PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PLANS AT TOWN HALL

Hebden Bridge people will have another opportunity to look at the ambitious plans being prepared for developments at the rear of the Town Hall this Saturday (May 22).

Hebden Bridge Community Association is organising a drop-in consultation event between 10.30am and 2pm, when Leeds based architects Bauman Lyons will be showing their latest plans for the site. The proposals include a new large hall, a riverside courtyard area, extra meeting rooms, an enterprise centre geared at small local businesses, and a new entrance foyer and atrium.

"Our architects have done a great deal of work since our last public consultation in February, and we’re very keen that as many people as possible get the chance to see what they’re proposing. There was a strong consensus in February to make the most of the river frontage, and that’s exactly what the architects are now suggesting," says Andrew Bibby, one of the Association’s trustees.

The development, which will cost approaching £4m, is designed to provide facilities for the town for the very long term future, and the focus will be on energy efficiency and sustainability. The Community Association trustees are well advanced in funding applications for the building from the European Regional Development Fund and from the Community Builders fund.

"We are very excited at the way the plans are taking shape, but we want to ensure that as many local people as possible have the chance to see them and to feed back their comments and opinions," Andrew Bibby explains. The architects will revise their proposal in the light of public responses on Saturday, and will then present them again to the town on Saturday June 5th at another public event. Thereafter the plans will be submitted to Calderdale council for planning permission.

"We need planning permission in order to complete our funding applications. We’re working very hard on both bids, and if all goes well the builders could be getting under way as soon as next January," Andrew adds.