the valley vision

The Valley Vision

To create a connected, creative, and sustainableValley by redefining the role of its Market Townsthrough a people based process of physical,symbolic and virtual change, building upon thetalents of the people and the quality of the built andnatural environment.

I am delighted to be able to introduce theRenaissance Vision for the Upper CalderValley. Its people have always been fiercelyindependent, enterprising and imaginativeand it was in these hills and valleys that the Industrial Revolution started, with the first moves from an agrarian to an industrial society.

Yorkshire Forward’s Renaissance Agenda has created a unique opportunity for all thecommunities and interest groups to cometogether to shape a new future for the Valley,which suffered so severely from job lossesthroughout the last century.

When I was asked to be the first Chair of theSteering Group, I was mindful of theimportance of the initiative being driven, notby the Council, but by local people.

The Council is pleased to be able to workalongside the Upper Calder Valley communityand to fulfil its role in providing local servicesand linking government strategies to promoteand deliver the economic, social andenvironmental wellbeing of the area.

The Council look forward to continuing towork in partnership with all the townships ofthe Valley and in this spirit we will ensure thatthe Vision of local people and businesses willbe realised - to provide a vibrant economy,sustainable development and an area inwhich we can all be proud to live and work.

I hope that as many people as possible willnow sign up to the Valley Charter andcontinue to work together to deliver theRenaissance Vision.

Councillor John HardyChair, Upper Calder Valley Steering Group

Regeneration Port folio HolderCalderdale Borough Council

A full list of Charter signatories will be recorded onthe Upper Calder Valley website: www.ucvr.com

The Renaissance Charter

1. Process

We, the people of the Upper Calder Valley, civicleaders and representatives of businesses,voluntary and community sectors, are jointlycommitted to the new Renaissance Vision for the Upper Calder Valley. We will establish aconnected, creative and sustainable Valley byredefining the role of its Market Towns through apeople-based process of physical, symbolic and virtual change that builds upon the talents ofthe people and the quality of the built and natural environment.

2. Built Environment

We will work together to value, protect andenhance our unique cultural and physical heritage.We will give top priority to the quality of the builtenvironment, to conservation of historic buildings,setting quality and sustainability thresholds for new build and refurbishment.

3. Valley Setting

We will conserve and enhance the Valley'senvironmental assets. We will ensure that thewooded landscape is extended and managed,and that the river and canal corridor is accessiblebut protected from inappropriate development.We will encourage and support a wide range ofsustainable rural activity, including bio-diversityand the development of traditional skills.

6. Farming and the Rural Economy

We are proud that our farmers have woventogether our natural and industrial landscapesthrough their skills, efforts and innovation overcenturies. We recognise their present economicplight and social isolation and commit ourselves tohelp them to fully participate in the rebuilding ofour local food, cultural and tourism economies.

7. Communication

We will encourage social wellbeing andcommunity cohesion by developing and deliveringan efficient communications network that willconnect people of the Valley to each other and tothe many facilities, services and products thatexist already, and which will be extended further.

8. Housing

We will work to maintain the unique diversity ofpopulation mix within the Valley and encouragethe promotion of town centre living, live-workaccommodation and the potential for sustainableand low-impact housing.

9. Getting About

We will pursue all the means at our disposal toreduce traffic levels in the Valley and to developintegrated transport arrangements that make

travel a pleasure. Walking, cycling, horse-riding,and water-borne travel will be promoted as a utilityas well as a leisure activity.

10. Sustainability

We will use sustainable principles (economic,social and environmental) as a basis for all futuredevelopments, respecting the best of the old butincorporating the best of modern technology andcreativity for the benefit of future generations.

11. Change

We agree to work together to achieve theRenaissance Vision, in partnership, not in conflictor competition. We will be tolerant, inclusive andrespect diversity. We will address the root causesof intolerance and alienation. We will be openminded to all ideas and educate each other aboutdecisions made.

12. Community Involvement

Above all, we will involve all sections of thecommunity irrespective of class, gender, race,religious belief, disability, age or sexuality in theprocess. We will continue to listen to the peopleof the Valley, as we work towards the delivery ofthe Renaissance in the years to come.

The Charter is a statement which sets out agreed common aims and promises. For the Charter to besuccessful it needs to be ‘owned’ and ‘signed up to’ by all sections of the community. In signing the Charter,the community agrees to work together towards a common objective and the new Vision for the future. TheCharter sets out the rights and privileges which the community claim in looking for a rebirth or renaissance ofthe Valley. Expressing the intentions of the community in the form of a Charter helps everyone measure futureproposals against its principles.

The Community’sCommitment to Change

We will improve valley links by enhancing the footpath and bridleway network, recognising andprotecting the variety of wildlife and scenery in the area.

4. Image and Marketing

We will take pride in all aspects of the Valley and be constantly striving for improvement.We will develop a Valley identity that is capable offlexibility. We will make it a place where visitorswill be welcomed but which will not be over-exploited for tourists. Natural and heritage riches will be promoted andcommunicated effectively to the wider world.We will dare to be different.

5. Business and Recreation

We will support the development of a thrivingbusiness base as well as a wide range of goodquality leisure and arts facilities. We will celebrateindividuality and encourage a wide range ofactivities for those of all ages and abilities,especially young people, who we want to stay tobe a part of the Valley's future. We will encourageinitiative and enterprise in the rural economyincluding manufacturing, service delivery, culturalactivity and countryside management. We willsupport local talent and promote the developmentand consumption of local produce and products.

• The Valley Vision• The Valley Charter• Introduction 01• Process 05• Context and History 09• Valley Strategy 13• The Valley Weft 17

- The Valley Setting 18- Farming and the Rural Economy 20- Tourism, Culture and Heritage 22- Business, Marketing and IT 24- Housing 26- Youth and Social Wellbeing 28

• The Valley Warp 31• The Five Towns 43• Walsden 51• Todmorden 53• Hebden Bridge 61• Mytholmroyd 69• Sowerby Bridge 77• The Flying Shuttle 85• Acknowledgments 88

Contents

This document is a record of the first 12 months of the Renaissance process in the UpperCalder Valley. It includes the Vision, Charter and Masterplans for the Valley together withsummaries of the Strategic Aims and Actions that have been developed by the Action Groups.Further details of work completed can be found on the Upper Calder Valley RenaissanceWebsite (www.ucvr.com). A detailed feasibility study for the Transformational Projects in each ofthe five towns has been commissioned by Yorkshire Forward and the Valley Team is nowfinalising the Investment Plan for the Valley.

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 1Introduction

Introduction

Yorkshire Forward is the Regional DevelopmentAgency for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Renaissance Market Towns is a new approachcommissioned by Yorkshire Forward to ensure thatmarket towns within the region have a clear,long term vision of their economic future.

In rural areas of Yorkshire, market towns have an important function as service centres andemployment providers for rural hinterlands.

The Renaissance Market Towns programme willhelp to:

• Improve the attractiveness and quality of lifeof a market town through the provision ofappropriate housing, transport services and aquality public environment, encouraging andretaining economic activity in rural areas.

• Create an economically and socially vibranttown that will retain the younger generationwhose exodus to cities seriously threatenseconomic diversification, social balance andfuture sustainability.

• Establish effective Town Teams with the skillsand knowledge to deliver an agreedInvestment Plan.

• Boost the economic performance of townsand create the right conditions for localbusinesses to establish and grow.

• Enable small towns to act as more effective‘local capitals’ for their rural catchments.

• Create ambitious but achievable Town Visionsor Charters based on a shared understandingof needs and opportunities for residents,workers, businesses and visitors. These arethen translated into Masterplans andInvestment Plans for implementation.

Renaissance Market Towns

The Upper Calder Valley is the first of YorkshireForwards’ Renaissance Market Towns projectsand was launched in January 2003.

Left: Todmorden Town Hall

Yorkshire Forward has appointed a multi-disciplinary panel of consultants - the RuralRenaissance Panel - that includes leadingpractitioners in the fields of masterplanning,urban design, traffic and transportation, economicdevelopment, marketing, information technology,landscape, housing, art and culture, tourism andrural affairs.

John Thompson & Partners were appointed inDecember 2002 as lead consultant for the UpperCalder Valley. Since then, they have been workingclosely with Yorkshire Forward, CalderdaleBorough Council, the local communities and otherPanel members to produce a long-term Vision anddelivery strategy for the renaissance of the Valley.

The Renaissance Market Towns approach has aseries of key outputs.

VisionThe guiding statement of where a communitywants to be.

CharterThe principles that the community agrees to bebound by, setting out common aims andcommitments.

MasterplansA series of two dimensional representations as tohow the physical and environmental shape oftowns and villages should be guided and directedover time.

Investment PlanAn investment plan of prioritised projects that overtime will play a critical role in delivering the Vision.

Town TeamOne of the key outcomes of the process is thecreation of a Town Team.

The Town Team is a proactive partnership,representing the public, private and communitysectors. It will play a pivotal role in delivering theRenaissance and is a team of people who arepassionate in wanting to drive forward change.

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 3Introduction

Rural Renaissance Panel

“ This is themost ambitiousinterventionplanned so farin the UpperCalder Valley...its a realcommitment toregenerationbased on along termVision ratherthan the shortterm initiat ivesof the past"

Andy Tordoff,Head of RuralRenaissanceand Tourism,YorkshireForward

Renaissance Market Towns

The Valley ForumFrom its informal beginnings, the Renaissanceprocess has now developed a formal structure.The Valley Forum moves monthly between the fivetowns and is open to anyone to attend who bothsigns the Charter and supports the principles ofthe Upper Calder Valley Renaissance. It is a ‘can-do’ forum for the exchange of ideas, providing aplatform for the Valley Action Groups to report onprogress and for the Valley Steering Group toprovide guidance and direction.

The Valley TeamThe Valley Team has been created from theexisting Town Partnerships (Todmorden Pride,Hebden Royd Partnership, Royd Regenerationand the Sowerby Bridge Forum) and the valleywide Action Groups that have emerged throughthe process: The Valley Setting; Farming and theRural Economy; Tourism, Culture and Heritage;Business, Marketing and IT; Housing; Youth andSocial Wellbeing; Getting About and the FlyingShuttle. The Action Groups are responsible fordeveloping and delivering their own Investment Plans.

The Valley Steering GroupIn addition to one nomination from each of theexisting Action Groups, the Steering Groupincludes one representative from each of theTown Partnerships and one representative fromthe business and environmental communities, theLocal Strategic Partnership, Calderdale BoroughCouncil and the Town and Parish Councils. Amaximum of six additional members can be co-opted.

Upper Calder Valley Renaissance

Upper Calder Valley RenaissanceAt December 2003 it has been agreed to formallyconstitute the Valley Steering Group as a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee andanswerable to its members (the CharterSignatories). The company will be called UpperCalder Valley Renaissance and will operate fromoffices in Hebden Bridge, provided by CalderdaleBorough Council.

"Our policies,programmes,and structuresof governanceare based onengaging localpeople inpartnershipsfor change"

John Prescott,Deputy PrimeMinister

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 5Process

Process

To date, the Upper Calder Valley Renaissanceprocess has involved more than 2,000 people. Theprogramme involved a wide range of ActionPlanning processes and was designed to ensurethat the widest cross section of the valleypopulation was involved.

Action Planning EventsThese events, open to everyone, were held in thefive major settlements within the Valley during thespring of 2003 in Walsden, Todmorden, HebdenBridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge.

What Happened?The aim of these Town Workshops was to explorethe towns and their surrounding countryside and to discover together the issues affecting eachof the individual areas. During the day there werea series of walkabouts and bus trips in andaround the towns and villages. These werefollowed by Hands-on Planning sessions wheresmall groups worked together around maps toexplore ideas in more detail. In the evening therewas a Future Workshop that identified keystrategic issues and actions.

Outreach ConsultationAs well as the Action Planning Events, numerousother workshops and meetings were held inschools and with individuals, community groups,farmers, key organisations and property owners to ensure that as many people as possible in theValley were involved in developing ideas for its future.

Valley Participation

“ We’ve nevercome togetheras a Valleybefore ”

Report BacksThe results of the individual Town Workshopswere then summarised in the form of long-termVisions and Masterplans for the towns and theirsurroundings. These were presented back to thepublic during April and May.

The Bringing it All Together WeekendThe Bringing it All Together Weekend was held inJune. A wide cross section of the people of theUpper Calder Valley worked together withrepresentatives from key organisations andadditional Yorkshire Forward Rural Panelmembers to explore in more detail the key issuesand actions that had emerged from the earlierevents.

Weekend Report BackThe Weekend culminated in a Report Back on 8July, held in the Sunday School in Mytholmroyd.The results of the Weekend, including theemerging Charter, Vision, and the Aims,Objectives and Actions for each of the TopicGroups, were presented.

The Valley Forum, Team and Steering GroupSince June, the Valley Forum has met monthly,open to anybody to attend. The Action Groupshave come together as The Valley Team fromwhich a Steering Group has now been formed,to be formally constituted as Upper Calder Valley Renaissance.

Since December 2002 the process hasinvolved over 2000 people and generatedover 10,000 hours of Community Planning

5 Action Planning Events; 4 Young People’sWorkshops; 5 Farmer’s Meetings; Bringing It AllTogether Weekend; 4 Report Back Presentations;6 Valley Forums; 5 Steering Group Meetings;50 Action Group Meetings; 8 Property Owner’sWorkshops; Numerous meetings with organisationsand individuals and daily e-mails and telephone calls

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 7Process

Town Workshops and the Bringing it All Together Weekend The Twelve Month Process

At the initiation of the Renaissance process,Action Planning Workshops were held in each ofthe five major settlements.

The Bringing it All Together Weekend focused onvalley wide issues, simultaneously creating theVision and Charter.

The twelve month Renaissance process startedwith informal contacts with known groups andorganisations, and a valley wide communicationsprogramme. From locally orientated events ineach of the five towns, the whole Valley was thenbrought together at a five day CommunityPlanning Weekend, working in groups to exploretopic-based issues in more detail, supported byspecialist consultants from the Rural Renaissance Panel.

“ We never knewthe potential ofall the othertowns”

Held together by the collective consensusembedded in the Vision and the Charter, it wasthen possible to move towards more formalparticipatory structures, driven by the ActionGroups and culminating in the formal constitutionof the Valley Steering Group as Upper CalderValley Renaissance (UCVR); a not-for-profitcompany, limited by guarantee and answerable toits member, the Charter signatories.

Developing

Owning

Managing

Deciding

Campaigning

Knowledge

Education

Dialogue

Information

The Ladder of Participation

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 9Context and History

Context and History

The Upper Calder Valley lies in the Pennine fringeof West Yorkshire, strategically situated betweentwo National Parks - the Yorkshire Dales and PeakDistrict to the north and south, and the twomassive conurbations of Leeds and Manchesterto the east and west.

