Town Teams - Walsden - "Conserving the Heart"

Walsden is the smallest of the five major settlements situated on the floor of the Upper Calder Valley. It is the most westerly village in the Valley and is close to the border with Lancashire. It is linear in form, stretching along the Rochdale Road parallel to Walsden Water and the Rochdale Canal.

Background
The village grew up along the main road over the Pennines connecting Lancashire and Yorkshire. The Industrial Revolution saw the growth of the village, with the arrival of the canal and later the railway. The area around the canal and river became a focus for manufacturing and a number of mill buildings still exist today.

Following the decline of manufacturing in the Valley, the surviving mill buildings are either vacant or significantly underused. Occupation is low and often accommodates uses that employ a small number of people and generate limited revenue. As a result, little investment has been put into these buildings over recent years.

Future uses are currently restricted by the Calderdale Unitary Development Plan that designates the area for employment uses. The location is some distance from the motorway network, and the inflexibility of the existing buildings for manufacturing has resulted in little interest being generated for future reuse.

The town's two main areas of activity are at the Rochdale Road and Alma Street junctions close to the Post Office and the railway station and at Riggs's Garden Centre, further to the west and one of the major employers and tourist attractions in the Valley.

As in Todmorden, living in outlying areas of the town is more popular than living in the town centre. There is a large demand for residential properties in the surrounding area and residential values are high. This is due in part to the stunning landscape and convenient rail access to Manchester.

Strategy
To utilise the quality of the existing buildings and environment around the river and canal, to create a new mixed-use quarter that establishes a vibrant new heart for Walsden.

A New Mixed-Use Centre
The area between Rochdale Road and Alma Street includes a number of impressive mill buildings overlooking the canal and river. Conservation Area status should be sought for this area, assisting its regeneration through the retention and conversion of existing buildings for a mixture of uses including residential, live/work, employment, shops, cafes, workshops and other leisure uses.

New development should be integrated within the area with quality built frontages overlooking the canal and river corridors. On Rochdale Road, new landmark buildings could be created to announce the new heart of the town from the road and railway. Improved accessibility to the canal and river corridors should be promoted through improvements to the walkway and towpath.

Walsden · Todmorden · Hebden Bridge · Mytholmroyd · Sowerby Bridge