The Brighouse Town Deal Board and Calderdale Council are inviting community groups, charities and organisations to express an interest in giving two of the town centre’s temporary parklets a new home when they are removed as part of the £19.1m Town Deal investment work.
Four pedestrian areas with benches, plants and trees, two on Commercial Street and two in Bethel Street car park, were installed in 2021 as part of accelerator funding to bring benefits to Brighouse ahead of the full UK Government-funded Town Deal projects being delivered.
Now, as the proposals for the market building get closer to becoming reality, the two parklets by the canalside in Bethel Street car park need to be found new homes elsewhere in the community.
It’s hoped they can bring continued benefits to residents and visitors to this part of Calderdale with applications open to community groups and charities based in the Brighouse, Rastrick or Hipperholme & Lightcliffe wards – including towns and villages like Clifton, Bailiff Bridge, Brookfoot and Hove Edge.
More details about the parklets, what is required, and who is eligible to express an interest is available at www.brighousedeal.co.uk/parklets(external link). The closing date for expressions is Friday 9 February.
Applications will be assessed by the Town Deal Board and Calderdale Council to ensure the publicly-funded parklets, powered by Levelling Up, continue to be available to the community into the future.
Cllr Howard Blagbrough, Chair of the Brighouse Town Deal Board, said:
“Brighouse’s parklets have played an important role in the past few years as a space for people to sit, meet and enjoy in the heart of our town centre.
“Now, as we develop and put in place the Town Deal plans which will bring even more of those opportunities to residents, shoppers and visitors, we want to ensure the parklets have a new home with community groups, organisations or charities around our area.
“We look forward to assessing the expressions of interest to ensure the two Bethel Street car park parklets continue to bring benefits to where we live into the future.”
Cllr Sarah Courtney, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Towns, Tourism and Voluntary Sector, said:
“Local people are at the centre of the Brighouse transformation, so it’s great that they’ve benefited from the parklets and that these benefits will live on in the community.
“We encourage community organisations in the area to come forward if they can use these welcoming spaces to give people a better experience of our vibrant places, which means they want to spend longer there and keep coming back.
“It’s exciting to see the Town Deal progressing as it builds a thriving future for Brighouse.”
It is hoped that the remaining two parklets in Commercial Street will be made available to community groups and charities in the near future, in advance of the work starting within the town centre.
For more information about the Brighouse Town Deal, visit www.brighousedeal.co.uk(external link) and www.calderdalenextchapter.co.uk(external link), which also includes details of other major projects across Calderdale.
The Town Deal programme aims to regenerate towns and deliver long-term economic and productivity growth. This is through investments in urban regeneration, digital and physical connectivity, skills, heritage and enterprise infrastructure. As of July 2021, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has offered Town Deals to all 101 places that submitted proposals, committing over £2.35bn of investment across c.700 projects nationwide.
Distinctiveness and enterprise are key themes of the Vision 2024 for Calderdale. The year 2024 marks Calderdale’s 50th – get involved with the debate on X with #VisionCdale2024 and find out more at www.calderdale.gov.uk/vision