The Valley has five principal settlements: Walsdenthe most westerly, Todmorden, Hebden Bridge,Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge to the east. TheValley is well connected to Manchester and Leeds,two of the largest cities in the North, and is closeto the smaller cities and towns of Halifax,Huddersfield, Burnley and Bradford.

The Upper Calder Valley has good train links withLeeds and Manchester and from there to the Eastand West Coast main lines. Journey times vary from28 minutes to 1 hour depending which end of theValley is the starting point. Road links are alsogood, particularly to the M62 which connects theeast and west coasts; the nearest internationalairport is Manchester, only 45 minutes away.

Yorkshire is becoming one of the fastest growingeconomic areas of the United Kingdom. TheValley’s position at its heart, plus its attractivecountryside and dramatic setting, makes it anincreasingly desirable place to live, work, invest andvisit.

Walsden

Todmorden

HebdenBridge

Mytholmroyd

Sowerby Bridge

Burnley Leeds

Manchester

Halifax

Huddersfield

Poles of influence

Sphere of influence

The Upper Calder Valley

Burnley Leeds

Manchester

Halifax

Huddersfield

Regional Context

Upper Calder Valley

York

“ Towns andCities werebuilt forexchange ”

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 11Context and History

1. The Early HomesteadsFrom the Middle Ages small homesteads weremostly situated on shoulders of flatter land on thevalley sides between the heavily forested andmarshy valley bottom and the open moorland ofthe tops. It was a struggle for farmers to live offfarming alone so handloom weaving was used tosupplement their income.

The weaving industry developed and villages suchas Heptonstall, Luddenden and Sowerby grew uparound the homesteads on the valley sides.Weaving was a cottage industry with groups ofpeople working from home yet sharing commonamenities. Fulling mills were established on thefast flowing brooks and tributaries of the Calder;supplies and produce were carried betweenvillages by packhorses along the tops, descendingoccasionally to cross the Valley. Smallersettlements grew up on the valley floor, whereoften an inn was built beside a crossing point onthe River Calder. This was the case at HebdenBridge, Mytholmroyd, Todmorden and SowerbyBridge.

2. Industrialisation The Merchant Clothiers in the late 16th and early17th century organised the domestic industry anddeveloped extensive overseas markets to initiate aperiod of great prosperity. Growing marketsprovided the spur for technological innovation andthe wealth accumulated financed the new factorysystem of production. In 1733 John Kay inventedthe Flying Shuttle which revolutionised both theweaving process and the textile industry. It wasthe combination of the Flying Shuttle and therevolution in transportation at the end of the 18thcentury that led to the rapid industrialtransformation of the Valley.

The turnpike road was the first proper route alongthe valley bottom and was built in 1761. However,it was the canal, which was opened in 1804, whichcould for the first time supply cheap coal to thesteam-powered mills built on the valley floor. Therailway, completed in 1841, enabled the finishedtextiles to be taken from the mills and quicklytransported to their final destination.

3. ProsperityTowns rapidly grew up around the large new millson the valley floor, especially at Todmorden,Hebden Bridge and Sowerby Bridge. At the sametime, the smaller villages on the valley sides declined.

Homesteads whose income had been supportedby hand weaving could not compete withindustrialisation.

Whole populations moved down the Valley to thenew settlements and the large mills on the valleyfloor. Industry grew along and across the Valleyduring the mid to late 19th century and the townscontinued to expand. At its peak the Valley wasexporting textiles to much of Europe and theBritish Empire. Rich mill owners not only builtbigger and more impressive mills but were alsoresponsible for the construction of imposing civicand religious buildings in the towns.

4. DeclineIn the period between the wars, 345,000 workersin the UK left the cotton industry alone and 800mills closed due to the rise in competition fromabroad and declining foreign markets for locallyproduced textiles. During the 1960s and 70s thecountry was importing more textiles than it wasexporting and mills were closing at the rate of onea week. The Valley suffered a rapid decline inpopulation as workers left to find work elsewhere.In towns such as Todmorden, the populationhalved.

During the 1970s many incomers came to settle inareas of the Valley, taking advantage of cheapproperty prices. Some of these started newbusinesses in the Valley or commuted to thenearest cities. The economic growth of Leeds andManchester in recent years has helped toincrease the demand for new homes in the Valley.New housing is being built wherever possible andproperty prices have risen sharply in many, but notall, areas of the Valley.

Homesteads located on the valley sides The industrial transformation of the valley floor Decline and time of changeThe growth of the towns

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The Valley of Ideas

The Upper Calder Valley is a cultural landscape of international significance. If necessity is the

mother of invention, this Valley is the embodiment of the resulting infant. Impoverished medieval

farmers struggling with sour Pennine soils and harsh weather developed a dual economy of domestic

manufacturing and subsistence smallholding. They were among the first societies in the world to make

the wholesale transition from an agrarian to an industrial way of life, inventing the factory system of

production and kick starting a revolution which radically changed the entire world. Local skills, local

raw materials of wool, water power and steam, coupled with the ingenuity and enterprise of local

merchants created the products, the markets and the wealth which under-pinned investment in

technology and fired this worldwide phenomenon.

Like the waters which powered its early steps this initiative has long since slipped from the hills to

more accommodating sites elsewhere, first in this country and then overseas.This demands a re-

evaluation of the resources needed to sustain this Valley and its people. And today’s resources are

not unconnected with those of the past. They are the very history and heritage of that first great

upheaval, coupled again with the traditions, ingenuity and enterprise of those who live here, all set

within this very dramatic landscape which shapes the character of the area. As before, the Upper

Calder Valley is not for those who seek a soft life – but attracts those of vision, enterprise and

creativity, as it ever did. The great man-made cultural landscape which is the Calder Valley in turn

provokes and prompts a vast outpouring of cultural and creative activity, both traditional and

contemporary, artistic and technological.

The Valley of Ideas, to those who choose to live here, to work here or to visit the area, is a magical

place. Landscape and environment, cultural and leisure opportunities, image and quality of life are

resources to be developed and exploited – exploited with care and forethought – just as much as wool

and waterpower were in the past.

This is the Upper Calder Valley Renaissance theme song, to bring together the creative energies of

the remarkable people who live here, to gather together the divergent, emerging activities, and to

package them into a prosperous local economy, sustained by the quality of its setting.

David E. Fletcher

Deputy Chair, The Upper Calder Valley Steering Group

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 13The Valley Strategy

The Valley Strategy

The people and their Valley were once woventogether in a seamless, sustainable relationship.

The Valley shaped the form of its settlements andmoulded the cultural and economic life of itspeople to its contours. The people cared for theValley and were dependent upon it. Through nofault of their own, this harmonious relationshipwas then eroded by external forces.

The results of this erosion are still there for all to see:

• The Valley’s Town Halls (even where notalready cut in half) no longer represent theunique combination of civic and merchantpower that once created them

• The Valley’s Markets, once inextricablyentwined with the Valley’s rural economy, nowsell goods imported from China for less than a pound

• The Valley’s Farmers can no longer farm,brought to their knees by globalisation andirrational decisions imposed from afar

• The Valley’s Floor has been invaded by largefootprint sheds occupying valuable land andchoking the Valley’s Arteries with their lorries

• The Valley’s Road is a dangerous andpolluting eyesore; the Valley’s River threatensto flood and has long been neglected; theValley’s Railway provides the most basic ofservices and its Canal, although reopened,still awaits the realisation of its full potential.

The Valley of Ideas

Yet behind these lingering images of decline,the Renaissance of the Valley has already begun.For many years it has attracted people withentrepreneurial and alternative lifestyles. A recentlypublished survey identified over 900 localbusinesses in the creative sector - more per capitathan to be found in Leeds. It is already clear thatthe economic prosperity of the Valley will be builtaround the clustering of interdependent andcreative industries.

Whilst this new economic sector grows, the Valleycontinues to lose traditional jobs as old mills andfactories close, ripe for conversion to satisfy theneeds of the incoming retired and professionalcommuters who may have little interest in the Valley beyond its convenient location. To combatthis effect, the Valley Strategy must nurture theneeds of its traditional workforce, through theprovision of higher levels of education andtechnical and professional skills, matched by thecreation of a wider range of housing opportunities.

Regeneration is driven by economic success,supported by a high quality of life in all its various forms: social, cultural and environmental.The Upper Calder Valley has these ingredients in abundance. Its Renaissance will be built on theheritage of its past and the talents of its people.

Where once its economic expression was built onthe exchange of goods and produce, its future isnow being built, and will continue to be built, on theexchange of intellectual property.

The Valley of Cloth is becoming the Valley of Ideas.

“ I t ’s the firs ttime we’vebeen askedto think long-term ”

The Five TownsIn each of the major settlements and for thehinterlands they serve, enterprise and ingenuitywill be nurtured through the creation of a 21stCentury Marketplace, a place for exchange,congregation, fertilisation and facilitation in everyshape and form: physical, social, cultural, spiritual,economic and virtual.

In Todmorden, the existing Marketplace will befurther enhanced, in Hebden and Sowerby Bridgethey will be relocated and in Mytholmroyd a newMarket Town will be created.

The Flying ShuttleThe Flying Shuttle is a conceptual project,symbolising the weaving together of the warp andthe weft of the Upper Calder Valley in aninterconnected series of physical, environmental,cultural, social, spiritual and virtual projects; somevisible, some invisible.

Just as the Flying Shuttle revolutionised theweaving process in the late 18th century, movingfaster than the eye could see to bring economicprosperity to the Valley, so will its 21st centuryequivalent give collective expression to the qualityand creativity of the Valley and its communities.

Marking the Valley will give physical expression tothe Flying Shuttle, a public art project that willcreate eleven Renaissance Way Stations on thetops of the Valley. Just as the Flying Shuttlecarried yarn, so Marking the Valley will allow‘shuttles’ to carry light, sound and messages from side to side across the Valley and down intothe towns themselves. It has the potential tobecome the largest permanent public art project in the world

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 15The Valley Strategy

The Valley WeftThe Valley Weft represents everything that bindsthe Valley together, connecting people andlandscape through common purpose and common function.

From along the tops and down to the valley floor,from east to west and from north to south, theRenaissance of the Valley will be created from the unique combination of its human and natural heritage.

Action Groups have already come together todeliver the Renaissance of the Valley in terms ofits setting, rural economy, tourism, culture andheritage, creative and small businesses, marketingand information technologies (IT), housing, youthand social wellbeing.

The Valley WarpThe Valley Warp is made up from the horizontalthreads that run along the valley floor: the river,the canal, the road and the railway. Due to thenarrowness of the Valley, these four elements arealready woven together. Some would say theyare, as yet, merely knotted together by historicalcoincidence, rather than by any newfound senseof purpose that could beneficially weave theValley together again.

Given that their control lies beyond the boundariesof the Valley, their Renaissance will need to beframed within a much wider context, and maytherefore be more difficult to deliver.

Walsden Todmorden Hebden Bridge Mytholmroyd Sowerby Bridge

The Valley Weft

The Valley Warp

The Five Towns

The Flying Shuttle

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 17The Valley Weft

The Valley Weft

IntroductionThe Valley Weft binds everything in the Valleytogether – creating social, economic, physical andenvironmental connectivity.

During the five Town Workshops issues emergedthat were common to all the Valley. At the Bringingit All Together Weekend in June, groups of peoplewith similar interests worked together to explorethese topic-based issues in more detail, supportedby additional consultants from Yorkshire Forward’sRural Renaissance Panel.

Action Groups were then formed to identify priority projects and the actions needed to deliverthem. The main work of the Action Groups andthe Steering Group through the Spring of 2004 willbe to further develop and refine these actions andcreate an Investment Plan that will deliver theRenaissance of the Upper Calder Valley as a whole.

This section of the document has been written bythe Action Groups in collaboration with JohnThompson & Partners and contains a shortsummary of the groups’ strategies and keyprojects. More detailed Action Plans have been (orare being) developed by each of the ActionGroups who are now prioritising projects andidentifying when and how they will beimplemented and by whom. These Action Planswill then be brought together as part of the UpperCalder Valley Investment Plan.

Weaving it all together

"There are somany crosscutting themes... I want to bein everygroup!"

Left: The Warp, the Weft and

the Flying Shuttle


The Valley SettingSustainabilitySustainability is the thread which will run throughall of the valley initiatives, weaving them togetherto deliver a true Renaissance. Sustainability willbe delivered through the integration of socialprogress and economic development with theenhancement of the valley setting and the use ofrenewable energy. Social progress must promotebetter health, housing and access to work andrecreation and address problems of poverty andsocial inclusion. Economic development mustcontribute to, and not destroy, quality of life whilstdeveloping local skills and jobs. Enhancement ofthe valley setting will protect things that peoplevalue, such as wildlife, landscape and historicbuildings. The use of renewable energy will helpto ensure that there is a planet left for futuregenerations to enjoy.

StrategyTo integrate the Renaissance Strategy to form onecohesive plan, simultaneously filling in gaps andoverlooked areas of action. To create an overviewof linkages and impacts and to work alongside theValley Action Groups.

The Valley SettingThe beauty of the Calder Valley is a result of itsgeology and topography and more recently theinteraction between its natural state and the waypeople have sought to utilise it. The Valley drawspeople from far and wide to enjoy the countrysideand experience the beauty of both its natural andindustrial heritage. The challenges that areinherent in living, working and playing in a ‘tourist’valley are multitudinous. Whilst local peoplerecognise the value of their environment and wantto share it with others the pressures that are

Actions • Gather data, conduct audits and character

assessments, and map areas appropriate forwork, e.g. degraded land, river regime,condition of open space, access issues,woodland suitable for biomass, etc.

• Prioritise actions that arise from audit andliaise with relevant parties.

• Develop a valley wide sustainable landmanagement strategy, ensuring integration ofkey valley users.

• Facilitate network of concerned parties andimplement strategies.

Renewable Energy

StrategyTo establish an Upper Calder Valley RenewableEnergy Network.

Aims• Encourage the take up of green energy

technologies in the Upper Calder Valley • Provide information, support and training• Combat fuel poverty by enabling low income

households to access renewable energies• Establish best practice to act as a beacon for

other users to follow• Use renewables as the engine to drive the

social, economic and environmentalregeneration of communities across the Valley

• Enable group buying of equipment andservices and maximise community benefits.

created through changes in land use and therequirement to provide acceptable levels of growthcan equally be the cause of its degradation.

The settlements that lie along the valley bottom aredisconnected from each other and equally from thesmaller hamlets that are clustered on the tops. Eachhave their own individual identity that must besupported yet it is essential that the Upper CalderValley as a whole finds an identity that is allencompassing, inclusive and co-operative.

StrategyTo nurture a living, working landscape for peopleand nature, representing the Valley and the tops; tocreate an overview of the impacts of valley wideactions and provide an understanding of linkagesand impacts the length of the Valley; to workalongside and integrate the ideas generated by theValley Action Groups.

