Neighbourhood plan to share ambitious vision for upper Calder Valley

The Hebden Royd and Hilltop Parishes Neighbourhood Plan covers the period between 2021-36 and a geographical area almost one third of the entire Calderdale district.

It is a joint project between Hebden Royd Town Council and Blackshaw, Erringden, Heptonstall and Wadsworth Parish Councils.

The first of two public consultations on the text of the draft Neighbourhood Plan for this area began yesterday (Wednesday), running through until April 7. Due to Covid-19 the consultation process will be almost entirely online but there will be three virtual question-and-answer sessions held on March 11 and 23, and April 1.

The neighbourhood plan seeks to address issues such as housing, regeneration, transport and connectivity, climate emergency, flooding, bio-diversity and landscape, through a range of policies designed to work on a local level which is complementary to the Calderdale Local Plan.

Coun Jon Kimber, chairman of the joint neighbourhood plan committee, and a member of Wadsworth Parish Council, said: “The purpose of a neighbourhood plan is to help local communities to influence the planning in the area in which they live and work and develop a shared vision for the development of the community.

“The production of this plan is the result of cooperation between all the councils with a shared aim to provide a simple and workable planning framework for our local area based on the requirements and desires of the local population, as expressed during public consultations. We look forward to receiving your views.”

The draft neighbourhood plan (NP) will provide a new planning framework for parts of the upper Calder Valley, with policies which are more locally specific than Calderdale’s Local Plan.

Here are some of the headlines for what the neighbourhood plan is proposing:

Housing should be sustainably located in town centres. The NP proposes to allocate six sites for new housing on brownfield sites, with innovative flooding-resilient design.

Three key sites have been proposed for regeneration: Hebden Bridge ‘marketplace’ to have a new square opposite the Town Hall; Stubbing Holme has plans for new town centre housing; and Mytholmroyd Community Centre hopes to benefit from increased facilities. The area must retain a balanced economy, recognising the different strengths of Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and the Uplands - a process to develop and fund NP regeneration projects is being prepared by the separate Town Board.

The plan supports improvement to the public realm and buildings to make them fully accessible.