New road to be named after Oldham’s first female GP

The new road, which will be named Olive Claydon Way, will run through the latest phase of the Hollinwood Junction scheme.

The £35m development, just off Junction 22 of the M60, is being run by a partnership between property company Langtree and the council and will include a drive-thru Costa Coffee store.

Dr Claydon,who lived from 1876 until 1916,  was the vice-president of the Oldham Society for Women's Suffrage and campaigned for the rights of women. She also worked to improve the lives of impoverished mothers and their babies by fighting for maternity centres and health visitors.

Cllr Arooj Shah, Oldham Council leader and cabinet member for economic and social reform, said: “Hollinwood Junction is a really exciting project which will create much-needed jobs, opportunities, homes and investment in Oldham.

“Olive Claydon Way is a fitting tribute to a fantastic local woman who for far too long has gone under the radar.

“The pandemic has made us all realise the importance of our amazing NHS and healthcare workers, and the difference we can all make by helping others. Olive dedicated her life to this and we’re really proud to call her an Oldhamer and put her name on the map.”

Olive Claydon Way is expected to open to traffic later this Autumn, ahead of Costa opening in the new year.

The new road is the second to be named after an Oldham suffragist. Earlier this year Lydia Becker Way opened at the Broadway Green regeneration site and a statue of suffragette Annie Kenney was unveiled in 2018 outside the flagship Old Town Hall development.

Hollinwood Junction is expected to create 760 jobs and incorporate retail, leisure, employment and up to 150 family homes on the former Kaskenmoor School site.

A Euro Garages development on the former Roxy Cinema site is already open and a redundant gas holder that has blighted the area for several years, has now been demolished, enabling the latest phase of the development to proceed.