Aims• Identify existing actions and gaps and create a

Valley identity that can be recognised by all wholive in it

• Develop a land management programme toconserve and enhance the Valley’s best features

• Recognise the value of the water corridor anddevelop it sensitively for both today and thefuture

• Improve access to the valley bottom creatinglinks between the individual settlements by foot,cycle and horseback

• Preserve and improve the biodiversity andecology of the whole Valley

• Utilise and protect existing buildings of quality inan environmentally sustainable manner.

Actions1. To carry out a valley wide energy audit2. To develop a valley wide energy strategy3. To work with existing planning policy and to

implement regional strategies and targets forrenewable energy

4. To create a one-stop shop for communitygroups, individuals and businesses

5. To create Neighbourhood Energy Plans.

Walsden

Todmorden

HebdenBridge

Mytholmroyd

Sowerby Bridge

Improving the valley

corridor

Promote riparian

woodland along the

Calder and tributaries

Encourage

management of

existing clough

woodland

"To be tru lysustainable wemust maximisethe exchangewhilstminimising thedistance"

“ I f we learn tolook after theValley... theValley will lookafter us”


Farming and the Rural EconomyIntroductionThe strategy for Farming and the Rural Economyhas evolved out of the series of Valley eveningfarming meetings organised by the local NationalFarmers Union and the Grass Roots FoodNetwork.

StrategyTo support the sustainable Renaissance of theUpper Calder Valley’s rural economy through localfood and community based, collaborative action;practical demonstration, marketing andcommunication and the reconnection of localpeople in the urban valley floor to the rural topsand sides.

Linking Outcomes and Tasks to StrategicObjectivesIn the process of planning a deliverableprogramme for the Farming and Rural EconomyGroup (FARE) it became apparent that thevarious outcomes must be delivered in anintegrated way. Projects should not be seen inisolation. They must also make sense within, andcontribute to, the overall Upper Calder ValleyRenaissance programme. The linked objectivesand outcomes are as described in the diagramand the tasks are detailed below.

Creating a Cost-Effective, AccountableDelivery MechanismA team of known, local, available, short termconsultants with management and administrativeskills should be brought together. They wouldthen work in a team context on specific tasks,within a matrix management framework of definedtasks and responsibilities. Each person wouldhave a sound track record in ‘doing’ rather than‘discussing’, being already professionally engagedin this type of work in the local region.

2. Farm and community renewable energy schemesDevelop cost-effective water, wind, short coppiceand solar renewable energy schemes capable ofgenerating additional farm income, knitting thefarming community into the valley wide conurbation,with shared benefits and full involvement ofparticipating farmers.

3. Locally grown niche and alternative field crops Link the growing demand for ‘ethnic’ foods withprofitable production by demonstrating field scaleoperational success with local farmers, retailedlocally and sold wholesale regionally to reducedependence on variable livestock prices.

Actions

Revitalising Local Producer/Consumer FoodChain through ‘Action Pilots’ and Marketing

1. Local and sub-regional food brandingCreate a premium ‘Valley Brand’ accreditationscheme for local food and actively promote it bothwithin and beyond Calderdale in liaison withrelevant agencies and farmers, so that producers,consumers and retailers value the label andproduct association.

2. Direct local supplies of foodEstablish dynamic and evolving local purchasingpartnerships between producers and across publicprocurement and business sectors to benefit localproducers and consumers and increase trade inquality, sustainable local produce to drive themarket.

3. Modernise collaborative retail chainRe-establish a fully functioning, ‘short link’ localfood supply chain in the Valley, capable ofhandling produce of all types from ‘farm gate’ tothe retailer and consumer, reducing ‘food miles’,bolstering retained local income and improvingprocessing facilities.

Creating New/Added Value Local Food andFarming Enterprises

1. Farm, school and community fruit andvegetable pilotEstablish on-going, practical farming, educationaland community action that creates widerinvolvement in the production of food in the Valley,introduces modern production innovation anddemonstrates profitable new cropping and added-value processing.

Renewing Traditional Landscape and Husbandry 1. Upper Calder catchment biodiversity and valleysides wildlife enhancementWork directly with local farmers and relevantagencies to create wildlife ‘farm clusters’ and‘corridors’, linking diversity-rich habitats andreserves and increasing appropriately-sited treecover, with full participation of involved farmers, localpeople and schools.

2. Sustainable small scale local stone quarryingIncrease the profitable quarrying and marketing oflocal stone for local development construction andpublic realm projects.

3. Farm based walls, drainage and bridleways repairprogrammes Revitalise and value the farming community’straditional skills of land management and husbandry,enhancing the visual amenity and quality of thevalley shoulder and moor tops, the unique visitorexperience and the heritage of the locality.

Remobilising and Reconnecting LocalCommunities1. Creative links through the Flying ShuttleCreating ongoing dialogue and practicalcollaborations with other Action Groups,communities and schools; reinforcing cross-cutting,‘Flying Shuttle’ themes; creatively linking local food,farming and the rural economy to the widerRenaissance of the Valley.

2. Good practice disemminationProduce digital and audio-visual material forpublicity, training and broadcasting, highlightingsuccesses, lessons learnt and methods proven,linked to secondary curriculum, employment creationand overall Renaissance marketing.

CREATING NEW/ADDED VALUELOCAL FOOD ENTERPRISES

REMOBILISING & RECONNECTINGLOCAL COMMUNITY NETWORKS

REVITALISING LOCALPRODUCER/CONSUMER FOOD

CHAIN THROUGH ‘ACTION PILOTS’& MARKETING

Copyright Aridlands and Sustainable Communities Trust 2003

UPPERCATCHMENT AND

VALLEY SIDESBIODIVERSITY

ENHANCED

FARM WALLSDRAINAGESYSTEMS

FOOTPATHSREPAIRED

SUSTAINABLELOCAL STONEQUARRYING/MARKETING

REVITALISED

NICHE / ETHNIC‘ALTERNATIVE’FIELD CROPSINTRODUCED

ON-FARM /COMMUNITYRENEWABLE

ENERGYSCHEMES

INSTALLED

FARM / SCHOOLCOMMUNITYPROTECTEDFRUIT & VEG

PILOTED

SUB-REGIONALLOCAL FOOD

BRANDINGESTABLISHED

DIRECT LOCALFOOD MARKETING

TO RETAIL,SCHOOLS, HOTELS,

TOURISMPILOTED

COLLABORATIVEPRODUCER/

SLAUGHTERERPROCESSOR

RETAILER CHAINMODERNISED

RENEWING TRADITIONALLANDSCAPE/HUSBANDRY PRACTICES

DIGITAL A/VDOCUMENTATIONDISSEMINATION

OF GOODPRACTICE

ONGOINGCREATIVE LINKS

TO OTHER GROUPSTHRO’

FLYING SHUTTLE.

WEBSITE /DIRECTORY

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“ We want tobuy local food...and to have itfor schooldinners ! ”

“ We’re proudthat over thecenturies we’vemade thisbeautifullandscape,grown localfood for ourchildren andkept them inthe Valley withjobs... use usor loose us!”


Tourism, Culture and HeritageIntroductionThe Tourism, Culture and Heritage Group is madeup of a cross section of people representing manydiverse elements of social activity. Joint workingacross localities creates many challengingopportunities. Our guiding principle is to facilitateintegration within, across and between the ActionGroups. There is a strong desire to seeempathetic developmental change across andwithin the five towns, whilst valuing the uniquesignificance creative and cultural activities bring tothe Renaissance of the Upper Calder Valley.

Effective communication is essential. It is clearthat time and enthusiasm, freely given, is bestserved by the open and transparent transmissionof ideas into policy and practice at all levels.

Social ownership will best be achieved throughfeedback on the progress of the Action Groupsand the sharing of lessons learned.

StrategyTo promote an integrated strategy for creative andcultural activities, tourism and heritage for theUpper Calder Valley.

To promote an identity for the Upper Calder Valleywhich will best express its unique qualities in thearts, physical landscape and cultural heritage,which grows out of the historic and contemporarylife of the people living and working in the Valley.

To work towards celebrating ‘The Cultural Valley’by including all the human and physical elements

5. Marketing StrategyDevelop a marketing strategy which covers alltypes of tourism, cultural and recreationalopportunities and promote the Valley as:

• a place that is green, sustainable and selfsufficient with clean air, clean water and safefood: ‘The Valley of Wellbeing’

• a place of recreation where visitors canchoose their own speed - slow walking, fastmountain biking: “The Fast and Slow Valley”

• a place for celebrating a wide range of foods,therapies, local history, arts and crafts and thecelebrated literary connections with the ArvonFoundation, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath:‘The Valley of Culture’.

6.Cultural and Tourism AuditCarry out an audit of current cultural and tourismassets and planned activities; identify what culturalprovision is available, where, when and how it isdelivered; identify what forms of culture areavailable in terms of participation for artists,young people, craft makers, visitors and thecommunity as a whole and create a database ofaccommodation, places to eat, farms, hotels andregistered private providers.

7. Tourism Development Officer.Encourage the local authority to recognise theimportance of tourism and reinstate a TourismDevelopment Officer.

found there such as: people of varying culturaland ethnic backgrounds, professional andamateur artists from all fields; music, visual arts,performance arts, creative writing, sculpture, craftsincluding ceramics, glassmakers and many more.

To create a place of recreation where visitors andresidents may choose from a range of outdooractivities to suit their needs and special interestsincluding: sporting activities for individuals andgroups across the full age range; boating andcanal barges; horse-riding; mountain biking;walking; workshops in visual arts, stone carvingand the industrial landscape.

Actions

1. Set up a Creative Industries Network to developopportunities for collaboration within and betweencreative businesses in the Upper Calder Valley, toincrease awareness, foster joint activities and offersupport to local initiatives.

2. Create an exciting, unified identity for the fivetowns for marketing strategies in order to developand encourage active participation.

3. Create the ‘Five Town Festival of Ideas’Promoting a cross-cultural identity for the UpperCalder Valley and facilitating funding opportunities.

4. Branding Create and promote a brand name for the UpperCalder Valley.

"The Valley ofStories... theValley ofCulture... theValley ofEverything!"


Business, Marketing and ITIntroductionThe Business, Marketing and IT Group recognisesthe mutual reliance of small, creative businessesin the Valley, their importance to the marketing ofthe Valley as a whole and the need to moreeffectively network their businesses and theirmarketing efforts through a solid and progressivecommunications structure.

StrategyThe Group deliberately, and rightly, views ‘creative’as being more than simply the commonlyidentified creative industries (although the UpperCalder Valley has abundant talent in these areas).It takes the concept forward into creative ways ofdoing and evolving business and of managing therelationship between live/work goals andoutcomes. The exploration of progressive andradical business models, lifestyle mixes and theirrelation to tangible, intangible and communitybenefits is a strong feature of valley life.

The Group recognises that whilst the UpperCalder Valley currently has limited large scalebusiness, and that there is little scope for thedevelopment of major single employer businesses,it has a wealth of individuals and small teams,often homeworking or tucked away in non-mainstream premises, many of whom are able tocommand international recognition in their chosenfields.

The Group therefore seeks to provideopportunities for these elements to come together,both physically and virtually, in a way that willallow partnerships and alliances to form, grow andbenefit from each other’s strengths. It seeks tofind ways of bringing together individual power

3. Virtual NetworkingTo be carried out through the creation of commoncommunications infrastructures and informationsystems. A high penetration local ‘geographical’intranet should be established to provide a basisfor future local autonomy in managing low costdata and other telecommunications.

4. Database Creation and ConsolidationA creative industries database, nearing releasefrom Leeds University, should be integrated withskills and business databases planned by, orexpected to emerge, and then widely distributed.

5. Calder Connect Co-operative (3-C)3-C has already launched as the communityowned, not-for-profit, broadband supplier for theUpper Calder Valley, with the future potential tosupply a wide range of data andtelecommunications services.

6. Expansion of a Green Real Estate Environment The expansion of a green real estate environmentfor business and the creation of an international‘Distributed’ Centre for Creative Working andLiving are two longer term projects prioritised bythe Group.

sources, already shining brightly in their ownspecialist fields and allowing them to connecttogether to light up whole areas of activity anddevelopment, creating a ‘Flying Shuttle ofEnterprise’ that constantly traverses the Valleyfrom side to side, binding the warp and wefttogether.

Actions

1. Network HubsCreate a networking infrastructure for the Valleywhich is both physical and virtual, throughcreating a series of multi-purpose, multimediacentres along the length of the Valley, the first fourlocated in the main market towns: Todmorden,Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd.These centres will provide flexible space forworkshop, small office and virtual office use,together with exhibition, performance and digitalmini-theatre capability.

These hubs will support existing and emergingbusinesses offering a showcase, a focal point fornetworking and business advice and supportservices. They will be connected by highbandwidth communications, allowing multi-siteevents to take place. The hubs to be establishedwithin the sequence of 21st Century Marketplacesthat will be created along the Valley.

2. Business ‘Federation’ Launch EventThis event to be held early in 2004 allowingbusiness people to travel freely up and down theValley on shuttle buses to meet their peers at anumber of social locations, to be linked bywebcam to allow inter-site interaction.

"We’ve gotmore creat ivebusinesses percapita thanLeeds"

"In the Valley,small really isbeautiful... andalmostcertainlycreat ive too!"


HousingIntroductionThe Calder Valley is a wonderful place to live andover the years has developed a strong and uniqueapproach to life which is both pioneering andvalues diversity. In housing terms, it is an area ofcontrast between the apparent affluence ofHebden Bridge and the poor housing and such asat Harley Bank in Todmorden.

The widening gap between affluence and socialdeprivation must be narrowed so that allmembers of the community can today enjoy theopportunities offered by living in the Upper CalderValley.

In recent timeS social diversity and tolerance inthe Valley has been built on an abundance ofcheap housing. House price inflation and anexcess of demand over supply now threatens thatdiversity and cultural richness.

The Housing Action Group believes that goodquality housing is a basic human right whichshould and can be met without destroying thenatural environment or the overall quality of theValley as a whole.

StrategyTo offer choice and to promote social inclusionthrough working with the local community toprovide a wide range of housing opportunities thatare low impact, sustainable, social and provideaffordable housing opportunities.

6. Todmorden and Harley BankTo encourage and support Calderdale BoroughCouncil in carrying out a Neighbourhood RenewalAssessment in Todmorden, to include HarleyBank, an area where a combination of difficulthousing conditions, social, environmental andmarket factors necessitate a coordinatedapproach in order to focus support for the localcommunity.

To enable the Neighbourhood RenewalAssessment to be carried out, CalderdaleBorough Council to instigate a Renewal AreaDeclaration and, where issues are urgent, toconsider other interim forms of interventionwherever practical.

7. Demonstration ProjectsCalderdale Borough Council, working togetherwith the Housing Development Trust and/or localHousing Associations (Registered SocialLandlords), landowners and developers, to identifyand bring forward a number of mixed-useprojects, the residential elements of which couldbe designed and delivered to offer real choice forlocal people. Potential sites for further appraisalmight include an area in Victoria Road in HebdenBridge.

