STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO CAHFT CENTRE PUBLIC CONSULTATION FEEDBACK.

Thank you to all of the local and regional residents, business owners and other stakeholders who have engaged in the public consultation of the CAHFT Centre, including by attending the 17th November consultation event, viewing the current proposals, attending various community consultations and emailing questions, views and suggestions.

We had over 200 responses up to the 2nd December deadline, with a wide range of thoughts and opinions. 

Some of the main points made were around the design features of the proposed building, possible effects on parking in the village, the specific nature of community use of the new centre, risk to UNESCO World Heritage site status, ways to assist tourist visits to the village, the inclusion or otherwise of the Caroline Street Social Club in the project, how many more Shipley College students the building might generate, the best ways for Saltaire to tell its story, whether the building can be located elsewhere, and whether public toilets will now be lost. 

To address some of the main queries:

• The design of the building and the space as a whole is a currently ongoing process that includes stakeholders and statutory bodies, for example Bradford Metropolitan District Council and Historic England

   

• The planning application will be submitted in early 2023, following pre-application consultation on architectural development with Historic England and the Local Planning Authority, who have so far provided positive guidance

   

• Historic England is the body that advises the UK government on heritage matters. Plans that threaten the Outstanding Universal Value of Saltaire will not pass the planning application process

   

• There are many examples of urban UNESCO World Heritage sites that continue to develop and this can positively, rather than negatively, affect their World Heritage Site statuS

   

• The Highways Development Control Department is a statutory body involved in the process and will raise any concerns related to Saltaire’s car parking capacity and whether new spaces should be provided. The project is also inclusive of a parking survey, transport statement and travel plan that will be submitted as part of the application

   

• Local residents expressed concern that there is not more resident permit parking in the village

   

• The current proposals include publicly-accessible historical displays by the Saltaire Collection, flexible exhibition space that could be used by various local groups to promote other Saltaire activity, and a community classroom that can be used to bring schools and other groups to learn about the history of the village

   

• Discussions are taking place with Bradford Tourism to explore what other facilities could be provided in the new centre

   

• The current proposals also include a public square to the front of the building and a publicly-accessible rooftop garden - intended to be open to the public during the daytime, which can be locked to the public at night

   

• The current proposals include five modern, below-ground-level classrooms for Shipley College technology-based teaching and learning. However, the classroom space is about providing more appropriate facilities for existing students to learn contemporary skills, rather than a large increase in student numbers

   

• A new Caroline Social Club on Caroline Street was included in the original planning, but neither a proposal for the club to temporarily relocate during the building process, or a further proposal for the build to take place in two phases, were deemed feasible. The Caroline Social Club committee amicably decided not to be involved in this project

   

• At no stage was Caroline Social Club asked to contribute £1m to any version of the scheme. Some variations of the proposals that did include Caroline Social Club, however, did become prohibitively expensive

   

• The original announcement of regional Towns Fund projects took place in late 2020, and has been accessible on the Towns Fund and Bradford Metropolitan District Council websites since that time. The Towns Fund Board was responsible for choosing the projects that were put forward for development

   

• Public consultation events for all of the £25m Shipley Towns Fund projects took place at the Caroline Social Club, at Victoria Hall and in the Kirkgate Centre in January 2022. A further public consultation event took place to unveil the CAHFT proposals at the Exhibition Building in November 2022

   

• Victoria Hall would like to clarify that, although listed as a ‘Visitor Information Point’ by Bradford Council, this is due to accepting leaflet racks in the foyer after the closure of Saltaire’s Visitor Information Centre. Victoria Hall is a commercial venue with a small team who work to hire out its facilities and put on events, and often receives visitors whose expectations it cannot meet

   

• The current proposals include new modern public toilets and changing facilities, which are a core requirement of Shipley Town Council, one of the project stakeholders

   

All feedback received via the Shipley College consultation process is shared with the architects and Bradford Council Planning Authority. A full planning application will then be submitted in early 2023.