From Andrew B

Sunday, 24 May 2015

Dare I say it would make a nice spot for a swimming pool?

From Bob Deacon

Sunday, 24 May 2015

In anticipation of this outcome the Hebden Bridge Partnership at its last public meeting elected a Task Force to discuss possible alternatives for the Valley Road site should the appeal be rejected. This task force includes representatives of the HBP, the Town Council, SOS and Calderdale Council members. A town meeting was convened to consider options.

The Task Force will be meeting shortly to take this forward and it will be in touch with the site owners with whom it has already had initial discussions about a Plan B.

Ideas floated address the whole of the Valley Road site including the CMBC car park and possibly the BT building beyond and include among other possibilities affordable housing and community facilities but also continued necessary car parking. One option is to consider a community share offer to acquire the land. Watch this space.

From Kez Armitage

Monday, 25 May 2015

Why not just leave it as it is? Why this obsession with filling every empty space in town with more buildings?

There is one aspect of Hebden Bridge about which most people agree. Quite simply, the town doesn't have enough car parking spaces. As someone has pointed out, car parking in Hebden Bridge has even made it onto Trip Advisor! Hebweb itself has had tales of visitors unable to find parking spaces and driving off elsewhere. I have personally seen cars circling Hope Street and Crown Street multiple times, in the hope that a space might just become available, causing much more pollution than is necessary. Removing the 'temporary' car park in Valley Road will only exacerbate the situation.

The buyers and developers of the site may well want their pound of flesh for their investment. Well, tough! Caveat emptor! If you want to invest in a place like Hebden, be sure to have the community on your side, and above all, look at local needs.

Some people will argue, in that inane and nonsensical mantra, that 'to do nothing is not an option'. Well to do nothing is always an option. And in this case, it's the best, and only sensible option.

From Martin F

Tuesday, 26 May 2015

I agree with Kez 100%.

From Julie C

Tuesday, 26 May 2015

The site is very useful for parking, but I guess it is also worth lots of money to the owners/developers, but only if they can get planning and 'do' something with it.

Does anyone know what they are asking for/paid for the site? It has had I think, outline permission to develop a few years ago. Did that run out and if so does that give a presumption that it is suitable for a concentrated development?

From Jon B

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Well done Hebden on stopping Sainsburys from building on the old fire station site. So now we can no longer use as it a car park either. It will sit as a blot on the landscape for a few more decades, until someone like Asda comes along and builds on it anyway.

Sainsburys were a good option for Hebden, a retail "giant', yes, but at least they had more of a conscience, more so than the Co-op, whose boss saw fit to elicit young boys to share his coke habit. This is the same Co-op that have decided you now have to pay to use their car park.
Also, if Hebden is "so" anti-supermarket, where is the "Stop The Co-op" campaign? Contradictions and double-standards.

From Eleanor Land

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Jon, I would be very interested in hearing examples of Sainsbury's having a conscience. Then I could do a comparison with the Co-op.

From Jon Morris

Saturday, 30 May 2015

I think it's very unlikely that Asda, or any other business, will take on the site, as the proposal was rejected because the roads are just too narrow to take that many deliveries. Perhaps they will come back with purely residential proposal instead.

It's a shame that the owners have now taken their ball home and closed the car park though. Hebden is short enough of parking spaces as it is.

Previously

HebWeb News: Sainsburys Loses Appeal (Friday, 22 May 2015)

HebWeb Forum: Questions about Sainsbury's (May 2015)

HebWeb Forum: Sainsbury's planning meeting (Sept 2014)

HebWeb News: Calderdale throws out Sainsbury's plans. (16 Sept 2014)

HebWeb Forum: Sainsbury's survey (Feb-March 2014)

Save our Shops supermarket survey

HebWeb Forum: Sainsbury's and Tesco's (Dec 2013-Feb 2014)

HebWeb News: Sainsbury's plans now online (30 Jan 2014)

HebWeb News: Protests as Town Council discusses the Sainsburys bid (8 Jan 2014)

HebWeb News: Brown's site: Questions raised over new Retail Assessment which backs proposed supermarket (July 2013)

HebWeb News: Brown's site: Planners recommend refusal of Supermarket and Hotel plans

HebWeb Forum - discussion from July 2012

HebWeb Forum - discussion from March to May2012