Actions

1. To Create a Housing Development TrustTo work with Calderdale Borough Council andlocal communities to create a HousingDevelopment Trust. This Trust could then workwith public agencies and partner developers topromote and deliver innovative, sustainablehousing development on new and underused sitesin the Upper Calder Valley.

2. Exemplar ProjectsTo create a number of exemplar housing projectsthat demonstrate the aims and objectives of theUpper Calder Valley Renaissance and to raise thequality of house building throughout the Valley.

3. Housing StrategiesTo develop a Housing Strategy that will promotesustainable, sociable and affordable housingopportunities for the Upper Calder Valley. This willrequire a housing needs and demandassessment, a housing capacity study and ahousing market appraisal.

4. Affordable HousingTo help the Council increase the amount ofsustainable and affordable housing in the UpperCalder Valley to combat housing demand causingrents and prices to rise and driving low incomepeople away.

5. Adaptive Re-useTo develop former industrial land and buildings tocreate additional housing in mixed-use schemes,delivering an increased volume of affordablehousing.

"We all needhousing... butwe can’t allafford it!"

"A propercommunityneeds a mix ofpeople"


Youth and Social WellbeingIntroductionThe Youth and Wellbeing Group’s core philosophyconcentrates on supporting and providing forfuture generations of young people: to nurturethem, provide the right type of support andtraining and to encourage them to stay and liveand work in the Valley rather than leaving at theearliest opportunity.

There are few provisions for young people andthose that there are need more support.

Over the last 20 years there has been a trend foryoung people to leave the Valley after finishingschool to find work or study elsewhere. For youngpeople staying in the Valley there has been acontinual problem of getting the right type oftraining that they need and finding work.

The rise in house prices in certain areas hasmade it difficult for those on low wages tocontinue to live in the Valley.

Valley communities need to be reinforced andfacilities improved or provided for.

StrategyTo look and see what’s there. To look and seewhat’s not there. To look and see what needsimproving. To create ‘The Valley Voice’, tostrengthen community cohesion and create aneconomic boost – through the increased use ofValley facilities, services and products (includingarts, crafts and farming products).

5. The Valley VoiceTo create an open forum for the whole communityto share skills and ideas in an accessible, safeand creative environment.The Valley Voice team will:

• activate the collection, organisation anddissemination of the information people needand want

• use active networking to collect informationand use a variety of methods includingelectronic, digital and print to disseminateinformation and share best practice

• ensure that the Valley Voice links up withother Action Groups who are looking at datacollection and using digital media to connectpeople and organisations

• encourage the local media to become apartner in disseminating information throughregular Valley Voice columns and small ads

• involve other 'Information partners' including:local NHS Primary Care Trust, voluntary,community and faith groups, youthorganisations, small businesses, localagencies, Calderdale College, local mediaand Calderdale Borough Council

• encourage local business support throughadvertising in a Valley Voice free-sheet and tosponsor local people to undertake training ininformation and computer skills - a small partof making Corporate Social Responsibility apart of the Valley Renaissance.

Actions

1. Community CohesionTo encourage community cohesion in the markettowns, and between all the Valley communities, bya programme of multicultural, intergenerationalevents. To improve community structures andforums and to foster capacity building in peoplethrough training and continued learning.

2. A Meeting Place in every Market TownThere are plans in each of the town centres tocreate a 21st Century Marketplace. As part ofthis Marketplace there should be a ‘communityhub’. A place where young people can meet andfind the information and support that they need.This could be well connected to other networkhubs, virtual and physical, provided within the newMarketplaces.

3. A Gateway or Signpost Person in each Market TownThere should be one ‘gateway person’ in each ofthe main towns in the Valley as a first point of callfor any young person to go to and get help oradvice. This could be part of the 21st CenturyMarketplace ‘community hub’. This person wouldcoordinate and campaign for facilities andactivities for young people within each of thetowns.

4. Play FacilitiesTo provide adequate new or renewed play facilitiesin every market town for various age groups ofchildren so that they can play safely.

"Young peopleare the Valley ’sfuture... i f theywon’t stay itwill die"

"We’ve foundout so muchabout eachother... now letsconnect up witheveryone else!"

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 31The Valley Warp

The Valley Warp

IntroductionThe Valley Warp: the road, river, railway and canalare strands that weave along the valley floor,connecting the settlements to each other and tothe regional and national networks beyond.

The Valley sits in the heart of the country as partof an almost continuous conurbation along theM62 corridor from Liverpool and Manchester inthe west and to Hull and the coastal ports in theeast. By rail the Valley is only 45 minutes fromManchester and Leeds where there are links tothe East and West Coast mainlines.

Recently the Rochdale Canal was restored and re-opened. It forms part of the Pennine Ring, linkingup with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and theAire and Calder Navigation. The source of theRiver Calder is at Greens Clough in the PennineHills and it flows from the Valley across thecountry and finally into the Humber and NorthSea.

The industrialisation of the Valley grew out of thetransport revolution. Great feats of civilengineering during the late 18th and early 19thcenturies brought the canal and railway to theValley. The previously isolated Valley was openedup with a transport corridor linking east to west.Improved transportation enabled mills capable of

large-scale textile production to be built on thevalley floor. The canal brought coal and the riverprovided water power for the production process.The finished products were transported to the restof the country, initially by canal, then railway and road.

With the decline of industry in the Valley in thetwentieth century, the function of these arterieschanged. The canal fell into disuse and wasclosed, the river became neglected and therailway carried less freight. During the twentiethcentury the importance of the road grew as carownership increased and large distributionwarehouses and light industry moved into the Valley.

Strategy

• To improve accessibility within the Valley andbeyond by an enhancement of the road, river,canal and railway networks

• To improve the visual appearance of themovement corridors

• To utilise existing assets to promoteregeneration opportunities.

The Valleys Regional Connections

"Our arteriesonce servedthe needs ofour Valley "


The RiverIntroductionThe River Calder runs from its source at GreensClough in the Pennine Hills down the length of theValley, to Kirklees and Wakefield. It crosses thecounty, flowing into the North Sea at the HumberEstuary after merging with the River Aire.

Whilst the river is one of the Valley’s mostimportant natural assets in many places it still lieshidden and neglected.

BackgroundWith the industrialisation of the Valley in the 18thand 19th centuries, the river was an important partof the industrial process and mills were built alongthe river and its tributaries. River water fuelled thesteam-driven engines. The river was often re-routed, culverted, buried and built over to suit theplans of industrialists.

Over the years, river flooding has wreaked havocon many towns in the Valley on a regular basis.Interference with the river for industrialisationcontributed to the flooding, as has deforestation.As a result, over the next ten years theEnvironment Agency is investing significantfunding on flood alleviation schemes along theUpper Calder Valley.

Whilst improvements have been made to the rivercorridor it remains neglected following the declineof manufacturing in the Valley. Derelict buildingsand empty sites line the riverbanks.

StrategyTo improve the appearance, accessibility and natural habitats of the River Calder andits tributaries.

ActionsA river strategy has been produced by CalderFuture, the partnership formed to improve the rivercorridor. Many important actions have emergedfrom the Action Planning process and the CalderRiver Strategy produced by Calder Future. Theseare supported by the Renaissance process.

1. Identification of Opportunities for RegenerationTo ensure that waterside sites are regeneratedand that any development makes a positivecontribution to their riverside location andmaintains public access along the riverbank. Toreinforce the creation of sustainable communities,new developments should be mixed-use, mixed-tenure and fine grain.

2. Improved Access to the River for Leisure There should be better access to and along theriver with good links to each town and village.Routes along the river should be respectful ofthe river’s environment and biodiversity and could be part of a linear wildlife park where thelandscape is improved, protected, well managedand maintained.

3. The Protection, Management and Maintenanceof the River EnvironmentAs part of improving the appearance of theCalder Valley the river and its banks need to becleaned up with rubbish removed and tippingprevented. There is also a need to remove thepollution source present at the head water ofthe river.

The route of the River Calder Areas of environmental improvement New riverside walkway and connections to towns

Todmorden

Sowerby Bridge

Todmorden

Sowerby Bridge

Todmorden

Sowerby Bridge

"The River’sour hiddenasset"

The source of the River Calder, high in the pennines Flooding in Todmorden


The CanalIntroductionThe Rochdale Canal links the Upper Calder Valleyto Manchester in the West and Leeds in the east.

It is part of the Pennine Ring that runs in a loopconnecting the Rochdale Canal to the Leeds andLiverpool Canal, the Aire and Calder Navigation,and the Calder and Hebble Navigation. The canalis increasingly becoming a tourist attraction and isone of the most interesting ways to explore theregion. However, it is still an underutilised assetfor the Valley.

BackgroundThe Rochdale Canal was one of the great feats of18th century engineering. It is 32 miles long with92 locks. Completed in 1804, it was the first canalin the country to be built through such ruggedlandscape.

StrategyTo improve the use and appearance of the canaland canalside environment. To use the canal tostimulate tourism and to bring economic benefitsto the canalside towns.

ActionsThere is still a lot of work that needs to be carriedout along the length of the canal to realise itspotential as a quality tourist attraction. As with theriver, the poor appearance of the canalsurroundings is one of the biggest problems.Better maintenance and management are key toimproving the canal’s appearance.

1. Improve Access to the Canal for LeisureTo increase use of the canal towpath as apedestrian and cycle route linking the towns,rubbish dumping and dog fouling need to becontrolled and poor quality footpaths improved.The quality of the towpath varies greatly along theValley. This major pedestrian and cycle routeshould be high quality, safe and clean. In built-upareas the canalside should be overlooked by builtfrontages in active use.

It was the first major transport corridor thatconnected the remote and inaccessible Valley toan extensive transportation network stretching thelength and breadth of the country. The canal wentinto steady decline when it became easier totransport cargo more rapidly by rail and road.Many stretches became silted up or were filled in.It was closed in 1952.

In 2002, after many millions of pounds ofinvestment in restoration and rebuilding through apublic and private sector partnership, and after thehard work of many individuals and organisations,the canal was officially reopened.

2. Promote use of the Canal as a Tourist AttractionThe newly opened canal should be better exploitedfor tourism. The canal could act as a catalyst forthe regeneration of many areas of the Valley. Theappearance of the canal as it winds its waythrough the countryside is very beautiful.Significant improvements are needed where itpasses through the towns.

Facilities for canal users should continue to beimproved, especially in towns. New moorings andmarinas would become a focus for watersideactivities.

In Mytholmroyd there is a proposal for a new canalbasin close to the village centre. This wouldencourage tourists using the canal to stop andexplore Mytholmroyd, which will be transformedinto a 21st Century Market Town.

3. Exploit the Canal as a Sustainable Means of TransportGoods could be transported up and down theValley by canal. The movement of waste andrecycling products could be taken from the Valleyby canal rather than by lorry on the road.

The Pennine Ring

Burnley Leeds

Manchester

Halifax

Huddersfield

Skipton

"Wonderful tohave it back-now let’sexploit its fullpotential"

Cam

den

Lock

,Lo

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The RoadIntroductionTravel along the A646 presents one of the mostnegative aspects of the Valley, yet this pollutedand congested road is often the only experienceof the area that visitors have.

Although tracks ran along the marshy, heavilywooded valley floor in ancient times, travellingalong the valley bottom was long thought to be toodifficult and dangerous. Early roads or ‘cawseys’ran along the hill tops, connecting medievalvillages and settlements. It was only in 1761 thatthe first proper turnpike road was built along thevalley floor between Halifax and Todmorden, thenextended with branches to Burnley and Rochdale.

The road was a slow means of transport duringthe height of the textile boom in the 19th century.So the canal and railway became the principaltransport corridors. During the 20th century, lorriesreplaced trains for transporting freight.

Actions

1. Environmental ImprovementsTo create the right environment for pedestrians,cyclists, buses and vehicles, not only in the townsand villages but along the length of the wholevalley floor, and to replace surface parking at theheart of the town centres with alternative,accessible car parks, close to railway stations andwith good pedestrian links.

2. Modal ShiftTo reduce current traffic levels, it is not enough to slow, stop or reduce traffic growth. Habits needto be changed. Provide people with informationabout the problems and explain the opportunitiesfor change and how they can participate and contribute. Make travelling a pleasure anddevelop integrated travel arrangements.

3. Live/WorkTo change living and working patterns, promotionof local living and working is at the core of theRenaissance Strategy. New developments thatare sustainable and mixed-use will encourageliving and working locally. Changing workingpatterns should be supported by promotingworking from home and by providing resourcecentres for tele-working and flexi-working.

4. Community-based InitiativesA programme of personalised travel plans andcommunity-based travel initiatives should beprepared to encourage changes in behaviour.Due to the linear road network the potential

exists for a local car-share scheme and rail-taxi,rail-bus coordinated ticketing. A local ‘travel plan’network should be established that promotestravel plans in schools and workplaces in theValley and at key popular work locations furtherafield.

5. Traffic Restrictions and ChargingCar-free areas should be implemented inSowerby Bridge, possibly closing the A58 tothrough heavy goods traffic or a chargingscheme for HGVs. There is a particular problemin Sowerby Bridge with HGVs passing throughthe town to avoid the weighbridge on the M62. Ifthis scheme worked well it could be expandedand a congestion charge could be implementedfor all HGVs travelling through the Valley. Withinthe towns, speed limits should be introduced andenforced. It should be clear that pedestrianshave priority in the town centres, not cars.

6. Understanding Patterns of MovementThe quality of information about travel in theUpper Calder Valley should be improved. Localschemes cannot be designed effectively withouta better knowledge of who is travelling for whatpurpose, details of local accident statistics andother socio-demographic information.

There are currently traffic studies underway forsome areas of the Valley but there is nocomprehensive information concerningmovement patterns in the Valley as a whole.

The road as existing Improvements to road corridor

Road connections to and from the Valley

BurnleyLeeds

Manchester

Halifax

Huddersfield

Todmorden

Sowerby Bridge

Todmorden

Sowerby Bridge

The road which is now the A646 became theprincipal corridor for transporting goods. Thelarge amount of vehicular traffic passing along thevalley floor and through its towns is the singlelargest contributor to the pollution and poor imageof the Valley.

StrategyTo pursue reductions in traffic levels in the Valleyand to develop improved and integrated publictransport arrangements.

"Its ourexternal image– a traff icclogged road"

"Where do theycome from?Where do theygo to?"

The FiveUpperCalderValleyRenaissance 39

7. Improving Public TransportEngage in bus and rail quality partnerships tocontinue to lobby for improved public transportlinks both inside and outside the Valley and tofurther explore how to improve the quality of thepublic transport experience within the Valley.Find ways to effect more choice in travel in theValley with better coordination and moreinformation. Public transport should be morefrequent and run later in the evening so that thereis less reliance on the car. The existing busesshould be monitored better and reliable ‘shuttle’local bus services like the Hebden Bridger shouldbe provided in every area of the Valley.

