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Castleford
Castleford is a Yorkshire town which grew up with the mining industry, but the closure of almost all of the town's collieries by the 1990s seriously damaged the local economy. The town is now aiming to renew itself through a series of initiatives under the banner of “the Castleford Project”.
The Castleford Project
The Castleford Project has been developed by a partnership of public and private sector organisations, including:
- City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council (‘WMDC’)
- Yorkshire Forward
- English Partnerships
- Commission for Architecture and Built Environment (‘CABE’)
- Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
The development and implementation of the Castleford Project is being sponsored, managed, and recorded by Talkback UK on behalf of Channel 4.
Following the in-principle approval to the Castleford Project by the Partners in 2004, each project was developed in further detail and taken forward to implementation stage, with most projects now completed.
The Footbridge
The Castleford Bay river crossing is a key initiative of the Castleford Project. The River Aire flows through the centre of Castleford, yet five years ago was underused as a resource and amenity. It has now been opened up by a stylish new pedestrian bridge.
The river acts as a physical barrier between the communities living and working on either side, particularly those living to the north who must cross the river to access the services and amenities available within the town centre on the south side. Previously, the only existing bridge in the town centre was a busy road bridge with one narrow pavement. However, the new bridge is now a focal point for the town, connecting the communities.
The bridge was designed by architect Renato Benedetti of McDowell+Benedetti and funded primarily by English Partnerships, together with Wakefield Council and Yorkshire Forward.
English Partnerships provided £1.8m of the total £4.8m cost of the footbridge.
New Fryston
Following the Fryston and Wheldale pit closure in the 1980s, large areas of housing and key facilities in New Fryston such as the school were demolished. Just over 70 properties now remain.
The first phase of the project to regenerate New Fryston resulted in the development of a new village green, providing amenity space for residents in these communities, and a focal point for the planned 150 new homes over the next 5 years.
Future plans also include a wildlife haven incorporating wetlands, parkland, cycle paths and bridleways, and 34,745m² of employment floor space. Wakefield Council has masterminded the plans with Yorkshire Forward and English Partnerships; we are also funding the scheme through the National Coalfields Programme.
The long term future of Castleford
The Channel 4 programme “Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan” was a fascinating example of how important physical regeneration is to the future of a town, and the projects above - as highlighted in the 4-part series - covered just some of the work that we are involved in.
This aside, we are also completing the final stages of work at the nearby Glasshoughton site, creating a community of 180 homes, a shopping centre, hotels and the Xscape sports facility.
In addition we are working just north of the River Aire, to complete one of our seven Millennium Communities – the first environmentally sustainable developments in the country – in the heart of the former pit village of Allerton Bywater.
The work at New Fryston that was being undertaken off camera, including extensive community consultation will continue, and in particular we are working with local residents to deliver new infrastructure and complete the plan for the village.
Castleford is just one of the many examples demonstrating how successful regeneration has been in former coalfield communities, where over the past 10 years we have invested nearly £400m, encouraged the private sector to invest double that amount, created over 16,000 new jobs and built over 2000 new homes. Of the 2000 ha of heavily contaminated industrial land we have cleaned up, in these areas over half is now new public open space.
The community is at the heart of everything that we undertake, and as shown in the Channel 4 series, the importance of community champions such as Rheta, Alison and Wendy is invaluable. In the next few years we will carry on working with local people to continue the transformation of the five towns, of which Castleford is one, that are at the heart of Wakefield District.
