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Your views: 'Ambitious but well thought out'
Reader Matthew Lodge emailed his views on the Halifax Reneissance project....
I have been a resident of Halifax all my life and I am proud to call this town my home, which is why I am glad that finally there is an organisation campaigning to rejuvenate the town centre.
The Vision
I think the overall vision, laid out in the final report, is very ambitious but well thought out. I totally agree that change needs to happen in the town centre and surrounding areas in order to sustain the town in the future.
All too often are residents travelling to neighbouring towns and cities for leisure, recreation activities and to better retail outlets. As mentioned in the report, there is a significant number of people that live in the town but work elsewhere. There are even more people that live in the town but go elsewhere to shop and take part in leisure activities. Take myself as an example, I live and work in Halifax but yet I didn't buy one Christmas present in the town. I went to Leeds city centre and the Trafford Centre. If we were able to retain the wealth that the town has through people spending their money in the town then Halifax has to be better.
Key Projects
I have chosen a few of the key projects that I personally feel I can comment about. They are as follows.
The Piece Hall
I agree 1000% that the Piece Hall should be the hub of the town centre. I also have to say that I think the council are guilty of dithering over the Piece Hall. Ten years ago this building used to be a hive of activity from a Thursday through to Saturday with numerous market stalls populating the cobbles. Having spoken to various former traders who used to sell goods here, they were driven out by increasing rent charges from the Council. In my opinion Calderdale Council have turned the Piece Hall into what it is today, a shell of its former glory. We now have a handful of traders selling items that know one wants to buy along with empty shops that were once occupied.
I believe now that the council can redeem themselves by, along with the renaissance team, bringing back to life this glorious building.
Having looked at some of the plans, I do have to say that I hope that some of these designs do not make it into the final draft. I hope that there will be no structures attached to the side of the beautiful building like leaches attached to your arm. I think some of these designs look awful and are not in keeping with the structure itself. They are an eyesore! Restore the building by all means but don't make it an embarrassment and attach metal leaches to the outer walls.
The Piece Hall should be a place that is buzzing and vibrant 7 days a week from morning until well into the night. I walked through the other night and I was surprised, especially now the Rink is open, that none of the retailers stayed open to take advantage of the extra visitors. I certainly thought the caf's may have stayed open to provide refreshments. I do appreciate that at the moment it may not be financially viable for these retailers to stay open due to lack of customers. However, going forward, if more is done to the Piece Hall to attract visitors this could be the case in the future.
Given the layout of the sloped cobbled area within the 4 walls, this would be a fantastic venue for outdoor concerts and performing arts productions. The venue could be adapted with extra lighting and sound equipment, placed around the four sides of the building to enhance spectators' experience.
New and different shops should be encouraged to open, with quality merchandise being sold that customers want to buy. Again, better lighting and a cleaner building will attract more people especially after night fall. One thing that needs to be stamped out is antisocial behaviour in the building. Often there are youths loitering in the stairwells which will put some people of. Also there is a constant stench coming from the stair as though people are urinated there.
I think we need to think outside of the box a little when it comes to looking at what we can bring to the Piece Hall to encourage visitors and the people of Calderdale to keep on coming.
Rail Gateway
I am a rail commuter from Sowerby Bridge to Halifax on a daily basis. I therefore totally understand the call for some urgent action to be taken at Halifax Railway Station which has remained largely untouched for many years.
If I were to travel to a town, the size of Halifax, that had a station like ours, it would certainly put me off from travelling there again.
There has been lots of discussion over what should happen to the station and whose responsibility is to pay for it. I frankly don't understand why there is so much talk yet no action has being taken. I do welcome the idea of an interchange incorporating a brand new train and bus station. This would certainly enhance the town's chances of attracting a mainline route to London and all the benefits that would bring. First and last impressions are important, therefore, I do welcome the interest from the renaissance committee. I just hope something can be done sooner rather than later.
We have a reputation in this country of letting red tape hamper decision making when it comes to this kind of thing. If we were any other country this would have been sorted by now.
Broad Street Redevelopment
I am very pleased that the long awaited work to redevelop Broad Street is now under way. It is about time that we once again had a cinema and leisure complex in the town.
However, I do think that we have missed the boat by not incorporating different leisure opportunities within this project. Yes, we need a new cinema, more restaurants, retail outlets but we don't require a new bowling ally.
A friend of mine was at the Halifax Snooker club a few weeks ago and was chatting to one of the co-owners and apparently they rarely fill the bowling ally and are yet to make a profit after over 2 years in operation. This leads me to believe that incorporating a new bowling ally as part of this project may not be the best idea. Again, I think we needed to think outside the box a little here. We could have built an indoor ski slope (like the Excape near Castleford) which incorporated climbing walls, dry slope toboggans' etc. These are just a few ideas that popped into my head but they are all different and would have brought something unique to the town.
Conclusion
That said, and I know there are a few critical points above, but I think the work that the Renaissance team and the Council are doing has my support. On the whole I do look forward to seeing the masterplan physically take shape, I just hope that we don't have to wait too long to see anything happen.
So far there is a lot of talk but not much action.
Matthew D. Lodge
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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