8. Development of Innovative Schemes There should be a demonstration project of‘carrier buses’ for the Valley. These are demand-responsive bus services using small vehicles tocarry people and goods locally. These could beused for home deliveries and local trips and toenable visitors to the Valley to move around easily.These ‘carrier buses’ could link into the localtowns and their surrounding settlements.

9. Industrial RelocationIdentify and develop an appropriate site (or sites)to provide the opportunity for the relocation ofindustrial units currently occupying the valley floor,in more sustainable locations close to motorwaysand railway stations.

The

Heb

den

Brid

ger

“When cars enter our towns theyshould behave like pedestrians”

The Valley Warp


The RailwayIntroductionThe railway running along the Upper Calder Valleyconnects directly to Manchester and Blackpool inthe west and to Leeds and Scarborough in theeast. It runs along the valley floor interweavingwith the canal, river and road. There are fivestations within the Valley, at Sowerby Bridge,Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden andWalsden.

BackgroundConstruction of the Manchester to Leeds Railwaywas completed in 1841 and was a hugeengineering feat. The narrow valley floor alreadyaccommodated the road, canal and river. Tunnelsand viaducts carried the railway line over andunder obstacles that lay in its path. The SummitTunnel, above Walsden, is 2,885 yards long and isan amazing example of how 19th centuryengineering overcame the difficult topography ofthe Valley.

The railway quickly replaced the canal as the mainmethod of transporting goods through the Valley.The railway also brought tourists and one of themost popular excursions during Victorian timeswas to Hardcastle Crags. On one day in 18968,000 day trippers are recorded as having arrivedat Hebden Bridge station. The new railwayallowed people to travel out of the Valley as wellas on excursions to the seaside and cities.

As industry declined, so too did the freightservices along the Valley and large railway sidingsand railway lands became disused and neglectedor were developed as new industrial sites.

Strategy

To create a rail service for the Valley that is fit forthe 21st century - a rapid transit system that isefficient, fast and with more regular stops on itsroute through the Valley.

Actions

1. Regular Services In the long term train services should be faster andmore efficient. They could be as frequent as every10-15 minutes between Leeds and Manchester andrun over a longer period during the day. Therailway line could become a high speed ‘light rail’service.

2. Reopen or Create New Stations Along the Valley.In the past there were more stations or halts alongthe length of the Valley. Many were closed when itbecame uneconomical to keep them running. In thelong term these old railway stations should bereopened or rebuilt where they have beendemolished. Possible locations could be at

Cornholme at the western end of the Valley andLuddenden Foot in the centre.

3. Good Accessibility to Stations and Services All the stations in the Valley need to be easilyaccessible and well connected to the towns andvillages that they serve. All facilities need to beeasy to use and high quality. There should be ‘realtime’ information about the trains, connections andother public transport services. The railwaystations should be public transport interchanges,where easy connections to buses, taxis and parkand ride can be made. Pedestrian links to thetown centres must be direct, attractive and safe.

4. Encourage Transport of Goods by Rail More freight should be transported by rail, whetherit is going through the Valley or from one town toanother within the Valley.

5. Reinstate the Burnley Curve in TodmordenAt the moment, whilst it is possible to travel fromLeeds through the Valley to Burnley andBlackpool, the small curve of track in Todmordenthat allowed travel from Manchester directly toBurnley has been disconnected. This importantlink should be reconnected to allow travel fromWalsden and Todmorden directly to Burnley and toBlackpool beyond.

Existing Valley stations Proposed new stations Reconnecting the Burnley Curve

Rail connections from the Valley

BurnleyLeeds

Manchester

Halifax

Huddersfield

Todmorden

Sowerby BridgeWalsden

Hebden Bridge

Todmorden


Hebden Bridge

Todmorden


Hebden Bridge

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"Lets startcleaning thecarriages asthey comethrough theValley... thenbuild some nicestations towelcomethem!"

Cornholme EastwoodLuddenden Foot

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 43The Five Towns

The Five Towns

IntroductionPeople came together to create market towns fora combination of spiritual, civic, economic andcultural reasons. These all found their spatialexpression close to, or in, the Marketplace or HighStreet. These iconic spaces established identityand purpose for both the towns and the outlyingcommunities they served. It was flexiblyprogrammed, responding to a variety of needs,appropriate to both time and place.

For many centuries, these Marketplacessupported transition and growth, until such time asexternal forces removed their reason for being.

The towns of the Upper Calder Valley are noexception. If the Renaissance of the Valley is todeliver new purpose and meaning to its natural,urban and human landscapes then a newmeaning and purpose must be created for each ofits Marketplaces.

The 21st Century MarketplaceTo survive, prosper and serve the Valleycommunity as a whole, a 21st CenturyMarketplace must be created in the heart of eachtown, a place for exchange and connectivity:cultural, creative, civic, spiritual, virtual, intellectualand economic. Wherever possible, products,processes and ideas will be locally ‘branded’,each playing their part in promoting a 21st centuryimage for the Valley.

Public Realm, Land Uses and GrowthIn each of the five towns, a step change in qualityof their public realm must be simultaneouslydelivered, blight must be removed, land usesrationalised and the growth of each town definedand proactively planned for.

“ The ItalianRenaissancewas as muchabout space asit was aboutplace”

Left: Todmorden market


Improving Public RealmBackgroundThe previous prosperity of the Valley and itsindustrial heritage has left a legacy of qualitybuildings. Whilst economic decline in thetwentieth century has resulted in some loss, thebuilt environments within the town centres largelyremain intact but the spaces between thebuildings are poorly detailed with inappropriatematerials.

Streets have been re-designed to facilitate theeasy and fast movement of vehicular traffic, withthe car taking priority over the pedestrian andcyclist. Pavements are often narrow and crossingpoints infrequent and poorly located. Walking inthe towns next to busy roads is unpleasant,polluted and dangerous. Paving, road surfacesand street furniture are generally poor quality,uncoordinated and incongruous.

The resulting environment presents a poor image,undermines confidence and discourages inwardinvestment.

StrategyTo promote investment and economic activity inthe Valley through delivering a step-change in theimage and attractiveness of the town centresthrough the implementation of a high quality, long-term, public realm strategy.

Actions

1. Public Realm StrategyThe implementation of a high quality public realmstrategy should create pedestrian friendly areaswhere vehicular access and speeds arecontrolled, creating environments of confidence

that encourage greater exploration of the centresand make walking a pleasure. Streets, squaresand waterside locations must become attractiveand lively places adaptable for a variety of activities.

In Todmorden, under the Market Towns Initiative,new investment in the public realm has started toimprove key locations and create an increasedconfidence that has underpinned a recent phaseof private sector investment.

A valley wide Public Realm Strategy should nowbe established that is long term, high-quality and responsive to the individual character ofeach town.

2. Town CentresWithin the core of each town a "golden carpet" of high quality materials, landscaping and streetfurniture should be laid out to create attractiveenvironments of streets and public spaces thatprovide a focus for a wide range of activities,supported by a flexible traffic managementregime.

3. GatewaysGateways should be created for each of the townsthat announce arrival and reinforce identity. Theuse of landmark buildings and structures, thenarrowing of the highway and the use of specialsurface treatments can welcome the traveller,define arrival within the town centre and ensurethat traffic slows down.

4. Key Arteries The experience of passing through the towns ofthe Valley along the road, canal, river and railarteries, either by car, walking, cycling, or canalboat, should be made more pleasurable andattractive through a series of initiatives to addresseach specific corridor.

5. RoadWithin the town centres the streets should bedesigned to improve the environment for thepedestrian. This can be achieved through thecreation of wider pavements, speed tables thatdefine crossing points, new street tree plantingand street furniture. These measures shouldenforce slower traffic speeds within the towns.

6. Canal and RiversideBetter connectivity should be established betweenthe town centres and the river and canal corridorsincluding new points of access, crossing pointsand footbridges. Along the canalside andriverside, pedestrian accessibility should beimproved through the provision of disabledaccess, safety lighting and boardwalks wherebuildings currently sit tight to the water’s edge.

7. RailWhilst the Valley is fortunate that its railwayinfrastructure, with the exception of the Burnleylink, has survived virtually intact, several of itsstations are unwelcoming and have poorconnections to the heart of the town. For existingstations, a better sense of arrival should becreated, together with enhanced connectivity tothe town centre, including new points of access,crossing points and footbridges. New stationsshould be promoted for Cornholme andLuddenden Foot.

"Congenial andhumane publicspaces are thevisibleexpression ofour culture andc ivilisation"

"When thequality andcharacter ofspaces arerestored, townsbecomeattractive to liveand invest in"


Removing Blight & Rationalising Land UseBackgroundHistorically the towns along the Upper CalderValley have turned their backs on the river and thecanal. The valley floor was the preferred locationfor industry as a source of power and a route forthe transportation of goods.

Today, many mill buildings remain in a poor stateof repair and are underutilised. Other former siteshave been redeveloped for alternative industrialuses. Other sites are occupied by distributionwarehouses characterised by poor quality, out-of-scale sheds that are land hungry, employ a smallworkforce and require servicing resulting in HeavyGoods Vehicles accessing the town centres andthe valley corridor as a whole.

Removing Blight

Vacant sites are prevalent, and their future usesare restricted by the inflexible employmentallocation of the Calderdale Unitary DevelopmentPlan. These sites are often located on the canal,river and road corridors and present an image ofdereliction and neglect for the Valley.

StrategyTo unlock these strategic sites and utiliseattractive locations for mixed-use developmentthrough a reassessment of their permitted landuse.

Actions

1. Mixed-Use InitiativesSites within the town centres offer the opportunityfor mixed-use regeneration in locations that willenhance the appearance of the Valley and utiliseriver and canalside locations.

All new development should provide for a varietyof activities, their cumulative effect creating placesto live, work and enjoy.

2. Development Briefs and Design Codesdevelopment briefs and design codes should beprepared for specific sites. The permitted landuse for areas of derelict sites and existing millsshould be changed to mixed-use to facilitateregeneration. The overall balance of permitteddevelopment should include a significantpercentage of commercial space, live/work units,workshops, and other employment generatinguses, in addition to a mixture of both ‘market’ andaffordable housing.

This, along with the provision of local andcommunity facilities, will ensure the creation ofsustainable environments. Active uses at groundlevel will need to be proactively sought in order tocreate centres of activity in key locations.

Developments must be fine grain and of a scale appropriate to their locations. Quality builtfrontage must be presented to the canal and rivercorridors with existing quality buildings retainedand converted to new uses. Servicing and carparking should be screened from public view.

3. Land Use ResearchA comprehensive study should to be undertakenof the industrial and distribution uses operating in the Valley to develop a long-term strategy thatprotects existing employment, prepares a plan for future development and, where appropriate,examines relocation initiatives. Existingbusinesses could be relocated to other locationswithin the Valley outside the centres of towns,

or to more appropriate locations within Calderdale closer to the motorway and raildistribution networks.

Town Centre Car Parks

BackgroundThe economic viability of town centres istraditionally deemed to rely on the provision ofconvenient car parking. These surface car parks,often in key locations close to the centre of thesetowns, are visually detrimental and erode theurban fabric.

StrategyTo unlock strategic town centre sites and utilisetheir locations for mixed-use developmentsthrough creating alternative and accessibleparking facilities.

Actions

1. Mixed-use and Public Space InitiativesComprehensive proposals for a parking strategyfor each town should be developed to providealternative convenient parking locations thatenable the release of town centre car parks forredevelopment opportunities or the creation ofnew public space. These sites should beassessed comprehensively as any piecemealredevelopment proposals will not realise theirfull potential.

The strategy should aim to provide an appropriateparking capacity, combined with the promotion ofan integrated public transport strategy. Theprovision of any additional car parking beyond the

current provision within the centres should becarefully monitored. However, additional carparking is acceptable in locations in closeproximity to public transport interchanges,including railway stations.

2. Cross-subsidiesThe creation of alternative car parking sites mayrequire cross-subsidy from other Renaissancedevelopments. A comprehensive strategy shouldbe adopted to ensure that where added value iscreated through redevelopment, profits can bereinvested in other Renaissance projects.

3. Sharing ProvisionDemand for car parking within the towns variesthroughout the day, evening and weekends.The strategy should encourage the sharing ofany parking provision, and a flexible trafficmanagement scheme should be introduced sothat car parks can be used for alternative social, cultural and economic activities, as andwhen desired.

4. Design IssuesMixed-use developments should be of anappropriate scale and massing to fit withinsensitive locations. Their proposed design shouldrelate to existing buildings in terms of footprint,scale and proportion. Car parking should beeither underground or within enclosed courtyards,concealed from public view. In urban, canalsidelocation, buildings should be positioned directly onthe back of the towpath, providing a high degreeof visual policing.

"You can turn apictures face tothe wall, butyou can’ t turnaway a derelictlandscape"


Unlocking Underutilised Sites

BackgroundWithin the towns are a number of sites thathistorically have remained underutilised. Thesesites, often in close proximity to the town centres, have remained undeveloped for a varietyof reasons including problems of access, landownership and development restrictions. Theseunderdeveloped sites present a poor externalimage for the Valley.

StrategyTo unlock the potential of these strategic towncentre sites, through a coordinated investmentprogramme that relies on cross-subsidy from other revenue generating projects, for the benefitof the Valley as a whole.

Actions

1. Mixed-Use InitiativesThese sites offer a significant opportunity tocreate mixed-use developments that can bring lifeand activity to the town centres.

2. Park and RideA number of these sites are located next torailway stations and their re-use as car parks willimprove accessibility, displace parking fromdesirable sites within the town centre and help topromote an integrated public transport strategy.

3. Improved AccessibilityIn several locations, redevelopment opportunitiesare currently prejudiced by poor accessibility.Transportation studies are required to identify, costand assess the impact of improving accessibilityin order to open up beneficial developmentopportunities.

BackgroundDevelopment in the Valley has seen a number ofdistinct phases. The early settlements and theirsubsequent expansion, through the IndustrialRevolution in the 1800s and through the early1900s was in the form of compact development inthe town centres.

Since the 1930s, the towns have grown outwardsfrom the centres, with less dense developmentcharacterised by semi-detached houses and largegardens. More recent development pressure hasresulted in the expansion of the towns up thehillsides to locations previously deemedunsuitable.

Simultaneously, the town centres have declinedand their economic rationale disappeared.

StrategyTo define settlement boundaries and stop outwardexpansion through concentrating regeneration inthe centres of the towns and villages to createsustainable environments and a greater range ofactivities.

Actions

1. Settlement Boundaries

In the future, outward expansion should beprohibited. Settlement growth needs to be clearlydefined to ensure that there is no coalescencebetween settlements and town boundaries shouldbe clearly marked with, as a general rule, all newdevelopment taking place on derelict orunderutilised sites within or close to already built-up areas that are in need of investment.

New housing

Old housing

Housing in Mytholmroyd

Housing in Hebden Bridge

Housing in Todmorden

Defining GrowthIndustrial sites in Hebden Bridge

Industrial sites in Sowerby Bridge

Industrial sites in Todmorden

Industrial Areas

"Our Heritageis our future"

"How shouldwe greet thecountryside?"

