)

161 applications decided

87.6% granted · 141 granted, 20 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q2

Mrs Elsie Blundell

Labour

Heywood and Middleton North

Source: UK Parliament

Labour majority

• Lab 31
• Con 7
• LD 3
• Ref 15
• Oth 4

Source: Open Council Data UK (CC BY-SA)

• Schools6
• GPs & clinics1
• Parks & greens29
• Restaurants & cafés9

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

8,360 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2026)

1 jobs advertised · £34,320 avg

e.g. Labourer

Source: Adzuna

£690 median full-time weekly pay

6% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£19,053 disposable income per head (2024)

Source: ONS / Nomis (claimant count · ASHE) · ONS regional GDHI

47% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: D · 105,798 certificates

12.8% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

Source: MHCLG EPC statistics · DESNZ sub-regional fuel poverty

72% low-carbon electricity

Nuclear 46% · Wind 25% · Gas 17% · Imports 11%

68 gCO₂/kWh · low intensity

Latest estimate for North West England · National Grid ESO

Life expectancy: 81.9 yrs women · 76.7 yrs men

Healthy life expectancy: 54.2 women · 53.8 men

68% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

• Life satisfaction7.2
• Feeling worthwhile7.6
• Happiness yesterday7.5
• Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)3.2

Average rating out of 10 · ONS personal well-being 2022-23

9 GP surgeries · 6 pharmacies in OL10

• Longford Street Medical Centre
• Heywood Health
• Hopwood Medical Centre

Source: NHS Organisation Data Service

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Heywood and Middleton North:

• Change surrogacy law to recognise intended parents from birth255 local signatures · 113,305 nationwide
• Launch a public inquiry into illegal migration in the UK162 local signatures · 78,478 nationwide
• Raise Human Rights Issues in Azad Kashmir with the Government of Pakistan 158 local signatures · 20,508 nationwide
• Protect legal right to support for children with SEND131 local signatures · 111,357 nationwide
• Provide lifelong vet care and financial support for retired service animals108 local signatures · 55,079 nationwide

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-10-05

• 
  Birch, Greater Manchester · 0.2 km

  Birch, also known as Birch-in-Hopwood, is a village 2⁄3 of a mile northwest of Middleton, Greater Manchester, England.

• 
  Birch Services · 0.4 km

  Birch Services is a motorway service station located on the M62 motorway between Junction 18 (M60) and Junction 19 Heywood, close to Rochdale and Bury. There are two sides to the service station, the Eastbound service…

• 
  Heywood and Middleton North · 1.1 km

  Heywood and Middleton North is a constituency in Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Elsie Blundell of the Labour Party.

• St Anne's Academy · 1.5 km

  St Anne's Academy is an 11–16 mixed comprehensive academy in Middleton area of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. The school has specialist status in Teaching and Learning. The…

• Newhouse Academy · 1.8 km

  Newhouse Academy is a coeducational secondary school located in Heywood, Greater Manchester, England.

• 
  Bowlee · 1.8 km

  Bowlee is a village in Greater Manchester, England. Bowlee is situated along the Heywood Old Road (A6045) on the outskirts of Middleton between Rhodes and Heywood. Historically it forms part of Lancashire.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)