Brighouse businesses worried about falling footfall amid major regeneration work have voiced their requests for more council help to get them through it – but are also optimistic about the future.
The first stage of the major works – a scheme which forms a part of Brighouse’s £19.1 million Town Deal funding award – is expected to finish later this summer.
But Calderdale Council’s new Reform UK administration paused the second phase for assessment after hearing of businesses’ concerns about falling footfall, and trade, due to the disruption.
As residents and businesses await more details – the Cabinet heard recently phase one work is going on and an existing delay means the time is being used for the re-assessment whereupon a revised second phase can begin – a new group, Brighouse Independent Shopkeepers, or BRISK, has been set up.
BRISK says it has been a difficult seven months for businesses affected by the current work but, looking ahead, there is optimism.
William Marshall, Director of Reel Deal Gaming Centre, said phase one work has had a major impact with football and revenue “seriously down.”
But, he said, “the scheme when it is finished, it’s going to be wonderful.”
“The town will look fantastic and we’re not trying to oppose that in any shape or form but we feel that we just need some help and we want the council to give us some support.
“Immediately, we would like to see them try and consider to give us some free parking so we can promote the town, promote the free parking, and get people to come back into town as quickly as possible,” he said.
Manager of Websters Distinctive Furniture, Oliver Blackburn, said before the works started they were in favour of them and want Brighouse to be an improved, better place, and do want the investment.
“But we didn’t anticipate the downturn in footfall – people not coming who would usually come and being deterred away because of the walkways and the access to the town,” he said.
He urged the council to rethink plans to remove around 30 on-street parking spots in the town centre as part of the redevelopment.
“We want people to come into town – we know it is difficult at this time but we are supportive and we want to carry on being supportive.
“When the work is complete, hopefully then we can progress even further the town, the whole place will be improved for the better,” he said.
Gary Taylor, whose Edward & Co Hairdressers business falls into the area planned to be developed next, said lessons must be learned from the first stage of work, with better communication.
“Let’s learn from potentially what could have been avoided in the first phase to make it easier for businesses, to make it easier for shoppers.
“One of the things I am really passionate about is the council listens and for the shoppers, for example, while the development is going on, can we not have the first half hour of parking free?
“The parking charges have gone up 200 per cent – that’s a massive impact and we’ve had the disruption , so it’s been one thing after another for all the businesses.
“I am passionate about keeping Brighouse alive and welcoming all the shoppers saying ‘we are here, we are still open, we all need your support’ and we want to be here when Brighouse does look a lot, lot nicer,” he said.
Leader of Calderdale Council, Coun Dan Sutherland said the scheme was inherited from the previous Labour administration.
He added that the council was listening to the concerns of local residents and traders.
Announcing the decision to “halt pending review” at the start of the month, Coun Sutherland (Reform UK, Illingworth and Mixenden), said: “The roadworks and associated highways scheme currently under way in Brighouse are a legacy of the former administration.
“We have heard the concerns of local communities and businesses about the impact this is having on them and the potential detriments the completed scheme would have such as loss of parking.
“We are clear that any changes must be for the benefit of local people with their voices shaping the eventual outcome.
“We recognise the importance of people being able to access the town via car and bus to be able to shop and enjoy the other amenities in the town.
“It is difficult to change a scheme that is currently under way, but we believe the seriousness of this case merits a pause whilst a review can be undertaken.
“In this respect we have given notice that we are suspending the proposed Phase 2 of the works in Brighouse until our review has been completed.”
At Cabinet two weeks later, councillors from the new ruling Reform UK group indicated new plans for phase two of the scheme are due imminently.