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 51Walsden

New mixed-use centre

High quality public realm

Waterside walkways

WalsdenConserving the Heart

IntroductionWalsden is the smallest of the five majorsettlements situated on the floor of the UpperCalder Valley. It is the most westerly village in theValley and is close to the border with Lancashire.It is linear in form, stretching along the RochdaleRoad parallel to Walsden Water and the Rochdale Canal.

Background The village grew up along the main road over thePennines connecting Lancashire and Yorkshire.The Industrial Revolution saw the growth of thevillage, with the arrival of the canal and later therailway. The area around the canal and riverbecame a focus for manufacturing and a numberof mill buildings still exist today.

Following the decline of manufacturing in theValley, the surviving mill buildings are eithervacant or significantly underused. Occupation islow and often accommodates uses that employ asmall number of people and generate limitedrevenue. As a result, little investment has been putinto these buildings over recent years.

Future uses are currently restricted by theCalderdale Unitary Development Plan thatdesignates the area for employment uses. Thelocation is some distance from the motorwaynetwork, and the inflexibility of the existingbuildings for manufacturing has resulted in littleinterest being generated for future reuse.

The town’s two main areas of activity are at theRochdale Road and Alma Street junctions close tothe Post Office and the railway station and at

Riggs’s Garden Centre, further to the west and one of the major employers and tourist attractions in the Valley.

As in Todmorden, living in outlying areas of thetown is more popular than living in the town centre.There is a large demand for residential propertiesin the surrounding area and residential values arehigh. This is due in part to the stunning landscapeand convenient rail access to Manchester.

StrategyTo utilise the quality of the existing buildings andenvironment around the river and canal, to create anew mixed-use quarter that establishes a vibrantnew heart for Walsden.

A New Mixed-Use CentreThe area between Rochdale Road and Alma Streetincludes a number of impressive mill buildingsoverlooking the canal and river. Conservation Areastatus should be sought for this area, assisting itsregeneration through the retention and conversionof existing buildings for a mixture of uses includingresidential, live/work, employment, shops, cafes,workshops and other leisure uses.

New development should be integrated within thearea with quality built frontages overlooking thecanal and river corridors. On Rochdale Road,new landmark buildings could be created toannounce the new heart of the town from the road and railway.

Improved accessibility to the canal and rivercorridors should be promoted throughimprovements to the walkway and towpath.

"The town’s toolong and thinand there is noreal heart "

Transformational Project: creating a mixed-use heart for the town

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 53

Todmorden

Introduction Todmorden is a market town at the western end of the Upper Calder Valley. The town sits at theconfluence of the River Calder and WalsdenWater, which runs under the Town Hall.

BackgroundFrom a crossing point on the river, Todmordendeveloped into an important textile manufacturingtown. Its former prosperity is reflected by anumber of beautiful nineteenth century civic andreligious buildings, many built by the Fieldenmanufacturing family.

With the decline of the textile industry during themid-twentieth century, the population ofTodmorden decreased from 30,000 toapproximately 15,000 people.

Todmorden has a large rural catchment area,stretching to the east towards Walsden and alongthe Valley towards Portsmouth and Cornholmewhich all rely heavily on the wide range offacilities and services in the town. Whilst localshops are struggling, there is a successful indoorand outdoor market. Some manufacturing industrystill exists today, although more recently the townhas attracted a young but growing economycentred on small, creative media basedbusinesses.

Housing in the countryside around Todmorden ispopular, generating high property values, whilstdemand and value for housing within the towncentre is reduced due to the poorer qualityenvironment and the risk of flooding. Actions toaddress these issues are detailed in the housingsection of this document.

Creating a 21st Century Marketplace

"Whilstproperty valuesrise on thevalley sides,there’s realdeprivation atthe heart " Bramsche Square

Todmorden today

Creating the 21st Century Marketplace

Todmorden

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 55Todmorden

Todmorden Town CentreThe market building and the Town Hall sit in a seaof car parking. The Town Hall is hidden from thesquare behind a 1960’s ‘eyesore’ building. Poorquality public realm and dead frontages contributeto the lifeless feel of the town centre. The townturns its back on its two greatest assets, the riverand the canal.

Bramsche Square Transformational ProjectBramsche Square should be transformed into aplace for people, not cars. The ‘eyesore’ buildingon Bridge Street should be demolished to open upa new vista between the Town Hall and theMethodist Chapel. The proposed new CreativeMedia Centre, in a prominent location in thecentre of the square, will act as a catalyst for theeconomic regeneration of the town.

Rationalising Land UseVacant and underutilised sites and buildings in theValley are generally located close to the river andcanal, and within easy walking distance of towncentres. One such example is the area oppositethe ‘Great Wall of Tod,’ where there are largeareas of derelict buildings and vacant sites. andpoor quality public realm along the canal tow path.

A New Mixed-use Waterside DevelopmentThe area opposite the ‘Great Wall of Tod’ could betransformed into a new urban neighbourhood withfrontages built on the back of the towpath andoverlooking a new canalside square. Theneighbourhood could contain a mixture of usesand could include workshops, offices, live/workunits and a variety of housing types and tenures.


Other Town Project

Neighbourhood RegenerationTodmorden should have a whole townNeighbourhood Renewal Assessment orNeighbourhood Management PathfinderProgramme to improve the deteriorating conditionsin some of the town centre neighbourhoods wherepoor housing and social conditions have combinedwith environmental degradation to threaten socialcohesion and affect quality of life. This issue isexplored in more detail in the housing section ofthis document.

Key Issues

1. The market and Town Hall are surrounded bylarge areas of surface car parking and poormodern buildings that contribute little to the qualityand activity in the town centre.

2. The town centre has many areas of poor qualityurban realm, vacant or underused sites andbuildings. This contributes to the centre feelingempty and lifeless.

3. The town turns its back on two of its greatestassets, the canal and the river. Due to its industrialpast, mills line the water’s edge. Many of theseare now underused, vacant or have beenredeveloped with industrial sheds.


Transformational projects

Key buildings

Bramsche Square: The creation of a vibrant new heart for Todmorden; the splendour of the Town

Hall revealed; spaces defined by quality buildings with active frontages, unified by the ‘golden carpet’

they stand on. High quality public realm inviting a wide range of activities to take place.

The 21st Century Marketplace activated by social, cultural, economic and intellectual exchange

Green waterside walkways

New bridge

Todmorden Transformational Project

Strategy

To create a new 21st Century Marketplace tostimulate the economic regeneration of the townand its hinterland.

Actions

Bramsche SquareThe proposal is to build upon the success of themarket and enhance the setting of the Town Hallthrough the creation of a 21st CenturyMarketplace in Bramsche Square that creates afocus for the town and acts as a hub for neweconomic activities, events and festivals.

Bramsche Square has the potential to be amultipurpose, vibrant public space that promotesdifferent activities throughout the day and earlyevening, during the week, at weekends and onpublic holidays. It should be a space for peoplenot cars; a place for shopping, working, relaxingand living.

A new Creative Media Centre is proposed in aprominent location in the centre of the square toact as a beacon for the economic regeneration ofthe town and the wider community it serves. Itwould be a place for the exchange of ideas andinformation, for facilitation and learning and forsupport for small businesses - both the focus andthe ‘animator’ of the 21st Century Marketplace.

The demolition of the ‘eyesore’ 1960s building onBridge Street would create a new vista betweenthe Town Hall and the Methodist Chapel, with thepotential for the existing retailers to be moved to the corner of Halifax Road and Myrtle Street. Aflexible parking regime should be created within the square, with alternative parkingprovided elsewhere.

1. Demolition of buildingestablishes arelationship between theTown Hall and theMethodist Chapel

2. A new building on HalifaxRoad and Myrtle Streetframes the MethodistChapel

1. New building frames keyvistas, enclosesBramsche Square andcreates a backdrop tothe market. The spacebetween key buildings isdefined

2. Pavilion building bringsactivity to square

1. New bridge to Tipsideunlocks an underutilisedsite

2. New buildings enclosesouth facing publicspaces along the canal

3. Views between HalifaxRoad and the canalmaintained

4. New mixed-usefrontages overlooking the canal

1. Bramsche Square isundefined

2. Poor quality facadesoverlooking centralspace

3. The Town Hall is hidden

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Todmorden Masterplan

New mixed-use development overlooking the canal

New mixed-use quarter overlooking ‘The Great Wall of Tod’

Key Buildings: 1. The Station; 2. The Town Hall; 3. The Market. Town Centre Projects:4. Bramsche Square Transformational Project; 5. New bridge Link to unlock Tipside; 6. A ‘GoldenCarpet’ of public realm. Rationalising Land Use and Removing Blight: 7. Between the canal andRochdale Road; 8. Between the canal and Halifax Road; 9. Canalside locations in the Union Streetarea. Gateways and Arteries: 10. Reinstating the Burnley Curve; 11. Towpath improvements; 12.Riverside path; 13. Gateway on Burnley Road; 14. Gateway on Halifax Road; 15. Gateway onRochdale Road; 16. Visual improvements/reducing the impact of traffic.

Key Buildings

Gateways

Visual improvements and

reducing the impact of traffic


Transformational project

21st Century Marketplace and Public Realm

Rationalising land use and removing blight

Landscape improvements and waterside walkways

New bridges

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UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 61Hebden Bridge

Hebden BridgeReinforcing the Heart of the Town

IntroductionHebden Bridge is a market town that sits at thecentre of the Upper Calder Valley. It grew up atthe confluence of the River Calder and HebdenWater. Due to the narrowness of the Valley at thispoint, much of the town is built on the northernvalley sides with dramatic terraces following the contours.

BackgroundHebden Bridge grew up around a river crossing onthe packhorse trail between Halifax and Burnley.With industrialisation, mills were built in the townand it became a centre for the production ofcorduroy, fustian and ready made clothing.It became known as ‘Trouser Town’. Withindustrialisation came prosperity and beautifulcivic and religious buildings.

The town’s economy declined with the collapse of textile manufacturing in the Valley. However,during the late 1960s and 70s the town benefitedfrom an influx of settlers who saw theopportunities offered by the town and the benefitsof low house prices in a beautiful setting. Thesesettlers brought new skills and helped the town toslowly regenerate itself as a centre for tourism,small craft businesses and creative industries.More recently the town has become a centre foralternative technology.

Currently the town is seeking to ensure that thevitality and diversity of its population ismaintained, and to achieve a balance between itssuccess as a tourist destination and its popularityas a place to settle as, due to rising prices, itbecomes increasingly difficult for local people withlow incomes to buy homes in the town andsurrounding villages.

“ Our successmay also beour problem”

Reinforcing the Heart of the Town

Improving connections from the station to the town centre

Enhancing green routes

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 63Hebden Bridge

Hebden Bridge Town CentreThe town centre is dominated by vehicular trafficand has large areas of surface car parking.The market is not as successful as it could be andis located just outside the main shopping area.

Reinforcing the Heart of the TownA new Marketplace could be created on StGeorge’s Square and Lees Yard. A ‘golden carpet’of high quality public realm should be laid acrossthe town centre in order to realise its full economicpotential as a backdrop for an increasingly widerange of social, cultural and community activities.

The Station is Disconnected from the TownThe station is the busiest in the Valley and is usedby many visitors and tourists, especially thosevisiting Hardcastle Crags. The station is difficultto access by foot. Pedestrians have to walk alongthe main road or through the park to reach it.

Linking the Station to the TownThe existing station car park should be enlargedand become a proper public transport interchange.The connections from the station should beimproved by creating a safe and attractive newroute through the park with new footbridges overthe river and canal.


Linking the Station to the Town The existing coal yard should be utilised to extendthe area around the railway station to create animproved public transport interchange, increasedcommuter parking on weekdays and alternativevisitor parking at weekends.

Improved pedestrian accessibility between therailway station and the town centre should becreated by the direct pedestrian route proposedfrom the station to the town centre across CalderHolmes Park, including the installation of two newfootbridges over the river and canal, and goodlevels of lighting.

Green Routes On a single day in 1896, 8,000 people arrived bytrain to visit Hardcastle Crags. It remains one ofthe most popular destinations for visitors to thetown. By utilising the riverbank and canalside, acontinuous pedestrian route should be createdlinking the station along the canal and river all theway to Hardcastle Crags. This requires a longterm strategy that is implemented as opportunitiesarise along the canal and river corridors.

Key Issues

1. The market is not successful as it is locatedoutside the town centre away from the areas ofheavy pedestrian traffic.

2. The town is dominated by vehicular trafficincluding HGVs gaining access to industrial unitswithin the centre or passing through to reachKeighley Road.

3. The station is the busiest in the Valley, yet it isdisconnected from the town centre. The route fromthe station to the centre is either via CalderHolmes Park and New Road Memorial Gardens,using a tortuous, unlit path, or along the busymain road, which has narrow pavements anddangerous crossing points.

4. The riverside and canalside are underutilised,especially as a route through the town up toHardcastle Crags.

Site adjacent to Town Hall developed for a variety of uses

Site adjacent to Town Hall

Existing car park on the river’s edge

Proposed new riverside walkway and piazza

Hebden BridgeTransformational Project

Strategy

To create a series of high quality public spacesand walkways that connect the railway station toHardcastle Crags, linked to the creation of a 21stCentury Marketplace that can act as a focus forthe town by providing space for markets, festivalsand the outward expression of creativity.

Lees Yard and St George’s SquareSt George’s Square and Lees Yard have thepotential to become the new 21st CenturyMarketplace for Hebden Bridge. The existing on-street car parking should be relocated to createtwo interlinked public spaces.

The existing market, currently located to the westacross Hebden Water, should be relocated to becloser to the retail centre of the town. A pavilion togenerate activity is proposed in St George’sSquare, whilst a new mixed-use building in LeesYard would create active frontages onto the square with shops or cafés at street level,framing the important vistas along Albert Streetand Crown Street.

Redevelopment of the Market SiteThe relocation of the existing market to StGeorge’s Square and Lees Yard creates theopportunity to redefine the former Marketplace.

Adjacent to the impressive Town Hall is a vacantsite currently used for surface car parking. Thissite was never developed. The proposed newbuilding will address the space in front of theTown Hall, define an important corner and enclosethe street leading to Old Gate. This prime siteshould be developed as a mixed-use building.

The existing Marketplace should be redesignedwith a hard landscaped shared surface definingthe full extent of the space between its containingbuildings. The rationalised layout should bedesigned to accommodate a small number ofadditional car parking spaces to replace those lostadjacent to the Town Hall.

In the longer term, the existing fire station couldbe moved to a more accessible location in thetown, with the site redeveloped for a new mixed-use building providing enclosure to the northernside of the square.

21st Century Marketplace

Links to the Station Waterside walkways



Key buildings


New bridge

Hebden Bridge

Hebden Bridge Masterplan

Key Buildings

Gateways








New bridges

Canalside activity created to the rear of the Picture House

High quality public realm on Old Gate

Key Buildings: 1. The Town Hall; 2. The Picture House; 3. The Station. Town Centre Projects:4. George’s Square and Lees Yard Transformational Project; 5. Development of the site next to theTown Hall; 6. Redevelopment of the Fire Station site; 7. Development of Garden Street; 8. A ‘GoldenCarpet’ of public realm. Rationalising Land Use and Removing Blight: 9. Between the canal andthe river; 10. Along the Halifax Road; 11. Along Victoria Road. Gateways and Arteries: 12.Extending the station car park; 13. New Footbridge; 14. Towpath improvements; 15. Riverside pathto Hardcastle Crags; 16. Western Gateway; 17. Eastern Gateway; 18. Gateway on Keighley Road19. Visual improvements/reducing the impact of traffic.

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UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 69Mytholmroyd

MytholmroydCreating a new Market Town

IntroductionMytholmroyd is a village rather than a markettown. It sits at one of the widest sections of theValley at a crossing point over the confluence ofthe Rivers Calder and Cragg Brook.

BackgroundMytholmroyd grew up around a river crossing onthe packhorse trail from Sowerby to Heptonstall.The village lacks any identifiable centre with alimited collection of shops along Burnley Roadand New Road and a small supermarket inGeorge Street.

However, the village is a spiritual and educationalcentre with Catholic, Methodist and Anglicanchurches. Mytholmroyd is also home to CalderHigh School, the largest secondary school in the Valley.

The village grew dramatically from the middle ofthe twentieth century, as the outward expansion oflarge suburban housing estates, on the muchflatter valley sides, spread out from the centre.

Mytholmroyd is also famous as the birthplace ofthe late Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes, and there areplans to build an international centre dedicated topoetry in the village.

“ We’ve neverreally been aMarket Town ”


Mytholmroyd today

Two new Marketplaces

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 71Mytholmroyd

The Community Centre SiteThe Mytholmroyd Community Centre is in theheart of the village and sits at the back of a large and underutilised car park. The north-west corner of the site is owned by the Primary Health Care Trust and will soon be available for redevelopment.

The Community Centre SquareBoth the Community Centre car park and the land owned by the Primary Health Care Trustshould be redeveloped to create a public squaresurrounded by a mixed-use development,containing creative and small business start-upunits, studios, workshops, live/work units and a mixture of housing types and tenures. At thesame time, the existing Community Centrebuildings would be either renovated or rebuilt toinclude an enhanced range of facilities for both the local and valley wide community.

St Michael’s Church and Sunday SchoolSt Michael’s Church is hidden behind its ownSunday School building. The space in front of it isused as a car park. A thin row of shops onBurnley Road blocks the views of the church andthe river. The public toilets, on the corner of thebridge, are the most prominent buildings in thetown. St Michael’s Square has the potential tobecome not only the new heart of Mytholmroydbut also, given its strategic location at the centreof the Valley, a symbol for the Renaissance of theValley as a whole.

St Michael’s Square To optimise the opportunity to create a 21stCentury Marketplace, a new building is proposedthat would straddle the River Calder, containingnew facilities for the Sunday School, a creativeand small business ‘hub’ and a combination ofother uses. It would provide a fitting location forthe spiritual and operational home of the FlyingShuttle, complete with its audio-visual cameraobscura (see page 87). The public toilet sitewould be developed, framing a gateway to the bridge.


George Street Redevelopment A study of this area needs to be carried out,working closely with the different landowners topromote the comprehensive redevelopment of thisshabby, rundown area of the village. The creationof a new mixed-use neighbourhood should includeretail, employment and residential uses in closeproximity to the centre of the village. Thedevelopment would incorporate a new pedestrianroute connecting the railway station to StMichael’s Square and the new pedestrianfootbridge over the River Calder.

The Community CentreThe Community Centre currently provides animportant range of facilities for the village,contained within buildings occupying the southernpart of their site, backing onto the railway.The existing car park to the north represents asignificant land asset that could be transformedinto a new public square surrounded by mixed-use development. The proposal couldinclude workshops, offices and live/work units thatbring activity and, more importantly, an economicfocus to what is at present an underutilised spacein the heart of the village. The scheme couldrelease land value for reinvestment in theprovision of facilities for the wider community,including a new swimming pool. Car parkingprovision could be retained with a rationalisedlayout and enhanced landscaping.

Key Issues

1. St Michael’s Church is an important landmarkin the town and is hidden from view behindthe Sunday School building.

2. The space in front of the Sunday School isunderutilised.

3. The public toilets mark the centre of thevillage

4. The Community Centre is located overlookinga large and underutilised car park, next toland owned by the Primary Health Care Trustwhich will soon be surplus to their needs.


St Michael’s Church and Sunday School

St Michael’s Square: a new 21st Century Marketplace



Key buildings


New bridge

MytholmroydTransformational Project

Strategy

To create a new market town with two new urban spaces and a 21st Century Marketplace atits centre - a flagship project at the heart ofthe Valley.

St Michael’s SquareThe proposal is to create a new heart for the townthat accommodates a 21st Century Marketplaceand is a place for events and celebrations.

St Michael’s Square would be created by thedemolition of the existing Sunday School and thethin wedge of shops running along the southernside of Burnley Road, opening up views of thechurch.

An eye-catching new landmark building on the A646 would straddle the river, enclosing thewestern side of the new square. It is proposedthat the northern side of the square should beopen to the river, creating views across it fromBurnley Road.

The new building would replace the facilitiescurrently contained within the Sunday School and could include a spiritual centre, a centre for the exchange of ideas and culture, a place forthe collection of information, facilitation andlearning, and support for small business andentrepreneurship. It would provide an excellent location for the offices of Upper Calder Valley Renaissance.

A new pedestrian footbridge is proposed to thenorth-east corner of the square, providing linksthat connect areas of the town and especially the route from Calder High School to the railwaystation. The bridge would form part of a widerstrategy to create a series of river and canalside walks.

1. Demolition of the Sunday Schoolreveals the facade of StMichael’s Church

2. Pedestrian and visual linkestablished to the RailwayStation

3. Demolition of the existingbuildings on Burnley Roadopens up views to the river

4. Demolition of the redundantHealth Centre increases thedevelopment site

1. Proposed new communitybuilding incorporating theSunday School encloses StMichael’s Square

2. New bridge from church squareto Burnley Road

3. Mixed-use development onCommunity Association sitecreates a new mixed-use square

1. Better pedestrian route to theStation through the mixed-usearea on George Street

2. Existing toilets demolished andreplaced with a landmarkbuilding

1. St. Michael’s Church is hiddenby the Sunday School

2. Buildings on Burnley Road hidethe church and the river

3. Public toilets currently mark thecentre of the town

4. Underutilised CommunityAssociation site and redundantHeath Centre

5. Poor pedestrian linkage from theRailway Station

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Mytholmroyd Masterplan

Key Buildings

Gateways








New bridges

Permeability: creating better links between facilities

New landmark building on Burnley Road, replacing the public toilets.

Key Buildings: 1. St Michael’s Church; 2. The station Town Centre Projects: 3. St Michael’sSquare transformational project; 4. New Community Centre Square; 5. New Landmark building;6. George Street area regeneration; 7. A ‘Golden Carpet’ of public realm; 8. Canalside buildingGateways and Arteries: 9. New Footbridge; 10. Towpath improvements; 11. Riverside path;12. Western Gateway; 13. Eastern Gateway; 14. Gateway on Cragg Road; 15. Gateway on ScoutRoad; 16. Visual improvements/reducing the impact of traffic.

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UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 77Sowerby Bridge

Sowerby BridgeCreating a new Town Quarter

IntroductionSowerby Bridge is a market town on the outskirtsof Halifax, located at the eastern gateway to theUpper Calder Valley. The Rivers Calder andRyburn meet under the impressive bridge in theheart of the town, close to the famous Town Hall,only half of which remains.

BackgroundSowerby Bridge grew around a crossing point onthe Rivers Calder and Ryburn. The importantweaving and spinning villages at the time wereSowerby and Norland (on the tops).Subsequently, Sowerby Bridge continued to growas weaving moved from the tops to the valley floor as mills were built on the banks of the River Calder.

As with the other valley towns, manufacturingdeclined during the mid-twentieth century due tocompetition from abroad. The population of thetown decreased and a quarter of its shops closed.The market struggles to be viable.

In recent years, a series of canalside projectshave been undertaken in the town acting ascatalysts for future regeneration. Since thereopening of the Rochdale Canal in 2002, thetown boasts the deepest lock in the country.

The Wharf is a mixed-use project currentlynearing completion that includes the refurbishmentof a collection of old mill buildings surrounding thecanal basin. The warehouses contain a thrivingmix of business and tourist uses, including offices,pubs, restaurants and narrow boats for hire fortrips along the Valley.

"Our past isprouder thanour present"

Development opportunities

Sowerby Bridge today

A new Town Quarter on the southern banks

UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 79Sowerby Bridge

The Town CentreThe area between the station and Wharf Street iscurrently neglected and underutilised. There aremany industrial buildings situated on HolmesRoad between the station and the River Calderand a poor quality, rusty iron footbridge crossesthe river.

A New Bridge for Sowerby BridgeThe industrial uses on Holmes Road could berelocated and the existing industrial buildingsdemolished or restored. A new, spectacularpedestrian footbridge could cross the river and linkWharf Street to the station. A new heart for thetown could then be created away from the busyA58 and closer to the river and station.

The Canalside and the Deepest LockBacks of shops and the Kwik Save car parkoverlook the canal and the deepest lock basin inthe country, Tuel Lane Lock. On the north side ofthe canal is a large superstore car park. There arepoor links between Wharf Street and the canaland along the canal itself. Poor quality surface carparking is blighting an area with the potential to bea major tourist attraction for the town.

A Mixed-use Area along the CanalThere could be a new, fine grain mixed-use areaalong the canal with a new public space linkingthe canal to Wharf Street, where the public toiletsare currently located.


Improving Accessibility to the River and CanalThroughout Sowerby Bridge, pedestrianthoroughfares should be created to improveaccessibility between the town centre and thecanal and river. A circular promenade should linkThe Wharf in the east to the park in the west.

Other Town Projects

Relocation of the MarketIt is crucial for the future viability and sustainabilityof the market that it is relocated to a new sitecloser to existing shops and facilities.The market could be moved to a location which isclose to Wharf Street, which would be better forthe market traders. The existing Wharf Street carpark occupies an accessible site close to existingshops and The Wharf. An eye-catching,innovative new Marketplace could be created,utilising the changes in level across the site tocreate new stalls with parking at its lower level. Inthe long term, an indoor market could perhaps belocated inside the adjacent Bingo Hall.

The release of the existing market site forresidential-based, mixed-use development couldgenerate finance to cross-subsidise the relocationof the market.

Wharf Street Car ParkIn the longer term, the Kwik Save car park couldbe redeveloped and the public toilets demolished.This would open up a large area of land betweenthe canal and Wharf Street that could be used tocreate a larger, retail based mixed-use area withquality built frontages addressing the canal andenclosing a new public space.

A new Town Quarter

Town Centre (left), the River Calder and station to the right

View of new footbridge connecting town centre to station and riverside walkway

Key Issues

1. The station is disconnected from thetown centre.

2. The river and canal are underexploited.3. The market is in decline.4. The town is dominated by traffic.5. Key river and canalside locations are occupiedby inappropriate uses.



Key buildings


New bridge

1. Relocate the existing industrialuses to alternative sites anddemolish existing buildings

2. Create a pedestrian footbridgelinking the railway station toOld Cawsey

3. Demolish existing toilets andcreate new square

4. Move the market to WharfStreet

1. Create a new square on thesouth side of the river

2. Reinstate Old Cawsey

3. Create a new squareaddressing The Wharf

4. Create a riverside walk

5. Provide a new car park offHolmes Road with a footbridgelink to The Wharf

1. Build a mixed-usedevelopment along theriverside

2. Create a mixed-usedevelopment along thecanalside

1. Industrial uses situated ininappropriate locations on theriverside

2. Poor pedestrian links betweenthe railway station and thetown centre

3. Area of vacant land adjacentto The Wharf

4. Area of vacant land on OldCawsey facing the canal andthe river

Sowerby BridgeTransformational Project

Strategy

To regenerate the town centre between WharfStreet and the station through the creation of anew mixed-use quarter that reconnects thedisparate areas of the town and restitches the urban fabric

Actions

A New Town QuarterA new focus and town quarter for Sowerby Bridgeshould be created away from the busy main roadand closer to the river and railway station. Thereare three key components within thistransformational project that would radicallychange the character of this neglected area of thetown. These include: providing a new pedestrianlink from the railway station to Wharf Street aspart of a comprehensive redevelopment of theHolmes Road area; reinstating Old Cawsey linkingThe Wharf to Town Hall Street; and encouragingpedestrian accessibility to the river and canalthrough a linked network of canalside andriverside walkways.

A Bridge for Sowerby Bridge Visible from a number of locations in the town,this landmark bridge would create a direct linkfrom the railway station across the river to OldCawsey and Wharf Street. The bridge would spanfrom the existing arches on the northern platformacross the river, on axis to Christ Church.

New buildings could be accessed from the bridgeand the regeneration of the adjoining industrialarea would transform it into a vibrant residentialand mixed-use quarter overlooking the RiverCalder. This could be achieved by relocating theexisting industrial businesses to an alternative site,improving vehicular access from the west,restoring the historic mill buildings and replacingthe old industrial sheds with high-density, mixed-use buildings grouped around a series of highquality public spaces overlooking the river.

Reinstatement of Old Cawsey This historic lane runs parallel to Wharf Street andthe river. Redevelopment in locations along itsroute and overlooking the canal will bring activityto this area through the creation of a new mixed-use neighbourhood.

Sowerby Bridge

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Key Buildings

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reducing the impact of

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removing blight

Landscape improvements

and waterside walkways

New bridges

Key Buildings: 1.The Town Hall; 2. The station; 3. Christ Church. Town Centre Projects: 4. NewBridge over the river; 5. Holmes Lane; 6. Old Cawsey; 7. Canalside; 8. Development beside theWharf; 9. The new market; 10. A ‘Golden Carpet’ of public realm; Rationalising Land Use andRemoving Blight; 11. In the West End; 12. Along Hollins Mill Lane; 13. Along Station Road; 14. OffTuel Lane. Gateways and Arteries: 15. Gateway at the top of Tuel Lane; 16. Gateway on RochdaleRoad; 17. Gateway on Bolton Brow; 18. Towpath improvements; 19. Riverside path; 20. Visualimprovements/reducing the impact of traffic; 21. Parking and a new footbridge; 22. The Wharf.

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link through Stern Mills

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UpperCalderValleyRenaissance 85The Flying Shuttle

The Flying Shuttle

IntroductionThe Flying Shuttle is a conceptual project,symbolising the weaving together of the warp andthe weft of the Upper Calder Valley in aninterconnected series of physical, environmental,cultural, social, spiritual and virtual projects; somevisible, some invisible.

Just as the Flying Shuttle revolutionised theweaving process in the late 18th century, movingfaster than the eye could see to bring economicprosperity to the Valley, so will its 21st centuryequivalent give collective expression to the qualityand creativity of the Valley and its communities.

The Flying Shuttle will create a continuous quilt ofconnectivity, uniting the Valley and allowing it tobecome greater than just the sum of its parts.

Marking the ValleyA traditional activity for both residents and visitorsis to walk a valley, often with the goal of reachinga vantage point or landmark. Such viewpoints areoften spontaneously marked by walkers with astone cairn, or ‘way station’, which growsincrementally as each traveller adds his or herstone to the pile. Stoodley Pike is a monumentalversion of one of these cairns, built in 1815 tocommemorate the victory at the Battle ofWaterloo.

Whilst the invisible presence of the Flying Shuttlewill be felt everywhere in the Valley, its physicalexpression will be given form and function throughthe creation of a series of 21st century WayStations on the valley tops. The project will becalled Marking the Valley.

Weaving the Valley Together

“ Weavingtogether theValley of Ideas”

Marking the Valley will be a public art project thatwill create eleven Renaissance Way Stations atadvantageous points to the north and south of thecentral valley axis. These points will literally andfiguratively mark a transition between thesheltered valley and the exposed Penninelandscape of the tops.

The Renaissance Way StationsThe Renaissance Way Stations will have both apublic and a private character. They will be linkedvisually, and with sound and electronically. Just asthe Flying Shuttle carried yarn so Marking theValley will allow ‘shuttles’ to carry light, sound andmessages from side to side across the Valley anddown into the towns themselves. Each Station willform a point of visual focus and act as a shelterfrom the elements.

The CompetitionIt is intended that six of the Renaissance Stationsshould be designed locally and five by aninternational competition.

Form and MaterialsNo limitation will be placed on the shape, height,colour or material of the Station. However,consideration should be given in the design to thecontext and setting of the Valley. The followingpoints will be included in the briefs:

• Marking the Valley is a project thatremembers the past but is firmly focused onthe future

• Stations will have individual charactersLeft: The RenaissanceWay Station ValleyModel by RogerBurnett


• Stations should be able to communicate withother Stations, either using focused humansound or wireless communication

• A facility should be provided to record thethoughts of travellers

• Consideration should be given to using sun,wind and water as power sources for theStations

• The Stations will form a visual and virtualnetwork in the Valley – in doing so they willmake the largest permanent public artwork inthe world

• Each Station should allow for the subtle wearand presence of travellers to be recordedsimply – as walkers will often create informalstone cairns at high points on a well travelledroute

• Each individual design must contain commonelements that will enable celebratory eventsto take place across the Valley.

Festivals and ActivitiesThe Flying Shuttle will be given further shape andform through the creation of a series of eventsand activities that will build up over time to createa collective image for the Valley, locally, nationallyand internationally.

The Calder Valley FestivalThrough integrated programming, the culturalcommunity of the Valley will work towards thecreation of The Calder Valley Festival, harnessingtalents and energies both rural and urban, tocelebrate and promote everything the Valley hasto offer. Whether concentrated or dispersed overseveral months, the Calder Valley Festival has thepotential, say within five years, to establish itselfas an internationally renowned event.

Celebrating the Valley WarpEach of the individual elements of the Valley Warpshould be celebrated once a year, resulting in oneevent taking place every quarter - the River Festival,the Canal Festival, the Railway Festival and theRoad Festival. The latter could include the CalderValley Marathon, a subtle way of starting to rethinkthe way movement is accommodated along thevalley floor, through closing the A646 for acombination of running, walking, cycling androllerblading events.

Celebrating the Valley WeftThe Valley Weft could be celebrated through theCalder Run, weaving up and down the Valley withrunners electronically recording their progress ateach Renaissance Way Station and in each of the21st Century Marketplaces, automatically taking uphis or her place in an ever expanding pantheon ofparticipants.

The Valley of StorytellingEach of the Renaissance Way Stations, as well asthe 21st Century Marketplaces, could be a place forboth recording, and listening to, stories. In tribute toTed Hughes, many of whose poems were inspiredby the landscape of the Valley, the 21st CenturyMarketplace in Mytholmroyd could be designed toinclude an audio-visual camera obscura, thefocusing of which would bring together his poemsand their landscape inspiration.

The Flying Shuttle Cocktail and Renaissance AleTo celebrate the launch of the Vision and Charter,a Renaissance Ale has been brewed locally and aFlying Shuttle Cocktail invented, both to be enjoyedlocally in time for Christmas, at the Market of Ideasbeing held in Hebden Bridge.

The Flying Shuttle

"One of ourfirst post-itDreams was fora beach inTodmorden ….it arr ived onAugust 9th!"

Yorkshire ForwardAndy Tordoff: Head of Rural Renaissance and TourismRhona Pringle: Rural Renaissance Market Towns ManagerGeoff Needham: Head of West YorkshireTracey Greig: Inclusion Manager West Yorkshire Office

Calderdale Metropolitan Borough CouncilPaul Sheehan: Chief ExecutiveJanet Waggot: Group Director Regeneration & DevelopmentJim Metcalf: Chief Planning OfficerMark Thompson: Head of Housing and Community SupportJohn Hodgson: Principal Officer, Economic DevelopmentAdrian Rose: Regeneration ManagerHilary Brooke: Principal Officer Partnership LiaisonWyn Jones: Planning OfficerKelly Jevons: Rural Programme OfficerClare Madders: Rural Development Administration OfficerRichard Makin: Land and Property Services ManagerSimon Brearley: Land and Property Services SurveyorFi Godfrey-Faussett: Arts Officer, Community ServicesClaire Slattery: Arts Officer, Leisure ServicesJohn Bates: Community ServicesBrendan Mowforth: Community ServicesPeter Vardy: Community ServicesPhil Radcliffe: Planning Policy SectionAllan Green: Team Leader, Engineer, TrafficDavid Proctor: Senior Engineer, Transportation David Brown: Senior Engineer, TrafficBrian Sutcliffe: Engineer, TrafficNigel Pickles: Group Engineer, Engineering Services

Calderdale Forward (Local Strategic Partnership)David Smith: Director

Yorkshire Forward’s Rural Renaissance Panel ConsultantsGVA Grimley: Judith AtkinsonDavid Taylor Partnership: David Taylor, Lesley Giddins,Ian McNichol, Neil Pickering Gillespies: Brian Evans, Sue Evans, Michael Sharpe,Howard Stanton Adam Wellings Consulting Ltd: Adam Wellings Stephen Feber Consulting: Stephen Feber IT Express: Tom Cone, Andy CarrollSteer Davies Gleave: Don Nutt Homes and Services: Bob Young

The Upper Calder Valley Steering GroupCllr. John Hardy: CMBC, ChairDavid Fletcher: Hebden Royd Partnership, Deputy ChairCllr. Christine Bampton-Smith: Parish and Town Council Chris Edwards: Walsden RepresentativeJames Gregory: Todmorden PrideAlan Brookes: Royd RegenerationViv Jorisson: Sowerby Bridge ForumJane Williams: The Valley Setting Action GroupTony Milroy: Farming and the Rural Economy Action Group Jean Rees: Tourism, Culture and Heritage Action Group Lars Hansen: Housing Action GroupMark Harrison: Business, Marketing and IT Action Group Myra James: Getting About Action GroupJames Allison: Youth and Social Wellbeing Action Group Roger Burnett: Flying Shuttle Action GroupTim Wyatt: Press OfficerDavid Smith: Calderdale ForwardPolly Webber: Sustainability RepresentativeSteve Murty: Local Business RepresentativeBob Moore: Local Business Representative

The Valley TeamA. Midgley, Alan Brooks, Alan Sutcliffe, Allan Cooke, Andrew Gibbon, Fiona Gibbon, AndrewMcIntosh, Andy Mears, Andy Mews, Angie Barrs, Ann Anthon, Anne Lee, Anthony Newsome,Anthony Rae, Autumn Moore, Barbara Scholefield, Barnaby Fryer, Bo Scholefield, Brenda Hodgeson,Bruce Kenworthy, Charlie Harris, Claire Slattery, Cllr. Hilary Myers, D. England, David Scott, DianaMonahan, Doug Lyon, Dr. Lesley Mackay, E.Ellis, Fi Godfrey-Faussett, Frances Platt, Geoff Wood,Gill Swan, Ginny Feeney, Gladys Duromsly, Gordon Rimer, Graham Packham, Hal Clarkson, HelenFletcher, Hilary Chadwick, Innes Thomson, Jack Lockhart, Jackie Cobham, Jeffrey Sutcliffe, JenniferJackson, Jo Higgins, Joanna Kessel, John Boggis, John Hodgeson, John Lyons, John Spence, JohnStarkie, John Wilson, Judith Appleton, Julia Watson, Julia Wilson, Kath Newsome, Kathryn Martin,Keith Briggs, Kevin McKelfey, Lesley Fallais, Liz Neale, Margaret Holmes, Margareta Holmstedt, MaryClear, Max Tasker, Michael Allen, Mike Elder, Mike Pemsel, Mike Ruth, Mr Peck, Mrs J Peck, MyraTownley, Nader Fekri, Nina Smith, Ordette Thornton, Pam Jordan, Patricia Hunt, Penny Eastwood,Penny Rampson, Pete Keal, Peter Brant, Peter Stocks, Peter Stoodley, Phil Champion, Polly Webber,R. Newhouse, R. Smith, Rachael Babas, Rachel Ashelford, Rachel Johnson, Richard Baldwin, RogerButterworth, Sharon Kershaw, Phillip Kershaw, Shelley Bourgoyne, Steve Helliwell, Tim Cole, TimWyatt, Trevor Smith, Trisha Jarratt, Valerie Jordan, Zsazsa Noszkay

Mytholmroyd Property WorkshopsJane Brown, Stewart Brown, Stuart Chadwick, Peter Coles, Dennis Deakin, Stewart Edgell, DuncanMcKie, Pam Jordan, Brenda Hodgson, Pat Gordon, John Gott, Derek Parker, Michael Parker, DavidScott, Ralph Thornber, John Thornton, John Veitch, John Sohota, G.S. Franklin, M.E Franklin , DougyMansfield, Richard Marshall, Eric Alston, Paul Bradley, John Boggis

Sowerby Bridge Property WorkshopsGarry Stringfellow, Jim Brown, Malcolm Gardner, Chris Plant, Tom Dukan, Paul Nutten, RichardWood, Richard Bickerton, John Ruddick, John Coupe, Alan Green, Stephen J. Gavin

John Thompson & Partners TeamJohn Thompson, Marcus Adams, Joanna Allen, Nicola Forde, Laura Lupo, Sam Hails, DebbieRadcliffe, Charles Campion, David Harrison, Jane Threlfall, Mike Beeton, Romy Shovelton, DuncanEcob, Fred London, Jane Threlfall, Georgina Gordon, John Adams, Fred London

John Thompson & PartnersCommunity Planning, Urban Design, ArchitectureWren House, 43 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8EL

T: +44 (0)20 7405 1211 F: +44(0)20 7405 1221E: [email protected] W: www.jtp.co.uk

Calderdale Metropolitan Borough CouncilTown Hall, Crossley Street, Halifax, HX1 1UJ

T: 01422 357257F: 01422 393102

Upper Calder Valley Renaissance, Hebden Bridge Visitors Centre, Butlers Wharf, New Road,Hebden Bridge, HX7 8AF www.ucvr.com

Yorkshire Forward Victoria House, Victoria Place, Leeds, LS11 5AE

T: 0113 3949600W: www.yorkshire-forward.com

www.rmtportal.com

Acknowledgments

Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holder of images used in this report.If you have any queries, please contact John Thompson & Partners

A closing dispatch from the Upper Calder Valley

John, you asked me to dip my pen in a bottle of Scotch and come up with something lyrical – so here it is! Let metell you what I believe the spirit of the Renaissance is all about. But be warned: like alcohol, it’s addictive.

Renaissance is all about new ideas, new initiatives, new alliances and new beginnings. It is about shaping a betterfuture, a future that isn’t dependant on a run-of-the-mill five-year plan, but on a bold and imaginative, fifty-yearVision. As with Rome, the Upper Calder Valley Renaissance cannot be built in a day. Aptly, my twelve-month oldson helped to launch the "Bringing It All Together Weekend" in June. Renaissance is an investment for our children’s future and the real fruits of the project will be reaped by his generation, not ours.

You told us from the outset that the Renaissance process would be "vision led not funding fed". I’ve no problemwith that. In recent years I’ve seen too much public money go towards too many ill-conceived schemes. White elephants are not a native species of this valley. Also, we have been told by John Prescott that, "Our policies,programmes and structures of governance are based on engaging local people in partnerships for change”. I’ve no problem with that either. Over this first year of Renaissance the people of the Upper Calder Valley have sub-scribed to that strategy in their thousands.

But the government and Yorkshire Forward must stay with the daring initiative that they have set in motion. And indoing so they must understand that creativity – for that is what we’re engaged in, be it through housing, farming,industry or any other form of human activity – by its very nature, involves doing things differently. Creative thinkingdoes not easily fit into regimented tick boxes, nor does it rigidly adhere to prescribed rules and regulations.

Already the people of the Upper Calder Valley have begun to move mountains. Nine months ago I was hardlyaware of farming in the valley, but I’m certainly aware of it now! The farmer’s Action Plan sets a benchmark for allthe other Action Groups to aspire to. Their contribution alone will go a long way towards creating a sustainablefuture for this region. In Mytholmroyd, the Church, the Community Association and the local people are intent oncreating a twenty-first century Market Town from scratch and, into the bargain, celebrating the life and work oftheir native poet, Ted Hughes.

As for us in Sowerby Bridge, for years we’ve all grumbled about traffic congestion. Someone once said; if they can’t move the road let us move the town. That quip led to the Courier publishing a picture of how Wharf Streetwould look if converted into a branch of the Rochdale Canal. Well, it’s no longer a joke. A group of us here are now working on an ambitious plan to move the town centre 200 yards to the south. But even assuming that WharfStreet remains dry, Sowerby Bridge can still boast of more water than Venice.

Five hundred years ago Michelangelo impoverished himself in making the first Renaissance happen and I’ve justblown my families Tax Credit in doing the same. That is what it takes in commitment and passion. As we come tothe end of this first year, on the tops and in the five towns, there’s elation and exhaustion. The people of this valleywill scream if you ask us to fill in another "Post It" - but we’ll be damned if we’ll let the initiative die!

From Roger Burnett, Sculptor, Sowerby Bridge to John Thompson 1 December 2003

http://www.jtp.co.uk

http://www.yorkshire-forward.com

http://www.rmtportal.com

http://www.ucvr.com

the valley vision

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